Someone to watch over me: a new program helps parents keep an eye on their teen drivers and sends expert coaching tips to help the teens drive better.

Parents of teen drivers have often wished they could see how their unsupervised children drive.

Now they can.

American Family Insurance is rolling out a program to 30,000 households in Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin that equips vehicles with video cameras. The cameras roll 24/7, but a risky behavior--such as swerving, hard braking, sudden acceleration or a collision-triggers the feed to be sent wirelessly to an analysis center, where trained analysts review the tape, add coaching comments, and assign each risky driving event a risk score. Parents and teens receive a weekly stares report via e-mail with links to the secure Web site for viewing the video clips.

DriveCam Inc. launched the program eight years ago for commercial drivers, said Doron Lurie, chief operating officer of DriveCam. The company focuses on large self-insured enterprise fleets and commercial insurance carriers, coveting trucking, hauling, limo and even ambulance driving.

"We work with drivers to improve the way they drive by capturing video of their risky driving behavior," Lurie said. Cameras are mounted behind the rearview mirror, with one facing forward to capture what the driver sees and one facing the driver to see what the driver has done.

DriveCam's risk experts analyze thousands of 10- to 20-second video clips every day, then send information and coaching tips back to the fleet supervisor--or in the case of the Teen Safe Driver program, back to the parent.

"It's immediate feedback," Lurie said. "By the next business day, the fleet supervisor can sat down with that driver, play back the risky behavior, and talk through a five-minute discussion of what happened and why."

The program has improved behaviors--as measured by the incidents of risky behaviors captured on tape--by 30% to 90%, Lurie said.

American Family started a pilot program using the DriveCam system at two high schools, and found teens in the program had a 70% reduction in the frequency and severity of risky driving events.

"This concept works with new drivers who have that potential to improve in the first six months of driving," said Steve Witmer, a spokesman for American Family. He said the company is hoping that the program results in reduced claims costs great enough to pay for the program, which is being offered free to families in those three states.

He noted the program is voluntary, and American Family does not receive information on individual incidents. Rather, the company will receive general reports on the overall working of the program, so no family would be penalized with higher premiums for any risky behavior caught on tape.

In the commercial market, it costs $720 a year to provide the service per vehicle, but the realm on a self-insured commercial fleet is immediate, Lurie said. "Annual claims costs per vehicle, which can be $1,500 to $10,000, are cut in half," he said.

Teen drivers are nine times more likely to be in a car crash than their parents. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the United States, accounting for 41% of teen fatalities. More teens die in car crashes than the next four causes combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Risky driving behavior is risky behavior no matter where in the world it occurs," Lurie said. The company has cameras in 60,000 cars.

Loss/Risk Management Notes is compiled by Senior Associate Editor Meg Green.