Email

By Greg Bartlett

My younger brother is a dangerous driver. I wasn’t joking when I told people to stay off the roads when he got his permit. Knocking over trashcans, scraping mailboxes, riding up on curbs, pulling into the parking space a little too far: teenage drivers do it all. And unless there’s visible damage to the car itself, they see no need to tell their parents about it.

Teen Driver Safety

No wonder so many parents are concerned for the safety of their teenage drivers. But using new vehicle tracking devices, parents can know every movement that their teenagers make in the car. Parents are willing to shell out a little extra every month in exchange for the peace of mind that their teenager is following the driving rules they set up.

The programs that come with vehicle tracking devices might not be able to point out that your teenager hit a mailbox when he backed out of the driveway a little too sharply, but you would be able to see his location and that he started to back out and had to pull in a little and try again. Little movements like this would show what your teenage driver needs to work on. Parents with inexperienced teenage drivers may not be able to prevent the mistakes caused by their young people, but using vehicle tracking devices, they can be sure that their teens learn from their mistakes.

However, these programs can’t do everything. For example, the devices can’t check for drinking and driving, but you will be able to tell if your teen is driving in a reckless manner. There is obviously not guarantee that your teenager will be safe while in the car, but these devices can definitely improve the situation in a variety of ways.

Many vehicle tracking devices track speeding and can even monitor whether or not the teen is using his seatbelt. Parents can also get text message alerts sent to their cell phone if their teen exceeds a certain speeding or drives out of or into a predetermined area. This allows the parents to be reassured that their teen is staying out of trouble and following the rules. Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death among young people. Parents should do everything they can to decrease the number of teens killed in car crashes every year.