Black boxes: Devices seen as way to monitor teens’ driving

Jace Radke

Friday, Sept. 6, 2002 | 10:46 a.m.

Basic High School student Valerie Ortiz says she is ready to get behind the wheel, but the 15-year-old's mother, Geri Ortiz, isn't as confident.

"We're going to take it slow," Geri Ortiz said as she waited in line at the Henderson DMV this week with her daughter, who was getting a learner's permit. "She's not just going to be getting in the car and driving off, and she's not going to be riding around in her friends' cars."

With two fatal accidents in Las Vegas involving teenage drivers in less than six months, parents such as Ortiz are worried and looking for ways to protect their children.

A California company believes it may have the answer in its device -- a black box that plugs into a car and allows parents to download a record of how their teen is driving.

The computerized box, known as a vehicle data recorder, is about the size of a videocassette and is scheduled to hit stores nationwide next month and cost about $280, RoadSafety International Inc. spokesman Larry Selditz said.

The box plugs into the computerized diagnostic systems of newer cars and tracks speed, whether seat belts are used and instances of hard cornering and braking.

The box emits a warning beep if a driver exceeds a preset speed limit or doesn't buckle up, and if the driver continues these actions a continuous alarm will sound and the device will begin recording. A parent will be able to plug a memory card into a home computer and get a record of their teen's driving.

Geri Ortiz said she wouldn't mind having one of the devices, but probably won't buy one.

"It's not the cost, and I think something like that could help, but I just don't think we need it," Ortiz said. "If we had a daughter that had been irresponsible in the past we might look at it."

Ortiz said she is terrified of accidents such as Friday's wreck involving a sport utility vehicle that slammed into a truck, killing the 16-year-old driver and seriously injuring four other Centennial High School students.

Metro Police are investigating the accident that happened at Alpine Ridge Way and Lansford Road, and have found that the driver of the SUV, Ryan Sneed, had only had his driver's license for nine days.

Sneed's sister, Samantha, 15, has since been released from University Medical Center, and the conditions of the other victims riding in the 1994 Jeep Cherokee remained unchanged Thursday. Lauren Ozawa, 14, Jade Ozawa, 15, and Emily McIntyre, 14, all were in critical condition.

The earlier fatal accident occurred on May 9 near Las Vegas High School, instantly killing Natasha Keeter, 17. The driver, Ashley Troester, 16, who did not have her license, later died of her injuries. Three other girls were seriously hurt in the one-car crash.

Erin Breen, the director of UNLV's Safe Community Partnerships, said the key to keeping young drivers safe is parental involvement.

"If these black boxes will help keep parents involved with how their children are driving then they could be an asset," Breen said. "I think that for the price they are a good investment.

"If something beeping at the driver and reminding them to slow down works as a deterrent then that's great."

Bill Redfairn, a Metro Police detective with the traffic fatality unit, doubts the boxes will be a solution to teens getting in car accidents.

"Kids are so technology-savvy that they would go out to the car and find a way to get around this device," Redfairn said. "It would help for parents to know if their kids are out doing 90 mph, but if you have a good relationship with your kids you can find out about that by talking."

The black box concept in cars is not new, with some manufacturers putting data recorders inside some automobiles since the early 1990s, said Philip Haseltine, president of the Automobile Coalition for Traffic Safety Inc., a Virginia group whose members include the world's biggest automakers.

"The manufacturers were already putting computers in for air bags, so it didn't take much to add electronic data recorders," Haseltine said. "The information on the recorders is used by manufacturers to improve their product."

The recorders have helped manufacturers locate problems, Haseltine said.

"Pontiac Sunfire and Chevrolet Cavalier owners were complaining about the air bags deploying at low speeds, so the companies looked at some of the recorders and found that the owners were right," Haseltine said. "It led to a massive recall."

RoadSafety and other companies are already marketing a variation of the manufacturer's boxes to companies that use fleets of vehicles.

American Medical Response is phasing in the boxes, and the company's Las Vegas ambulances will soon have them.

The recorders allow corporations to track their drivers and ensure that they aren't taking reckless actions, Selditz said.

"We're hoping these products can make a difference," Selditz said. "There are 41,000 people killed on highways in this country every year. If a fully loaded 737 crashed every day of the year it would just equal the number killed in vehicle crashes annually."

Sophisticated vehicle data recorders, like those being created for AMR, can cost more than $3,000 per unit.

Metro Police do not use vehicle data recorders in patrol cars because of cost and established investigation processes in cases of officer-involved accidents, Sgt. Rick Barela said.

"Our officers are trained in pursuit driving, and they log thousands of hours of driving time," Barela said. "The department is very candid if liability caused by an accident is ours.

"Risk management takes care of those situations immediately. We've had situations where it has been our fault and the person had a check that day."

Teenagers don't have the hours of driving experience Metro officers have, and that's why they tend to be involved in more accidents, AAA of Nevada spokeswoman Lisa Foster said.

"Teens are apt to take greater risks and to show off more than adults," Foster said. "A major cause of teen accidents is overcompensation because they just don't have the experience of what to do in that situation."

Will Franzi, a 17-year-old Green Valley High School student, agreed that those just getting their license need to be careful, but said he has enough experience.

"A black box wouldn't do my parents any good, because I'd probably take it apart," Franzi said as he waited to get a new driver's license at the Henderson DMV after his old one melted when his car caught fire. "It's horrible what happened to the kids in the recent accidents, but I don't think about it.

"I'm a good driver."