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WHAT, YET ANOTHER black box that uses. GPS to let parents monitor their teen drivers? Yes, but the new Tiwi from Inthinc boasts several key differences. First, it's a smart computer that talks to the driver, mentoring much the way parents did from the passenger seat in the learning phase. Second, it's smart enough to know local speed limits. It also can be used as an emergency alert system, notifying authorities in the event of an accident.

Unlike other GPS-based systems marketed for parents of new young drivers, the Tiwi not only watches speed but also matches the car's speed against the local limit.

"Lots of units can tell you that the kid exceeded a preset speed," explains Robert Oosdyke, Inthinc's vice president for consumer sales. "Say you set a limit at 70 mph. Whenever the car goes 70, you get notification. Everybody in this business does that much. But what no one else does yet is tell you the car was going 70 in a 45-mph zone."

The Tiwi will do that, which also allows it to perform the mentoring task.

The box sits on the dash and plugs into the car via the OBD II port. It can be set up to issue a warning: "You're exceeding the speed limit; please slow down." At best, it's a coach in a box. At worst, it's like having a little sister in the back seat saying, "I'm telling Mom if you don't knock it off."

The Tiwi has been endorsed by Ronn Langford of MasterDrive, a driver-education company, one of the presenters at AutoWeek's 2007 Teen Driving Safety Summit.

The Tiwi allows parents to set their own limits (via the company's Web site) and choose their means of notification-phone, text or e-mail.

Parents can call the unit and talk directly to the teen without the young driver needing to answer a cell phone. If parents get an alert that the car has been speeding or exceeding cornering or braking limits (accelerometers measure these), they can call and say, "Knock it off and bring it home" or "Stop the car and call me; we need to talk"-whatever the parent, not a preprogrammed computer, deems appropriate.

You may have seen the circular green Tiwi logo on the dashboards of NASCAR race cars. Inthinc has made crashdata recorders under the Independent Witness trademark for 1 0 years and the "black boxes" that have collected crash data for NASCAR since the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001. It also is working with the stockcar-racing body on new GPS-based timing and scoring systems.

Parents will want to know, though, that the Tiwi has limited memory (just enough to retain data through a lapse in cell-phone network coverage) and no separate plug that authorities can use to extract data for analysis. Whatever information it records and reports goes to the owner and only when it determines that the ownerchosen limits have been exceeded.

"Fhe units went on sale in July for $549. The business model includes a monthly subscription fee ($24.95to $34.95, depending on the level of communication desired), but during the launch period, there's a "race fan" $100 discount on the unit and one year of free service. Visit www.tiwi.com for more information.

The company also has initiated a Teen Driving Council to unite the efforts of those concerned about these issues. To learn more, visit www.teensafety.com.

-KAW

Drive RSTC has signed an agreement with a German firm, IngenAix, which has built more than two dozen such facilities around the world. Cole says he also is developing a proposal that might involve getting a government grant to build a demonstration facility to prove that the concept works.

The European model typically involves government subsidies and licensing regulations that require students to complete such programs. With that kind of impetus behind them, 40,000 students might attend at one facility in one year.

But Cole says he believes the programs could work in a free-market environment in the Unites States without subsidies or regulatory forcing.

"In the United States, I think you'd find that insurers are some of the biggest opponents of skills training," he says. "In Europe, insurers are often sponsors and supporters of these facilities. I think there's opportunity there."

Getting from dream to reality for Drive RSTC will no doubt take years. The evidence from Europe suggests that it could prove to be the ultimate long-range answer for improved driver education in the United States. Meanwhile, however, millions of newly licensed teens take to the roads annually.

David Thompson of Florida-based New Driver Car Control Clinic (www.carcontrol.com) has long operated at the other end of the cost-complexity spectrum, striving to teach as many teens-and their parents-as he can possibly reach with the message that car-control skills, attitude and knowledge can dramatically reduce crash risks for new drivers.

Since April 1 of this year, Thompson has been running a new variation on his program in the Cincinnati area that aims to encourage safe driving practices using some time-honored and very American-flavored incentives: competition, scoring and prize money. With sponsorship from Toyota and its Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky-area dealers, the Toyota Car Control Challenge culminates on Sept. 7. The grand champion wins a Toyota Matrix and $10,000, while those in various categories divided by age (including one mom and one dad) and by region can win $1,000 each.

As of press time, the points leader going into the final round is a 16-year-old girl who has scored near the maximum in a written test about safe attitudes toward driving and a behind-the-wheel demonstration of car-driving skills but below average in the "knowledge" test, the only portion that aligns with traditional driver education and state licensing exams (asking questions such as "What does a yellow triangular road sign mean?" and "A car going 60 mph needs how many feet to stop?").

In the skill challenge, competitors demonstrate car placement, emergency braking and visual skills in several exercises, including a crash-avoidance maneuver and running over small cups of sand on command.

"It's an old cliche, but this is really where the rubber meets the road," says Thompson, who, along with his instructors,times, measures and scores the drivers as each passes through two laps of a course. All of the exercises are performed at 25 mph or less.

The purpose is to honor and promote successful young drivers who demonstrate safe attitudes, valuable knowledge and driving skills.

Thompson doesn't train teens without also training parents, who are key elements of the GDL schemes now operating in most states. Typically, parents must sign off on any program their minor children participate in, and few are fully cognizant of the legal liability that may entail (see story on page 26).

Many of today's parents got their licenses during a period when driver education was on the wane in the United States and lack the skills and knowledge that would give them greater insight into what their teens are learning today. Working with the New Jersey Teen Driver Study Commission reviewing that state's GDL system, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has recommended improvements that were found to be worthwhile in other states, such as expanded education of parents.

Related measures include limits on unsupervised night driving during the probationary period, allowing only one passenger younger than 18 and expanding the amount of time teens must drive with adult supervision from 30 hours to 50.

The group did not address the issue of distraction, but AAA has launched a campaign recommending that parents step in-even if the law doesn't-to forbid the use of cell phones and text-messaging during a teen's learning period. That would include parents modeling the desired behavior by not using electronic devices themselves while driving.

While we continue to pursue the sort of comprehensive reform of driver licensing that Auto Week has advocated or that Cole envisions, individuals can take actions to enhance roadway safety not only for new young drivers but also for the rest of us who share the road with them .•

For Extra Credit Recommended reading

TRAFFIC: WHY WE DRIVE THE WAY " WE DO (AND WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT US), by Tom Vanderbil~ Knopf, 416 pages, $25.

The entire book is fascinating, but we can wholeheartedly recommend Trafficfor a single chapter: "Why You're Not As Good a Driver As You Think You Are."

Vanderbilt does not directly address teendriver education and licensing, but his insights into driver psychology are worth the cover price.

Most drivers rate themselves as above average. Driver's Edge founder Jeff Payne noticed this when he asked parents and teens attending his program to rate their own carhandling skills on a scale of one to 10.

"They inevitably average eight or nine," Payne says. "Really? There's, like, Michael Schumacher, Mario Andretti and then you?"

Vanderbilt finds that not only do drivers not recognize their own unsafe behaviors, but they also are unaware that such behaviors are risky.

Most people, he says, regard driving as an easy task compared with, say, juggling. They can drive repeatedly without failing-their definition of failure being a monumental crashbut always drop the juggled objects. Many say that operating a computer or even a car-racing video game is harder than driving a car, because they often crash the electronic device but have never totaled a real car.

There's an opening here to expand the awareness of drivers regarding the complexity of the task. The understanding of failure to perform at the wheel might include forcing other drivers to make emergency maneuvers, impeding traffic flow and frequent near misses that only avoid becoming tragedies by dint of luck, not driver skill.

Brilliant stuff, highly recommended. -KAW