Driver Cam

In recent years, studies have shown that teenagers are among the riskiest drivers on the road when there is no parental figure present. However, when a parent is present in the car, they are very careful and respectful to other people on the road. So, what can parents do to ensure that their children are behaving while out driving for any reason?

A company named America Family Mutual Insurance which is based primarily in the Midwest has made a video camera called “Drive Cam”. This camera is positioned on the rear-view mirror and has two lenses: one for facing the driver and one for facing the road. The object of the camera len facing the driver is to watch over the driver’s actions and record any sounds from within the car itself which typically would include passengers if for example; you are in a carpool. The other lens is strictly used to capture ten seconds prior and before any sudden movement such as swerving, hard braking or speeding. So, now you are probably thinking, “Ok, it records events that has happened. It’s not as if it is going to do anything with the information that it has record.” At the end of the day depending upon if a teenager drove or not it will send a report to their parent’s email address giving them a ranking similar to your elementary school report card except the parents are able to view the videos of any questionable events. But the final results come at the end of the week when the teenager is gauged on a risk level which determines what they must do in order to improve while listing every mistake that was made during the travel. Currently, “Drive Cam” is in a limited number of cars in states such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana. However, it has been used in taxes and buses for the last few months mostly for safety precautions and for monitoring in case of a violation. This is a very radical first step toward solving reckless driving, but the results are not in if it will be a factor in improving teen driver or if it will have little or no effect.

Personally, I do not agree with the installation of “Drive Cam” for two very distinction reasons that the company has yet to clear up. The first being the fact that if it records hard braking how can it possibly tell the difference between the teenager at fault or the other driver. I have had experiences driving to school where the car in front of me would coast to a stop instead of using the brakes forcing me at times to quickly brake sinnce it was unexpected when they suddenly began to slow down after going fifty-five miles per hour for the last five minutes. So, without clearing up this crucial knowledge, I would have been deemed a risky driver despite the fact that I was doing the only thing possible so that I would not rear end the person in front of me. Secondly, I do think that more information needs to be shared about how the “Risk Level” will work since the company as not gone into great detail about how much each action impacts the gauge. Overall, I am highly skeptical about this new camera since not enough information is around and it could be another way for companies to blame teenagers for actions on the road in order to increase insurance costs. If you don’t agree with my last statement watch the news about the types of teenagers they find when doing these reports typically they have kids who yell out the window, throw stuff out the window and talk on the phone to the point where they are barely touching the wheel. Overall, I would like to read more articles and news reports describing this method in greater detail before parents decide to purchase it for every car in their family since it could be teenagers who are being treated unfairly.

Last Edited on May 30, 2007 at 2:08