[privacy] Is a Candid Camera The Key to Safer Teenage Drivers?

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117263140441721581.html?mod=todays_us_market
place

Is a Candid Camera The Key to Safer Teenage Drivers?
By LIAM PLEVEN
February 28, 2007; Page B1

There is a curve in the road near Alexander Mougin's house near Oxford,
Iowa. The high-school senior used to like to take it hard and sharp -- but
that was before his car was fitted with a camera capable of recording his
driving habits.

Mr. Mougin, 18 years old, has been participating in a University of Iowa
study to see whether the device and the data it provides can help improve
teen driving. The camera, attached to the rear-view mirror, has one lens
facing the road and another aimed at the driver. It runs constantly, and
slips into recording mode if, for example, the car accelerates rapidly or
brakes suddenly. It then preserves about 10 seconds before and after the
event that triggered it.

"You don't want to set it off," Mr. Mougin says. After 10 months of taking
part in the study, he says, "I know I'm a safer driver."

Starting tomorrow, American Family Mutual Insurance Co., the nation's 10th
largest car insurer, will offer some of its customers the same system, known
as DriveCam, in an effort to improve driving behavior among teens, a
population that is particularly at risk on the roads. More teenagers die in
car crashes than from any other single cause.

Customers with teenage children in Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin will be
able to request that the system be installed in their cars, free of charge.
Parents will receive regular reports on incidents that trigger a recording,
which they can then review with their kids.

The system, made by DriveCam Inc., a privately held firm in San Diego, is
the latest in a line of tools that can help parents track their teenagers'
behavior. For example, global-positioning equipment can alert parents if a
car leaves a certain area. Other devices can reveal driver behavior in
general. Black boxes, now standard in many new vehicles, can capture data
such as how fast a car is moving.

Until now, DriveCam's system has been used in commercial fleets. The move to
make these kinds of devices more available to consumers could meet
resistance from those concerned about an intrusion into a once-private
realm.

American Family will get aggregated data from DriveCam, but won't have
access to information about individuals. The company says it doesn't intend
to watch the videos, though they could be subpoenaed in a legal proceeding.
American Family also says it will not use the data to set rates, and doesn't
have enough information to do so now, but it doesn't rule out that
possibility in the future.


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