Entry bubble Teen Drivers

By: Colleen | December 31, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back...there is NO WAY that at the age of 16, the state of Pennsylvania should have issued me a driver's license.

Even though I have a clean driving record accident-free driving record, I look back at some of my driving habits/youthful decisions in general, and I can't help but cringe.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 5,000 U.S. teens die each year in car crashes. The rate of crashes for 16 year-old drivers is almost 10 times the rate for drivers 30-59.

Ford Motor Company is attempting to do something about this. Starting in the 2010 Focus, Ford will offer a feature being called "MyKey." The key contains a computer chip which is activated when inserted into the ignition. Parents can program the chip to control certain parts of the car in an effort to make driving safer for teens.

Some of the options?

  • Ability to limit the volume of the car's stereo system. (As a 25-year-old who morphs into a rock-star when behind the wheel, I can see how this can be a total bummer for a teen. But, looking back to some of the music I listened to in high school- not that big of a deal.)
  • Capacity to block the speed of the car from exceeding 80 mph. It's thought that having 70mph as a cut off would be too limiting to allow for exceptional circumstances- such as speeding up to avoid an accident.
  • Setting a continuous beeping alert when the driver's seatbelt isn't connected. (I've never ever understood people who don't wear seatbelts. It's so habitual for me that I don't even think twice about it.)
  • Capability to set a chime if the teen exceeds 45, 55, or 65 mph. (Can the chimes be set as ringtones? I kid...)

On the surface, I think this is a potentially good feature. I'm interested to see how effective MyKey is over the next few years. As a teen? I'd be infuriated. Life would be over as I knew it! Kind of like that time the parental units put the kibosh on me missing a few days of school to go to Disney World with a friend. I somehow still managed to become the successful Consumer Information Specialist that I am today. ;-)

What MyKey can't prevent is cell phone use in the car, which I think is a much bigger problem, not only for teens but adults as well. Funny though, that was never an issue for me as a teen driver seeeing as my "cell phone" was the 35 cents I kept in the glove compartment to use a pay phone in case of emergency.

What kind of parameters would you like to set for your teen driver? Do you think devices like this will make the roads safer?

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