Teens who speed may soon meet cars that tattle

Jerry Holt, Star Tribune

University of Minnesota engineering student Rich Hoglund demonstrated a system that uses a cell phone with a GPS technology to monitor the speed of a car.

"I M going 2 fast": The U has figured out how to get a teen's cell phone to send parents text messages about what's happening behind the wheel.

By JIM FOTI, Star Tribune

Last update: June 30, 2008 - 9:54 PM

Here's one way to get teen drivers off the cell phone: Make them hook it up to the speedometer and automatically text Mom and Dad whenever the car is speeding.

The phones could conceivably keep track of such things as the number of passengers in the car, whether they're wearing seatbelts and even monitor the volume of the stereo.

The speed tattletale went on display at the U Monday. A top official from the U.S. Department of Transportation was there to praise the U's growing role in traffic safety research and announce a new national information-sharing service on rural highway safety measures.

The Teen Driver Support System gives drivers a voice warning about excessive speeds before sending the text message. The system uses global-positioning technology and a database of local speed limits to determine when a vehicle is going too fast.

It can even account for weather conditions and impose its own temporary lower limit on the driver.

Max Donath, director of the U's Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, says researchers are trying to use commonly available technology in the hope of having such systems in the car of every teen driver.

The cell phone in the car needs to be of the "smart phone" variety, generally with a full keyboard and screen.

U researchers hope that the system could be widely used within four years -- and perhaps even required as a way to reduce the stubbornly high number of teen traffic deaths.

The system's capabilities could monitor more than speed. Donath noted that some cars automatically detect whether certain seats are occupied, and such information could help parents make sure that their kids aren't violating the passenger limits of the newly passed graduated driver's license law.

And because cars run more quietly than they used to, Donath said, phones could even help keep track of the number of passengers by listening to the number of voices -- or control the music level in the car. "If you're naughty, we turn off your iPod," he said.

Donath and Rich Hogland, a mechanical engineering grad student, said the next step in the research is to make the system hack-proof before testing it on large numbers of teens. Hogland also noted that the system randomly varies the amount of time the driver can speed before the text message is sent, so that the teens can't outsmart the device.

Researchers also plan to work with auto manufacturers to increase data available to the system, such as whether seat belts are fastened.

Wireless and GPS companies have offered tracking services to parents for years, but Donath says the monthly fees can be an obstacle. "We're trying to drive the cost to be as little as possible ... We need to make sure that every kid has it in their car," he said.

From the parental perspective, it might not be a tough sell. Paul Grimsby is a retired Hennepin County sheriff's deputy who works as a driving instructor and has a 16-year-old daughter who just got her license last week. "Wow," he said when told about the technology. "... I would really be all for something like that."

Of course, parents of a lead-footed teen might want to make sure they have a generous text-messaging plan on their own phones.

Jim Foti • 612-673-4491

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