New Ways To Watch Your Teen Driver, Courtesy Of GreenRoad

Monitoring lights for rivers (from GreenRoad)

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Back in the 18th century, British philosopher Jeremy Bentham came up with a nifty way to keep prisoners in line: as long as the incarcerated thought they were being watched, they behaved, even if they couldn't see the guards. The same "big brother" philosophy has been used ad nauseam since then, even in automobiles. Its newest iteration comes via GreenRoad's in-vehicle data recorder, which takes notes on unsafe driving habits like quick stops and sharp turns and records them for later review.

GreenRoad's difference, however, is that it also grades drivers in real time with red, yellow, and green lights. And the technology is accelerometer-based, meaning it could theoretically be deployed in smart phones that parents could check for signs of dangerous driving. Which might be enough to make kids change their mind about wanting an iPhone for the holidays. (Video below, for those who're interested.)

[Gizmodo via MP]