From TechTV
Should parents use technology to monitor their teen's every twist and turn?
Nobody likes to drive with their mother. She screams at the sight of brake lights. She grabs at her door handles during turns. And let's not forget the invisible passenger-side foot brake. Thanks to a new technology, you don't even need mom in the car to experience her constant warnings and driving "wisdom." A "black box" for cars allows parents to electronically track their teens' driving performance from home and punish accordingly.
Here's the story. According to
The New York Times (free registration required), concerned parents will soon be able to purchase a black-box monitoring device for their teens similar to those being used to track the bad habits of ambulance drivers. The device, which will retail for $280, plugs into a car's diagnostic system and saves real-time driving information -- speed, turns, braking -- on a removable memory card. The card can then be plugged into a computer that displays the information on a handy chart and assigns the driver an overall quality rating from 1 to 10. Even better, the box emits a beeping noise every time the driver breaks one of its pre-programmed rules. Go over 70 miles per hour, that's a beep. Brake too fast, that's a beep. Turn too sharply, that's a beep. The boxes have even been equipped with a so-called "Limp Bizkit" mode, which raises the volume of the beep if loud music is playing in the vehicle. The Times reports that next year's model will include an optional GPS tracking device so parents can track their kids' whereabouts at all times.
.
) and what assistance will it do?
