A new version of the Teen Driver Support System (TDSS), in development at the ITS Institute, took center stage June 4 at a teen safe driving forum held at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Cambridge, Minnesota—only a mile from the scene of a horrific crash that killed six, including four teens, in April.

U.S. Rep. James Oberstar and transportation safety experts, including ITS Institute director Max Donath, introduced and solicited feedback on the potentially life-saving technology and called on parents to set an example by holding their children accountable. Oberstar received a live demonstration of the TDSS in a test vehicle just prior to the forum.

“You can change habits if parents take responsibility,” Oberstar said. “It’s not just the teenager. Most of what we learn, we learn by example from our families.”
TDSS is a GPS-enabled smart phone mounted on the dashboard to provide the driver real-time visual and audio feedback about driving performance. (Other phone functions are disabled while the TDSS is in use and the car is on. All incoming calls are routed to voicemail and no outgoing calls or texting is possible, except for 911 emergency calls.) The device is intended as a tool for parents to help teens develop safe driving habits.

Donath explained that the system provides parents with data about their teen’s driving behavior. This is especially important on rural roads, which account for the majority of fatal highway crashes.

“We bother the parent,” Donath said. “There need to be consequences, and the only people that can really provide the true consequences are the parents.”

Isanti County Judge James Dehn moderated the forum, which also featured presentations by Gordy Pehrson, Youth Traffic Safety and Alcohol Grant coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, and Lee Munnich, director of the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety, also at the University of Minnesota.

Earlier that week, Donath demonstrated the TDSS to U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and David Strickland, administrator with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as part of a teen driving safety forum held June 1 at Tartan High School in Oakdale, Minnesota. “To make a lasting difference, it’s going to take all of us working together—law enforcement, educators, parents and teens,” Klobuchar said. “Ultimately, what we need is a change in what society views as acceptable and unacceptable behavior.”

The TDSS project is sponsored by the ITS Institute and cosponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.