A growing number of highway safety advocates are calling for the use of high-tech “black boxes” in cars – $280 devices that can show parents a young driver’s every move – at a time when roughly 10 teens die every day in the USA in crashes involving teen drivers, reports USA Today. But the technology has yet to catch on, and many parents say they’re unaware that there’s a black box for cars, the paper reports in a package of stories on the hazards of teen driving.
The box, used primarily to monitor and train emergency-vehicle operators, has become popular, though, among pockets of concerned parents. The device, easily installed in cars made after 1995, has a memory card like a digital camera’s that can be removed and plugged into a home computer. The parent can then download a detailed report – from seat-belt use to how fast the car traveled to the use of signals. The device also growls at the driver when he or she exceeds safety thresholds while braking or turning.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-06-02-black-box-usat_x.htm