Watch CBS News

Program Keeps Young Drivers Safe While Saving Families Money

DENVER (CBS4) - Those with teen drivers know how worrisome it is to have someone young behind the wheel. It's also expensive because insurance premiums can be sky high for new drivers.

4 On Your Side Money Saver Suzanne McCarroll found a program that helps keep young drivers safe while knocking down the insurance bill.

The program lets parents know exactly what their teen drivers are doing on the roads. Some might call it spying, but most parents call it monitoring their children's driving.

Thomas Walker is a new driver old enough to cruise around without a parent. But in some ways he's never really out of his parents' sight thanks to a camera attached near his rear view mirror.

If Thomas drives erratically, the video camera clicks on and his parents will be able to watch his errors with him online.

"If I set it off, it blinks red," he said.

"So anytime you go around a corner too fast or you accelerate too quickly or you hit your breaks too hard or there's a collision, that triggers the camera," Thomas' father Tom Walker said.

The San Diego company that monitors the cameras will have a driving coach watch and then offer tips to the teens to improve their driving skills.

"I actually really didn't like it at first, but I got used to it," Thomas' older sister Erin Walker said.

Driving Monitor
The driving monitor (credit: CBS)

Erin admitted to initially setting off the camera a lot with her driving mistakes.

"I would always take corners way too fast, and so I definitely got to see how I need to slow down before I take a corner," Erin said.

"You know it's there so it keeps you from doing things you probably shouldn't," Thomas said.

There's a camera pointing both out of the car and into the car helping to insure the teen is paying attention when he drives.

Admittedly there's now a bit of rivalry between the siblings to see who can avoid setting the camera off and then having to sit with their parents to review their mistakes.

American Family Insurance offers a 10 percent discount on the teen's insurance premiums for installing the free camera. That discount lasts until they're 21. Installing the camera is also free of charge.

LINK: American Family Insurance's Teen Safe Driver Program

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.