Camera to record what teenagers do behind the wheel

LONDON - Driving has always been synonymous with teenage independence. But not anymore, as an insurance company is offering parents the chance to place a video camera in cars driven by their children.

The tiny two-way camera, which also records audio, is placed on the rear-view mirror at the centre of the windshield. It tapes both the driver and his view of the road ahead.

Should a driver violently swerve or even brake too hard, a video report of what happened before and after the event is sent by the insurance company to the teenager and his parents, the Daily Mail reports.

The desired effect is to force teenagers to drive sensibly and, therefore, prevent deaths on the road caused by careless and inexperienced drivers.

American Family Insurance (AFI) has teamed up with California-based technology company DriveCam to offer protective or just paranoid parents the opportunity to spy on their children’s habits behind the wheel.

The service is offered at no extra cost, the insurance company said.

However, the teenagers’ primary complaint is that their parents will be able to see what they get up to at precisely the moment when they have traditionally broken free and hit the open road.

But Phil Reed, senior consumer advice editor at US car website Edmunds.com, said: “Once teenagers know that the only way their parents are going to see any of the video is when they do something erratic in the car, then they become more open to using this.”