There have been a number of companies who have "nibbled around the edges" of providing service to parents wanting to supervise their teens. The primary focus on this potentially big business has been from cell phone providers. They, of course, see this as a way to pack on some options, but tracking via cell phone has some very obvious disadvantages. Actually so many disadvantages that I ought to post a whole separate blog entry on it. However, the number one reason tracking the cell phone is not ideal for teen monitoring is that you aren't tracking the teen's car, you're tracking the phone .. which can be turned off, left with a friend or otherwise doctored to make the whole exercise useless.
If you want to exercise your authority as apparent (and it's no secret that I think you should) and you want to provide the maximum in safety and security, I think you need to track their vehicle.
Here's one well-established commercial tracking provider who got smart and is offering a useful service:
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Discrete Wireless Announces Official GPS Teen Tracking Distributor Network
Wednesday July 27, 2:51 pm ET
Keep Teen Drivers Safer, Lower Insurance Costs, Send Driving Directions, Reduce Vehicle Theft
ATLANTA, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlanta-based Discrete Wireless, Inc. a leading provider of GPS Vehicle Tracking Systems, today announced their official Teen Tracking Dealer Network, a new program for coordinating Discrete Wireless distributors who specialize in providing, installing, and training of GPS Vehicle Tracking solutions for parents of teen drivers......
Read the whole article here:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050727/clw526.html?.v=3
Dangerous driving is the number one cause of teen deaths, and all the airbags and other so-called safety paraphernalia in the world can't protect against the drunken teen showing off at 100 plus miles per hour driven by his out of control testosterone.
A live device, semi-permanently mounted in the vehicle itself, which lets parents know when parameters they have set are exceeded is a factor that can greatly reduce teen risk and reduce parent's stress levels.
It's interesting to note that after their initial (quite natural) sense of rebellion and outrage that many teens are now happy to have the device .. after all, thew typical teen acts without forethought sometimes and under peer pressure other times, and having a parent watching over their shoulder helps fight those destructive impulses.
Disclaimer: i sell GPS tracking for a living, but this is no hidden sales pitch .. I don't even market the Marcus product mentioned in this article. But I do care about kids, and I do well remember what ab *sshole I was as an unsupervised teen driver .. so learn more about this life-saving technology and visit my competitors, visit my web site, read a book, whatever it takes but _DO_ somehting.
Your kids are in danger and even if they act out when you try to impose disipline, they need it ... and you have a moral responsibility to do what you can to keep them alive.
1 comment:
Oh, sorry, forgot to mention cost. A system like the Marcus mentioned in today's post runs on the low edge of $400 plus installation and $35 to $75 a month for the tracking itself. To see what teens are doing a parent needs to buy a monthly rate of service that is toward the higher end, so you can get request reports from the vehicle.
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