May 25, 2009 11:23 pm US/Eastern
'Speed Demon' Keeping Tabs On Teen Drivers
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
It's a too familiar sight – a teenager speeding, winds up crashing.
"Driving is the most dangerous activity for teens in the country today," said college sophomore Jon Fischer. "Over 6,000 die, on average, each year in automobile accidents."
And working in his Lunenburg basement, Fischer wants to change that. "It's just a shame that they get their license and they're so excited that they end up doing dangerous things and hurting themselves."
So four years ago, at the tender age of 16, Jon invented the
"Speed Demon" – a GPS driven monitor you plug into you car. "This is the prototype Speed Demon I made for the 2005 Massachusetts state science fair."
It started as a science project. He won honorable mention, but Jon didn't stop. He worked, and worked and refined his invention until it was ready for market.
There are plenty of gadgets that monitor a teenager's driving, but the Speed Demon is the only one that allows a parent to set the limits.
That's what Carolyn Stimpson did – setting the device to alert her on her cell phone if her son goes 10 miles per hour over the speed limit on a highway or even a secondary road. "I don't know how the heck it knows what roads your on, but it does," said Stimpson.
It will also tell her if he accelerates too quickly, is driving after curfew or unplugs it. "This demographic, a boy, 18 to 24, is the guy who gets, you know, hurt. So I want to do anything possible to protect him," said Stimpson.
Her son doesn't like it at all, but admits it's working. "It absolutely has slowed me down. I never pass anyone."
In the tradition of inventors who came before him, Fischer not only tinkers in the basement with tools, ranging from a screwdriver to a computer, his brainstorms come every day. "A lot of times I'll see how something could be better, or ways things could be more efficient."
The Speed Demon sells for $250 with a monthly fee of $15.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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