Rocky Mountain Tracking

By Elizabeth M. Hachet

If your teen wants a car, you’re not alone. Many parents want their teens to start driving as soon as possible. After all, it’s sort of satisfactory not to have to take your teen to every basketball practice, every football practice, and every tennis match.

Still, teen driving is a time of worry, and why wouldn’t be? 3,490 people ages 15-20 died in the year 2006 alone.

It is extremely stressful for parents during a time of teenage driving, even if your teenager can handle responsibility. Even good kids that get good grades in school make mistakes.

At fifteen and sixteen years old, the brain is not fully developed. Therefore, the teenager lacks the maturity necessary to always make the best independent decisions behind the wheel without adult supervision.

Chances are you and your son or daughter has already been discussing the rules of the road. What rules do you have set for your teenager’s driving? Rules may seem unfair to teenagers, but remind them quickly that it’s either the rules or no car privileges and they’ll be quick to agree. If they refuse to comply with your rules, then you should take the car keys away. Better safe than sorry.

Basic ground rules can include setting a curfew, no drug or alcohol use, geographical boundaries should be set, always be available by phone, and they should always have adult supervision during their first year of driving.

Other rules can and should include cell phone use while driving and texting. Even if state law does not prohibit the use of cell phones while driving, it should never happen. Texting should be forbidden, as it does not allow the driver to properly concentrate on the road. If it’s necessary to make a phone call, they can pull over to an area where it’s safe to stop the car. If they can’t pull over, they’ll simply have to wait until they can.

Kids Health is a good resouce of information that offers rules for parents to give to their teenagers—very basic, good ground rules for teenagers. You can select the rules from the list that you like.

Different parents will handle the rules differently. What are you going to do when the rule is broken? One woman sold the car she gave her son as a gift when she found an alcohol bottle under the seat. The son was upset, but when you find something as severe as drugs and alcohol in the car, you need to take actions quickly.

It is strongly advised that you buy a GPS teen tracking system to monitor your teen’s driving for the first year or two. Having a GPS monitoring system is a good way to keep trouble from happening. Some teens admit that they speed less frequently when one is on the car because they know that Mom and/or Dad are watching and going from 0-60 will only get them in trouble.

There are many great benefits if you choose to install a GPS system on your car. Depending on the make and model, you can tell everything from what street your child is on to how many people are in the car, where they have been, and where they are right now.

GPS can deter theft as well. If your car or your teen’s car is stolen, you can instantly track the current position of the vehicle from your computer. Of course, if your car is stolen, you should always turn the case over to the police, but there’s no better feeling than helping them find it quickly by telling them exactly where the vehicle is located.

Your teen can be the safest driver in the world, but even if your teen is not likely to cause an accident, the other drivers on the road can.

You make the final rules on driving. After all, you are responsible for them. It’s your duty to make sure they’re safe by pulling out all the stops. Remember, the best way to teach them to drive safely is to drive safely is direct supervision or monitoring with a Tracking Key device.

Tracking device would have saved time and worry
By Jackie Gately

Once again, my dog, Buddy, makes it clear to me that he needs a GPS tracking collar.

The last I saw of him yesterday was his hindquarters bounding off into the snowy distance. Usually within an hour or two, Buddy tires of the adventure and returns home. But not this time.

Night fell and temperatures dropped, and still there was no sign of my cheery yellow lab. My household took on a somber mood. My children looked for assurance of Buddy’s eventual return and well-being. I couldn’t tell them with any honesty that Buddy was safe.

I put in calls to the dog officer and dog pound. I drove up and down streets at a snail’s place, and cruised the nearby stretch of highway with my hazard lights flashing. I wondered, would my almost-white dog be visible at night and in the snow banks if struck by a car?

After tucking the kids in to bed, I dozed on the couch, hoping to hear a bark at the door as the night wore on. There was no such luck.

When I awoke after a restless night, it was only 12 degrees. Still, no Buddy. My children were heartbroken and I was worried sick. Was Buddy injured somewhere in the woods? Was he far away and disoriented? Or, worse, had he frozen to death in the cold? I was pretty sure all the lakes were frozen… My fears started to get the best of me.

To ease my mind, I took action. I made calls to the Highway Department, searched PetFinder.com, and phoned animal control officers and veterinary hospitals in neighboring towns. It wasn’t until mid morning when I got the call from the local dog officer. She had found Buddy, 24 nail-biting hours later and a full 27 miles from home. Thank goodness!

Apparently, Buddy had been raiding a neighbor’s birdfeeder and they mistook him for a hungry stray. They were kind enough to let Buddy in from the cold. He ate their cat food; terrorized their cats; jumped on couches; played with kids; scoffed whatever he could off the counters – including a full stick of butter. And somehow, despite all that, the visiting grandfather took a liking to him!

So, Grandfather took him to his house in the city. He walked him on the city streets, treated him to pig ears, and let him sleep beside his bed. When my neighbor finally called animal control in the morning to report the find, the dog officer knew it was Buddy. What other dog would manage to get five-star treatment at an all-inclusive overnight in the city for free? For a while, we too, planned to treat Buddy like royalty. But I couldn’t help but think we would have all had a better night if I’d simply collared him with a GPS tracker device.

Jackie Gately is a freelance writer who has a new appreciation today for her yellow lab, Buddy. She can be reached at jackiegately.wordpress.com

By Greg Bartlett

It is common knowledge that insurance premiums eat up a large portion of everyone’s income be it corporate or private. What may not be common knowledge is that insurance often offer deep discounts to customers who use GPS tracking technology as a safety measure against theft of property. Any item of value can be tracked using a tracker.

Items that typically have tracking devices added to them include vehicle, heavy equipment, jewelry, and even high end electronic equipment. The actual device can be made to look like almost anything, making it difficult for a thief to locate and remove or disable. In the event of a theft, the owner can activate the device and track the item using a computer with an internet connection.

The particulars of the signal can be turned over to police quickly and easily. Almost all police cars have an onboard computer that can link to the internet these days, which increases the likelihood that the item will be recovered quickly and safely. The odds of catching the thief are also increased exponentially compared to items that are not equipped with tracking or monitoring systems.

Insurance carriers around the world recognize these facts and the value of GPS anti theft devices in making recoveries of stolen items. For this reason, they are less likely to have to pay out large sums of money on claims. Unlike items that are insured, then stolen and never recovered, tracked items are almost always found and recovered before any serious damage is done.

Insurance premiums are based on the risk being taken by the insurer that they will have to pay out the value of the item being insured in the event of theft. Equipping valuable items with GPS anti theft devices reduce the risk that insurance carriers will have to pay on a claim. Thus, GPS is an investment that pays for itself in the savings on insurance premiums. Less risk translates directly into lower rates. These savings can be huge if the value of the item being insured has a very high inherent value.

Another facet of insurance on automobiles is the medical payments in the event of an accident. Tracking systems can often direct emergency services personnel to an accident scene even if the driver is unable to call 911 and report the accident. This timely response often saves lives and limits the effects of serious injuries, thus reducing the amount the insurance companies have to pay in medical claims. Tracking of vehicles may rate a discounted premium based on this fact as well as the reduction in property losses from theft.

By Elizabeth M. Hachet

It’s seven-thirty-five in the morning, and you’re about ready to drive to work. You’ve checked your pocket for your car keys, you’ve checked your pocket for your wallet.

You glance at your watch, and realize it’s eight o’clock. You grab your hot cup of coffee and fly out the door to where you parked your car last night, wondering how fast you can legally go so you can make it to your destination on time. You pull the car keys from your pocket and look up.

Then you realize one thing: Your car is gone.

Car theft happens every day, and it can happen to anyone at any time. Before you think it can’t happen to you, look at these shocking statistics: The FBI Uniform Crime Reports show that a car is stolen every 26.4 seconds in the US; the odds of your car being stolen are 1 in 207 – which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is. Western states had the largest car theft ranking, placing the car theft ranks at 36.8% out of all the US state; the South placed second at a still shocking 34.6%.

In the year 2006, 1,192,809 cars were stolen, leaving most of them with the hope of never recovering their cars again. Only 12.6% were recovered by arrests in the year 2006.

There are a few things you can do to make sure your car isn’t one of the ones snatched, like keeping the car doors locked and making sure there are no valuables in sight. Just that alone is not enough, as thieves can easily break into your car. If you think buying an old car will keep you safe from those pesky thieves, you’re wrong: the most common cars stolen are usually the older models.

So what is the easiest solution?

There are no easy, quick-to-be seen solutions. There are some preventative measures you can take, though: Always lock your car doors, don’t keep any valuable items in your car, and if you have the opportunity, park your car in a garage instead of on the street.

But what if the car does get stolen? What then? Is there any hope?

Police are great at investigations and tracking down items, but not everything gets found. A great solution to look into is GPS anti theft device. When you place a GPS on your car it can be tracked online and you will have a much easier time recovering it. Although GPS is not a solve-all, it makes it much easier for the police to be able to track down your vehicle and it can help solve the crime.

There is a true, but embarrassing story about valet parking. A man gave his car keys to the valet parking staff and asked them to park his car. When the man came back the next morning, his car was gone. The worst part was that it wasn’t even his car; it was his mother’s car. The valet staff searched all over the parking lot to no avail. The police searched for it as well, roaming the streets. When it was finally found a year later, the police came to this shocking conclusion: it was in the parking garage the whole time, much to everyone’s disbelief. If the man had put a GPS anti theft device on his car the entire incident could have most likely been avoided.

GPS is a great way to help solve auto theft. It can also deter a theft before it even happens. Furthermore, it will help the police track down your vehicle much faster because you will be able to track it’s every move from your computer. The reality is that many people become victims of auto theft, but few recover their vehicle in the same condition it was in, if at all due to the time lapse during the investigation and recovery period.

By Jackie Gately

When thinking about a Global Positioning System (GPS), a GPS navigation system is the first thing that comes to mind for many consumers. But few realize and consider the benefits of a GPS Tracking system. Here are a dozen worth considering:

1. Use a tracking Device on a family hiking trip or other travel adventure so you can plan a return trip, create a travel scrapbook, or post your route online for friends and family to enjoy.
2. Gain peace of mind by tracking older relatives that run local errands by car, or family members vacationing nationwide by RV. It preserves their independence with as much — or “just-in-case” — access to their whereabouts.
3. Secure your own personal safety by attaching a tracking system to your vehicle. Doing so assures that a person you trust can locate you if you are lost, have car trouble, or suffer a medical or other emergency.
4. Defend your own driving history and vehicle location to authorities or a distrustful spouse by equipping your car with a tracking device. It’s been said that “those with nothing to hide, hide nothing.”
5. Worried about the safety of your wild teenager on the road? Keep track of his activities by recording driving data. You can be the first alerted to side-trips or to report and respond to an accident with real-time auto tracking.
6. Investing in a GPS collar for your pet can save hours of worry and limit dog officer fees with an instant read of Fido’s position.
7. If you car is stolen, a quick recovery can prevent your vehicle from vandalism or being stripped for parts. Opt for a tracking system to ensure a prompt return and bring thieves to justice.
8. If you suspect a spouse or partner of being unfaithful or less than honest, install a tracking system to gather proof or deny your suspicions.
9. Use a car tracking device on your recreational vehicles, including boats and small planes, for an additional level of comfort while you “play.”
10. For your business, use a fleet management tracking system to manage and provide incentives for good employees based on adherence to company policies; dismiss dishonest employees.
11. Track corporate assets, large and small alike. Secure construction vehicles and other costly equipment with a GPS car tracking system to protect your investment.
12. For your business, it’s easy to dispatch the nearest fleet member to a client for emergency service or safety when you know exactly where to find them; a fleet management system provides up to the minute information.

Jackie Gately is a freelance writer. She can be reached at jackiegately.wordpress.com.

You might find yourself estranged from your business if you are unable to keep a close eye on your vehicles as well as your employees. Your unfamiliarity with what is happening to the business on-the-road can encourage the employees to waste your resources and essentially your profit margins. What is worse is when you start losing your regular clients and you find yourself in a frustrating situation of not being able to find the loophole. Hence, the stage is set for fleet tracking.

Monitoring Your Vehicles and Employees
GPS fleet management will help you to actively monitor minute-by-minute activities of your employees. If they are taking the liberty to misuse your vehicles, you can take a strict action against this. This way you can save wasted fuel and reduce your business cost. Thus, you get back the control of your business once again.

Becoming Accountable to Environment
GPS based systems can help you to become environment friendly. Strange but true! Your driver might not be taking the repair demanded by your vehicles seriously and this can contribute to pollution in the environment. However, fleet GPS tracking can help you correct your vehicles’ bad performance, even while sitting at home or at the office. You can actually participate in improving the operation of all the vehicles involved in your business.

Reviving Your Business Image
The installation of a GPS-based tracking system is no less than a symbol of reputation for your business. Not only the customers, but also the auto insurance companies are delighted to find these installations in your business vehicles. More than that, these devices can help improve the performances of your trucks as well as the employees, creating good credit for your business. You can always desire for a competitive edge with the help of a fleet management system, supported by GPS.

The good news is that you can customize the tracking software available in the market to meet your business preferences. Tracking devices can act as security measures against illegal use by the employees as well as against auto theft. For more information about GPS fleet tracking systems, call Rocky Mountain Tracking at 877-477-9668.

By Greg Bartlett

As many people are now aware, many vehicles leave the factory with GPS vehicle tracking devices installed in them. What most are not aware of is that certain types of devices may be worthless for aiding in the recovery of a stolen vehicle. All GM vehicles are now equipped with Onstar™ onboard. This is a subscription service that incorporates tracking to assist in emergency situations, such as following an accident. While the value of such a service cannot be overestimated, it may not be the right method to use for tracking a vehicle that has been stolen.

Private subscription services like Onstar™ are bound by very strict privacy policies. The number of steps they are required to take to ensure that no private information is released to anyone other than the vehicles owner or duly appointed police officers makes getting access to tracking information from these services in the event of a car theft take such a period of time as to make it too late to do any good by the time the authorities are able to locate and reach the vehicle.

It is not our purpose to dissuade people from using services like Onstar™. In fact we recommend their services because of the ability to notify emergency personnel in the event of an accident. These services do save lives. However, we also recommend the addition of another type of GPS vehicle tracking device that can be tracked from any computer by the person who owns the car so that it can be located quickly and efficiently in the event of a theft.

Several different types of tracking devices are available that can be installed in a secret location on the vehicle that car thieves are not likely to locate and disable. The owner of the device has the power to activate at will and track the signal via computer with an internet connection. This signal can be provided to police officers who are equipped to track the signal using onboard computers in their cars. The amount of time it takes to relay the necessary information to proper authorities is reduced to a minimum that increases the chance of making a safe vehicle recovery and an arrest of the car thief.

Another common service that people are familiar with is LoJack™. This service has been established for quite some time now, but many customers have no idea that LoJack™ is radio based and not GPS. When a vehicle so equipped is reported stolen, the customer must contact the police or service provider and report the vehicle stolen. The radio frequency used by LoJack™ can only be picked by very specialized equipment that is not available in all police vehicles. Of the ones that can receive this signal, many are often in the midst of more pressing calls than a stolen vehicle report, therefore, they do not respond as quickly as they might, and in some cases, not at all.

GPS tracking technology using a signal that can be tracked using an internet connected computer makes it possible for any police cruiser to locate a stolen vehicle and track its location within minutes of the theft. This can improve the odds that a police officer with the proper equipment will be available to work on the stolen vehicle immediately, increasing the chance of recovering the vehicle in a timely fashion and making an arrest. For these reasons, privately owned aftermarket GPS vehicle tracking systems are superior to some of the more highly publicized services such as Onstar™ and LoJack™ for tracking and recovering stolen vehicles.

By Greg Bartlett

One of the unfortunate difficulties of growing old in today’s world is the onset of the degenerative disease known as Alzheimer’s dementia. This disease is several orders of magnitude more debilitating than regular dementia of senility. With Alzheimer’s dementia, elderly patients often become disoriented and wander away from their home or nursing facility.

Unfortunately, many of these patients have become lost and have died due to exposure before anyone could locate them and bring them back to a safe location. The advent of GPS tracking technology has made it possible to prevent this type of tragedy from ever happening again. GPS tracking can actually save the lives of patients suffering with Alzheimer’s dementia.

When an Alzheimer’s patient wanders away from where he lives, it is not uncommon to find this individual up to a half mile from where he is supposed to be located. Unfortunately it is all too easy for a person to disappear in such a large area so that locating him in time to save him from the elements can be difficult to impossible.

A GPS personal tracking device can be placed on the body of the Alzheimer’s patient so that when he goes missing, the device can be activated and rescuers can be directed to the location of the signal within just a few minutes to determine the condition of the individual and get him medical care if needed and return him to the proper location. The presence of the tracking device can prevent the person from being lost until it is too late to save him.

Even less severely impaired patients can become disoriented from time to time. It can be beneficial to have a personal tracking device placed on elderly people who have shown signs of any variety of dementia. This can prevent them from wandering away and becoming lost because they can be located with the device in a very short time frame.

Elderly people living at home can benefit from a GPS personal tracking device as well as those living in nursing centers or other skilled care facilities. The families of patients suffering with dementia can rest easier knowing that they can activate the device at any time and keep tabs on the location of their relatives at any time. Knowing that their elderly relative is safe at home brings a great deal of peace of mind and locating them in the event they wander off can save their lives.

By Greg Bartlett

For many years scientist have been working on GPS technology that would be able to track vehicles. Since this technology has improved greatly in the past years, the police and private investigators have begun using these devices. These devices are very useful for police investigations in numerous ways.

One of the many benefits of tracking devices is the fact that policemen or private investigators do not have to be near the subject that they are trying to track. This makes the policeman’s job safer because there is no immediate threat to life. If he were trying to track someone in person he would have the danger of being seen by the subject in question. This could lead to a possible assault on the policeman and may lead to the loss of life.

A great benefit of a GPS tracking device is that all the information can be stored on a computer. This is a great feature because if the policeman who heads up the investigation is killed or is out of commission for some reason or another, other policemen can quickly learn about the habits of the subject in question from the information stored on the computer. If the subject is arrested the information could be used in court to help prove the accusations pointed at the subject.

One of the few defects of a GPS tracking device is how the tracker is deployed. Although the units themselves are small and easy to put in place, the policeman or private investigator may have to put a tracking device on a suspect’s car. The investigator has to run up to a car during the night, put the tracking system on the car and get out of the vicinity without being caught or sighted. The chances of the investigator being caught are dangerously high and there is not much he can do to get out of the situation if he’s caught without letting on that the subject is being followed.

These devices are very useful and practical for police investigations. They potentially save lives. The information gathered on the devices can be reliably backed up. The problems are minimal compared to their benefits. Policemen necessarily use them when there is an opportunity to do so. However, they need to be careful in order to keep from getting caught when placing the device on a subject’s vehicle.

By Greg Bartlett

It is common knowledge that insurance companies prefer not to have to pay out in claims. It is also common knowledge that insurance companies often offer discounts for passive safety equipment, such as airbags, in vehicles because these devices can reduce injuries, and thus, the amount of money paid out in claims. What may not be common knowledge is that GPS tracking systems in vehicles can qualify for discounts with many insurance companies.

In the past, vehicles were stolen for one of two reasons. Either someone was looking for a “joy ride”, or a professional thief had an outlet for selling the parts stripped from a stolen car in a short time period, making it profitable to steal vehicles. In either case, the vehicle, if ever recovered, was often in such a state that the insurance company was forced to total it and pay out its full value.

GPS tracking systems are now installed at the factory on many vehicles. However, they do not offer the vehicle owner direct access to the tracking. In this case, you are being tracked, but you don’t know who is tracking you. The best tracking solution is an aftermarket device that can be purchased at a low cost. In the event that a vehicle equipped with a GPS tracking system is stolen, one telephone call can have the device activated to transmit on a frequency that police can receive and track the exact location of the vehicle. Often, the thief can be apprehended and the car recovered before any major damage is done to the vehicle.

For this reason, many insurance companies are willing to offer a discount on insurance premiums for vehicles equipped with GPS devices. Having a chance to recover the vehicle with a minimum of damage reduces the costs incurred by an insurance company in claims. They often offer discounts as an incentive to have vehicles equipped with tracking devices.

Everyone knows that insurance companies offer discounts on premiums as an incentive to have passive safety devices installed in a vehicle. Tracking devices added as an aftermarket item work to protect property in much the same way that airbags protect the people in a vehicle. Both types of devices reduce the amount of money that insurance companies are forced to pay out in claims, thus both types of devices can merit discounts on premiums as an incentive to have these devices installed in a vehicle. A GPS tracking system can also lead to more arrests, reducing the number of car thieves working and cutting down on the number of vehicle thefts.

For more information about GPS, contact Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc., at 877-477-9668 or visit them online at RMTracking.com.