Turning sixteen and gaining the freedom that comes with a driver’s license is a major step forward toward adulthood. At this stage, parents need to trust that their teens will drive safely and make the right choices while behind the wheel – the way they were taught.
Making good decisions and implementing safe driving practices can be difficult when a teen first begins driving without a parent in the passenger seat. Fortunately, technology is now available for parents to monitor their teens’ driving – technology that will alert parents when unsafe choices are made so that bad decisions can be addressed and reviewed, and potential accidents and serious injuries can be avoided.
From GPS to mini cameras, plenty of devices are available for parents to use to keep track of their children’s driving and to aid in the development of safe driving habits.
Cell Phone Lock – programs are available that will lock a cell phone while a car is in motion. Using the cell phone’s GPS, once the phone reaches a certain speed the program locks the phone so that calls and texts cannot be made or received.
“Black Box” – these data collecting devices can be used to track speed, distance driving and location. This information is recorded and can be downloaded by a parent later. Also, this technology can be set so that alerts are sent to parents when a teen exceeds a certain speed limit or drives too far.
TIWI – a product that alerts parents when a teen speeds, neglects to wear a seatbelt, drives outside of a range set by parents, or drives to aggressively. The system also alerts the teen driver of these issues by voicing the unsafe driving habit, and repeats the warning until the teen address the unsafe behavior.
Mini Camera – a small camera that records the vehicle, including audio, when unsafe driving occurs, including speeding, hard braking or swerving.
It can be said that these technologies show a lack of trust by parents, but teen drivers’ safety should be the biggest concern. The hope is that such devices prevent teens from getting into car accidents.
