Patent ID: 8907772

Claim:
A device for automatically detecting unsafe driving practices and providing real time driver feedback, the device comprising: a housing configured for coupling to a power source associated with the vehicle, said housing positioned in a fixed manner relative to the vehicle when coupled thereto; a power supply residing within the housing and configured to receive power from the power source when the housing is coupled thereto; one or more movement sensors residing within the housing and effective to generate output signals associated with movement of the vehicle; a position sensor residing within the housing and effective to generate output signals associated with a position of the vehicle; a communications device residing within the housing and effective to send and receive data via a communications network; and a control unit functionally linked to each of said power supply, movement sensors, position sensor and communications device and further comprising a processor and one or more memory media, at least one of said memory media having program instructions residing thereon which upon execution by the processor are further effective to receive and store unsafe driving parameters sent via the communications device, the parameters further comprising predetermined speed limit settings and unsafe driving locations, the unsafe driving locations associated with the predetermined speed limit settings and historically with one or more of unsafe driving conditions and accidents, determine a location of the vehicle based on the position sensor output signals, determine an unsafe driving condition based on the movement sensor output signals and at least a predetermined speed limit setting associated with said vehicle location, aggregating data associated with vehicle movement over time with respect to corresponding vehicle locations, dynamically adjusting the predetermined speed limit setting associated with one or more vehicle locations, based on the aggregated data, determine a potential unsafe driving condition based on the stored unsafe driving locations, the determined location of the vehicle and the movement sensor output signals, and generate a driver alert signal in substantially real-time in response to determining an unsafe driving condition or a potential unsafe driving condition.