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By Brad Borst

Whether you have a teen that just started driving or one that has been driving for a while, you need to know that your child is safe. In today’s society, parents often worry where their children are and the crowd they are hanging around. There’s no need to worry any longer if you have a GPS vehicle tracking system installed on their vehicle.

I’m sure most parents are aware of the dangers young drivers face, but it’s important to mention that auto accidents are the number one killer of teens. Almost 6,000 teens die every year in auto accidents. Teens account for 14% of all motor vehicle accident deaths. 5,288 teens died in motor vehicle accidents in 2005 in the U.S. Crashes are the leading cause of death among teens, accounting for more than one-third of all deaths of 16 to 18 year-olds. It’s always good to be reminded of the statistics so that, as parents, we ensure the safety of our children. After all, it is the parent’s responsibility to keep them safe.

If you have a teen that has been driving for less than 2 year, he or she does not possess the maturity and experience necessary to have free reign of the road without some supervision. Yes, it’s normal for parents to worry once they hand over the keys, but GPS teen tracking reduces, if not eliminates, that unnecessary stress.

Sure, we send them to driver’s education, we teach them defensive driving, and we tell them about the mistakes that we made and the tricks we learned growing up, but again, experience and maturity can not be taught.

Driver’s Education is important, but it does not reduce the need for additional training and driver supervision that we see as the primary benefit with the implementation of a vehicle tracking system. Unfortunately, the problem is that so many crashes involve the driver’s attitude, not their skill. According to The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, “Training and education don’t change these tendencies,” and they advise not to rely solely on driver education.

High school driver education may be the most convenient way to learn skills, but it doesn’t produce safer drivers. Even graduated licensing doesn’t attempt to modify driver behavior directly, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

It’s easy to get caught up in a false sense of security because our kids are good kids they will always stay out of trouble; therefore, nothing bad will happen to them. Unfortunately, even teens that usually follow the rules can be easily distracted or encouraged to take risks without constant monitoring. Statistics show that most fatally injured young drivers don’t have prior traffic violations or crashes on their records. Teens will make their best independent decisions under supervision or while they are monitored with a vehicle tracking device.

A GPS vehicle tracking device will offer parents an easy way to track their teen from the convenience of their home or office. For example, the RMT Rover offered by Rocky Mountain Tracking shows live tracking from the internet and it sends speed alerts and alerts a parent when the vehicle has gone in or out of a restricted zone, a zone which is determined by the parent. It also offers a buffet of different, user-friendly, history reports, maps and graphs to identify driving patterns.

There may also be some financial benefits with teen tracking. Many insurance companies are offering discounts for teens that are being tracked. Insurance companies say that a GPS vehicle tracking system provides a convenient and effective way to reduce the likelihood of risky driving behavior.