Category Archives: GPS Teen Tracking

Teen Drivers Can be More Safety-Conscious With GPS Tracking Along for the Ride

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It’s a hot summer night and you’re nervous. Your teenage son or daughter is taking the family car for a spin and you hope she’s applying all the rules of the road he/she learned in driver’s ed and under your tutelage.

You’ve got good reason to worry. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an average of more than 17 teens a day die on American roads during June, July and August — the months with the highest teen crash rates. Nearly 6,000 teens die in car crashes annually, a statistic that hasn’t changed in more than a decade. While research shows that parents and teens believe alcohol is the cause of most crashes involving teen drivers, the primary causes of most teen crashes — between 2003 and 2005 — was driver error (87 percent).

You might not be able to control your teen’s personal habits, but you can keep an eye on their driving style with some help from GPS fleet tracking technology. When you install a small, easily concealed GPS tracking device in their car, truck or SUV, you’ll not only know where they are in real time, but you’ll also have peace of mind. So if your daughter says she’ll be at a girlfriend’s apartment until 11 p.m., ask for her friend’s address. Then, by logging in to a dedicated site on your web-connected PC, you’ll be able to confirm she’s at her friend’s place on a familiar Google Map. If her vehicle is at an over-21 club instead, she’ll have some ‘splaining to do.

Whether you live in a city, the suburbs or a rural area, you should be concerned about your teen driver’s whereabouts. Allstate Insurance recently released its study of America’s deadliest teen driving hot spots. The top 10 metropolitan areas for fatal teen crashes are:

  • Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Florida
  • Orlando/Kissimmee, Florida
  • Jacksonville, Florida
  • Nashville, Tennessee
  • Birmingham, Alabama
  • Phoenix, Arizona
  • Kansas City, Missouri (and Kansas)
  • Atlanta, Georgia
  • Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Louisville, Kentucky

The safest metro areas in the study include some of the nation’s largest cities. The best scoring areas are:

  • San Francisco/Oakland, California
  • San Jose, California
  • New York City (including Long Island and northern New Jersey)
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Cleveland, Ohio
  • Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Portland, Oregon
  • Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Chicago, Illinois

Perhaps surprisingly, the study also found that fatal crash rates for teens are double in rural areas compared to cities and suburbs. Fortunately, GPS fleet tracking technology has you covered in non-metro areas as well. Here are some ways GPS can help make your teens better drivers.

  • If you suspect your son is speeding the way you did as a teenager, your GPS tracking system will alert you by text message or email if he exceeds a pre-discussed speed. You also can receive alerts if he enters or exits a “geofence” you create on your PC. That’s a geographic box around your home, the library, shopping mall or anywhere you choose. You’ll be certain your son (or at least his car) was “on his way home” when he said he was.
  • It might impress your teens that you’ll be using a high-tech “Hansel and Gretel”method of tracking their whereabouts. With GPS fleet tracking, you’ll always have a “breadcrumb trail” of their vehicle’s exact route, from the time it left your home to its true destination. If he or she counters that you’re spying on them, remind them they have no cause for concern if they respect your driving rules, curfews, speed limits and other guidelines. If they’re as well-behaved as they claim to be, they’ll have nothing to worry about.
  • Not all teens object to being monitored by GPS fleet tracking. Some find it can actually help them – like being trusted as the designated driver by their friends’ parents. And if the unexpected occurs, such as a stolen vehicle or the teen “disappearing,” you’ll know precisely where the car is in real time or its last tracked location – a significant aid to law enforcement.

Using a GPS tracking system to follow your kids while assuring their privacy is a delicate balance. Many parents have their teens sign a “driving contract” that spells out what’s expected of them when they get behind the wheel. Like any contract, tradeoffs are involved. You expect them to be safe; they expect you to respect their privacy. With GPS, you’ll have proof that they’ve upheld or broken the contract in the form of detailed reports on speed, location and other variables. It’s a good life lesson, one that they’ll very likely apply to your grandchildren someday. They do want to give you grandchildren, don’t they ?

Kids Can be Tracked by GPS and Low-Tech Solutions

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It’s summer vacation time – a time when parents are more concerned than usual about making sure their kids don’t stray out of sight. All that free time means children have more opportunities to evade the reach of Mom, Dad, relatives and friends.

In recent years, affordable solutions have come on the market that utilize the same technology found in GPS fleet tracking. While we’re partial to any product that employs GPS, it should be pointed out that even wristwatch-size trackers only report a child’s current or last-known location to within a few yards; so it’s not always possible to discover little Johnny standing next to the gorilla exhibit at the zoo. Furthermore, most of these devices mean that if Mom or Dad aren’t at home, they need access to an Internet-connected computer to get a fix on their child’s location. Some web-connected PDAs with browsers will do the trick when the family’s on an outing, however.

Some well-thought-out low-tech solutions to getting the kids back safely are mentioned in this Baltimore Sun article. Among them is the SafetyTat, a waterproof tattoo marketed as “The Tat That Brings Kids Back.” Its creator is a Baltimore-area mother who wanted to attach her phone number to her child. So far, more than 500,000 of the brightly colored tattoos have been sold.

The issue of tracking children is a growing concern. Some interesting statistics from the article: “The Boston-based Center to Prevent Lost Children says that 90 percent of families will momentarily lose track of a child in a public place; 20 percent have lost a child more than once. Forty-five percent of the children get separated from parents in malls and stores, and 27 percent in amusement parks, according to the center, which consults with employees at amusement parks, airports, beaches and similar areas.”

Keeping track of teens with driver’s license is a bit easier with GPS fleet tracking technology because you can monitor their whereabouts in real time on a familiar Google Map.

But for younger kids, the article notes, some common-sense tips can make it easier to track them down if they do get separated from adults, including:

  • Don’t announce your kids’ names around strangers, or put their names on the outside of clothes or personal items.
  • Teach kids at a young age to know their last names, home address and phone number; how to dial 911 in an emergency and how to place collect calls.
  • Keep small children in view at all times in public places. Teach them what to do if they become separated from their family.
  • Don’t allow kids to listen to music through headphones or play handheld electronic games while walking.

Here’s hoping you and your little ones have a safe, happy summer. And however you do it, keep on trackin!

GPS Tracking Goes Along for the Ride to Assure Older Drivers’ Safety

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Do you have a parent or older relative who’s driving you crazy because of their driving? Many of us have good reason to be concerned for that relative’s safety and whereabouts if he or she is still behind the wheel – even if it’s just to the supermarket and back a few days a week.

There’s an easy way to get a handle on the situation. By installing GPS vehicle tracking technology in their car, truck or SUV, you’ll not only know where they are in real time, but you’ll also have peace of mind that they’re not getting lost, driving too slowly or possibly speeding. For example, if Mom says she’ll be at Aunt Esther’s house until 9 p.m., you can use your web-connected PC or PDA to confirm she’s at Esther’s place on a familiar Google Map. If her vehicle is way off course, you’ll hopefully be able to call Mom on her cell phone to make sure she’s OK.

If you think Dad has a lead foot on the accelerator, your GPS tracking system will alert you by text message or email if he exceeds the speed limit you discussed with him. You also can receive alerts if he enters or exits a “geofence” you create on your PC. That’s a geographic box around Dad’s home, the library, shopping mall or anywhere you choose. You’ll be certain Dad (or at least his car) was “on his way home” when he said he was.

Your parents probably read “Hansel and Gretel” to you as a child, so show them how you’ll have access to a “breadcrumb trail” of their vehicle’s exact route from the time it left their home to the time it arrived at their destinations. If he or she protests that you’re using GPS vehicle tracking to spy on them, tell them they you’re concerned about their safety and well-being. Assure them that you’ll only be worried if they aren’t keeping appointments, are driving erratically or are straying into unfamiliar neighborhoods.

And if the unexpected occurs, such as a stolen vehicle or the adult “disappearing,” you’ll know precisely where the car is in real time or its last tracked location – a significant aid to law enforcement.

Using a GPS tracking system to follow your loved ones while assuring their privacy is a delicate balance. You expect them to be safe; they expect you to respect their privacy. With GPS, you’ll have proof in the form of detailed reports on speed, location and other variables. If they taught you about “Hansel and Gretel,” remind them that you’re applying the lesson to them in a very caring way.

Summertime is coming: Where’s your teen?

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Summertime is almost here. Do you know where your teenager/vehicle is at 11AM on Thursday? Are they at their friends house like they said or are they getting into trouble with all the free time they have?

If you worry about that sort of thing, you need a GPS tracking unit in your teen’s car or truck.

What will it give you?

1. Continuous real-time tracking

You can see exactly where they are at all times, with addresses and landmarks available with one mouse click. If they say they’re going to Jane’s house, wouldn’t it give you peace of mind to know they are at Jane’s house.

2. Speed alerts

Set a speed and be alerted every time it’s exceeded. Alerts go to your email address and/or cellular phone.

3. Geofence alerts

Set geographic boxes around your home, the library, anywhere you choose and be alerted any time their vehicle enters or exits the geofence. You’ll be certain Bobby (or at least his car) was “on his way home” when he said he was.

Pretty cool little tools? How much is “knowing” worth to you?

Some teens OK with GPS vehicle tracking

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Getting your driver’s license is one of the most freeing experiences of your life. Right? It used to be. Now, parents can track their teenage sons and daughters with GPS tracking devices and software-monitoring their trips minute by minute while keeping track of speed and stop times.

But not all teens are throwing fits about the relatively new technology. Some are finding it can actually help them-like being trusted as the “designated driver” by their friends’ parents.

Adults know how their kids will react to being monitored, but some are too afraid to let them drive (or won’t let them drive at all) without being tracked.

“I’m sure she wasn’t real pleased with it in the beginning because she thought it was more of a spy issue,” Pam Davis, owner of a vehicle tracking unit, said.

“My friends do kind of make fun of me,” her daughter Brooke, said. “That kind of sucks.”

But…

“I do drive my friends a lot, and their parents love that I have it,” Brooke continued. “My mom knows I’m safe and they know their kids are safe with me.”

Call it a trade off.

Would it work for you and your family? How do you think your child would react to being monitored? Is this just another way for overprotective parents to create a divide between themselves and their children?