Technology Tools & Trust

A Doctor's View
On October 27, 2005, the Dr. Phil nationally-syndicated TV show aired a segment, "Driven By Fear," that featured a father who installed a CarChip in his son's car. The data showed the son had driven at speeds of up to 100 mph. Dr. Phil's advice to the parent about installing the devise was as follows.

"Trust is earned. Your job is to protect him and to do what you have to do to protect him. I agree with you 100%, without qualification, that you did the right thing."

A Parent's View
Following the death of her son's high school friend, Susan Schauer, of Easton, Maryland, purchased a CarChip to monitor the driving habits of her 16-year-old son, Ben. CarChip helped Susan and her husband monitor whether Ben was maintaining the speed limit and to declare consequences if he didn't.

She comments, "This is a tool for parents willing to parent. If Ben doesn't follow our rules, he will lose the keys to the car. Since I am rarely in the car with him, the only way for me to monitor his driving was to buy this device."

Stop Teen Fatalities
Eight Tips for Parents

1. Monitor unsupervised driving. CarChip can help.
The first year of unsupervised driving is the most dangerous. Teen crash risks drop by two-thirds after the first 1,500 driving hours. During the first year of licensed driving, 1-in-5 male and about 1-in-10 female 16-year-old drivers will have a crash.

2. Ask your teen to sign a driving contract for a year, like one available from the Automobile Association of America.

3. Just say no to passengers the first year.
The incidence of teen fatalities goes up 50% for the first teen passenger and increases with additional teen passengers. Forty-five percent of the teens involved in fatal accidents were carrying a teen passenger.

4. Limit distractions.
Agree to no cell phone, texting, CD/Radio/MP3 players until vehicle is at a stop. At 35 mph, a two-second lapse in attention means you've traveled 100 feet without looking!

5. Limit nighttime driving.
Set a responsible curfew and stick to it. States with graduated driving programs reduce the risk of nighttime driving fatalities by up to 60 per cent.

6. Speed Kills. Slow down.
The number one cause of teen driving fatalities is lack of experience (82%). The number two cause is directly related to speed (37%). There is a reason they call them "speed limits." Driving under the speed limit is a virtue for young drivers whose driving abilities and experiences need to be built up over the first year of driving.

7. Always buckle up.
Approximately two-thirds of teens killed in vehicle crashes in 2003 were not wearing seat belts.

8. Be involved in the driving habits of your teen's friends.
Open the conversation with your teen's friends and their parents. Eighty-four percent of teenage motor vehicle crash deaths in 2005 were passenger vehicle occupants.

Teen Driving Statistics*

Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for teens and young adults ages 15-20.

Teen Driving Resources & Organizations*

CarChip Parent Involvement Program

Davis Instruments is committed to helping families parent their teens through the most dangerous period of teenage life-the first year of driving.

The CarChip Parent Involvement Program has donated overstock, older-version CarChip data loggers and software to the Driving Schools of America Association as well as to community programs, such as "Not One More," in Middleton, New York.

CarChip gives parents a tool to be more involved in their teen's driving experience. Studies by the National Institute of Health and UCLA show that teenagers don't fully develop the risk assessment area of the brain until the age of 25.

Much like parenting does not stop at any specific age, the obligations of parents to ensure the safety of their kids does not stop after teens get their licenses.

As a part of CarChip's Parent Involvement Program, we encourage you to make a commitment to your teens and to yourself. Do your part to review driving information with your teens and hold them accountable for unsafe driving behaviors.

CarChip is available in three current models.

Graduated License Program

In the U.S., many states have set up graduated licensing programs for teen drivers. Newly-licensed drivers are typically allowed to drive unsupervised only during daylight hours, and must remain free of at-fault accidents for at least twelve consecutive months before advancing to a full unrestricted license.

Even if you live in a state without these restrictions, CarChip can help you set up your own graduated licensing program. You could, for example, designate a minimum number of driving hours, along with specific performance requirements, before you allow your teen to advance to the next level.

With CarChip, you have all the information you need, just a mouse-click away. Together, you and your teen can view the speed, distance, accelerations, and decelerations for each trip. Quick start and hard-breaking events are highlighted in red.

As your teen grows in experience, skills, and maturity, you can lift restrictions as a reward for good driving, or reinstate them if you think he or she needs a little more practice. And, just in case your teen's tempted to sneak in a few rides without CarChip, the unit will log the data and time every time it's disconnected.