Global Positioning Systems Track Teen Drivers and Provide Parents' Peace of Mind
By Lindsay Robison
Sleepless nights. Parents have plenty of them, especially in the beginning when they're up every few hours for late-night - or early-morning - feedings or to peek in on their little ones sleeping soundly. These nights might calm down a bit when the babies start sleeping through the night and grow into toddlers, elementary age - save for a few nights of making sure there are no monsters in the closet - and into their 'tweens. But then they hit 15 and 16 . and they're asking for mom's and dad's car keys.
It's an experience for which almost every teen can't wait. Whether or not their dreams of a shiny, gift-wrapped car delivered on their sixteenth birthdays are realities, most are just excited to get behind the wheel, in whatever form it may come. As excited as teens are for that new taste of freedom, parents are equally as apprehensive. It is no wonder parents lose sleep. Motor vehicle crashes rank No. 1 in the leading causes of death among young people ages 15 to 20. In 2005, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, almost 3,500 drivers in that age group lost their lives in crashes and another 281,000 were injured.
No parent wants to be one of the more than half million to receive the late-night phone call or knock on the door with news that his or her child has been involved in an accident.
"I mean you're putting your kid out on the streets with a 7,000-pound weapon," says Ginny Elder of South Lake, Texas, and mom of a 17-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter. "You worry about them, but you also worry about the other drivers."
So tonight it wouldn't be surprising to see countless American parents sleeping on the couch, tossing and turning, or waiting by the phone until they hear the sounds of their teens pulling into the driveway or garage safely for the night.
But thanks to some fairly old technology - it's been around for about 15 years - being used in a new way, parents no longer have to wait and wonder whether their children are safe. In fact, mom and dad can know exactly where their son or daughter is and how fast he or she is traveling.