Teen driving have caused the highest fatality for teenagers in a number of years.  Recently ABC’s Good Morning America published an article related to teen driving.   One of the many causes of poor teen driving are distractions.  “Eighty-seven percent of the 6,000 teens that die every year die because of driving with distractions,” Allstate Insurance spokeswoman Megan Brunet said. 

According to a study by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance, driving without a seatbelt or driving high speed with another teen proved to be one of the deadliest situations for teen driving.  In the research study, out of 10,000 teen drivers who were killed, 50% of them were with another teen and over 75% of them occur in speed limits above 45mph.

With the information from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance, ABC Good Morning America decided to do a teen driving test and here’s the results.

Teen Driving Test

Correspondent David Kerley and his teen daughter Devan, who has been driving for one year, took the challenge.

The pair used the Allstate Insurance practice course and Devan got all the basics, like aggressive braking and collision avoidance.

Once she got the hang of it, distractions were added to the equation. First, texting was brought into the mix. As Devan read a text, she jerked the wheel and hit the course cones. When friends were brought in as backseat passengers, the distraction proved too much for Devan, who hit more cones.

Even eating brought problems. As Devan handed cookies to her passengers, she hit additional cones on the course.

“It was kind of like panic [because] I was trying to listen to them and I wasn’t looking ahead,” she said after completing the course.

“Those cones could have been people, and when you’re distracted, you aren’t able to avoid those cones or whatever they may be,” she said.

Devan said she found the course extremely useful.

“I think this would be a cool course, standard procedure, for teens trying to get their licenses,” she said.

Cary, Illinois and Reston, Virginia – March 25, 2008 – LandAirSea Systems, the leading provider of mass market GPS-based tracking devices, announced today the launch of a miniature, battery-powered, GSM-based real-time vehicle tracking unit featuring u-blox 5 GPS technology from Swiss GPS technology provider, u-blox.

LandAirSea’s new 8100G tracking device incorporates the latest in GPS and wireless technology to accurately determine the exact location of a vehicle, and can be used to track individual vehicles or entire fleets. Based on the highly successful CDMA-based 8100, the innovative 8100G now additionally offers GSM network operability. As the prevalent mobile communications standard worldwide, GSM operability significantly widens the device’s geographical reach.

The much-anticipated 8100G will provide fleet managers, government agencies, business owners, as well as consumers real-time vehicle and asset tracking device that uses the immensely popular Google Earth program for high-resolution satellite imaging. Since GSM is the most prevalent mobile communications standard worldwide, the new 8100G will allow LandAirSea to expand its customer base beyond the USA and Canada.

“We have been working with u-blox GPS technology for more than 6 years and have always been extremely pleased with the quality and performance of their receivers”, said Rob Wagner, CEO of LandAirSea. “For our new tracker we did extensive testing of other available GPS technology and found u-blox’ new u-blox 5 receivers to be clearly superior, both in price and performance”.

The 8100 tracking unit features a u-blox GPS receiver boasting 2-meter position accuracy and -160dBm sensitivity, which enables accurate, reliable tracking, even in difficult signal environments.

“We are very proud that LandAirSea decided to use u-blox 5 for the 8100G,” said Nikolaos Papadopoulos, President of u-blox America. “LandAirSea’s customers require ultra-fast, accurate position availability, even in covert installations. Our innovative Kickstart and SuperSense technologies were developed to respond accurately and reliably to those needs”.

The self-contained device measures approx. 1″ x 2″ x 3¾” (2.5cm x 5cm x 9.5cm), and is battery-powered and completely portable. It also can be hard-wired for permanent applications. Other key features of the 8100G include live 1-second updates, a built-in lithium-ion rechargeable battery, a motion sensor, a wiring harness for permanent installation, in and out of zone geo-fencing with text message and/or e-mail notification and a data logging features that enables remote downloads.

8100G samples are available from LandAirSea’s website. Volume shipments are scheduled for Q2 2008.

About LandAirSea Systems

Headquartered in Cary, IL, LandAirSea Systems, Inc. has been a pioneer providing GPS-based tracking technology since 1994. Developers of the world’s smallest GPS tracking key, LandAirSea today has hundreds of thousands GPS tracking systems in operation worldwide, making it an industry leading provider of effective, cost-efficient tracking solutions for government, consumer as well as businesses. For more information, please visit www.landairsea.com.

About u-blox

u-blox is an international company headquartered in Switzerland. u-blox has subsidiaries in the USA, Singapore and Hong Kong and additional representative offices in China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Founded in 1997, u-blox develops leading positioning technology, products and services based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), including GPS and Galileo, for the automotive and mobile communications markets. For more information, please visit www.u-blox.com.

LandAirSea Systems Contacts

Rob Wagner, CEO
phone: +1 847 462 8100, e-mail: rwagner@landairsea.com

Steve Moehling, Vice President Sales
phone: +1 847 462 8100, e-mail: steve.moehling@u-blox.com

u-blox Contacts

Brad Sherrard, Vice President Sales, u-blox America Inc.
phone: +1 (703) 483 3182, e-mail: brad.sherrard@u-blox.com

Alicia Montoya, Communications Manager
phone: +41 (44) 722 74 86, e-mail: alicia.montoya@u-blox.com

Source: u-blox

The GPS Tracking Key was recently reviewed by www.gadgetking.com and they made this great video.  The GPS Tracking is that quick and easy to install.  When you want to retrieve the GPS data, just plug the GPS Tracking Key into your computer and you’ll see GPS data in Google Earth.  Enjoy the video!

LandAirSea Systems, the leading manufacturer of GPS-based surveillance technology, has announced that it recorded record sales for its GPS tracking products in 2007.  With the continued success of the passive Tracking Key and 3100 series, along with the next generation 8100 real-time unit, LandAirSea Systems delivered more than 25,000 systems worldwide. The growing popularity of GPS tracking transcends numerous applications and industries.  This fact ushers in a new era for this technology as quality retailers recognize these opportunities and look to LandAirSea to fill this need.  With all PepBoys Auto Parts stores nationally as well as 250+ Radio Shack Dealers, this represents more than 1,000 retail stores carrying the Tracking Key within the United States alone.

“We have expanded international operations by developing distribution channels throughout Europe, Indonesia, and Australia. This decision was built upon the success of the U.S. market share as well as the long anticipated GSM-based international real-time unit launching in the summer of 2008.”, said Steve Moehling, VP Sales & Marketing.  

About LandAirSea Systems -

Headquartered in Cary, IL, LandAirSea Systems, Inc. has been a pioneer manufacturing GPS-based surveillance technology since 1994.  Government, consumer, as well as small to large businesses have selected LandAirSea products as the systems of choice based upon superior design, ease of use, and quality customer service. 

Real-time GPS Tracking units incorporate a method to transmit the GPS information from the vehicle.  Although satellite uplink of data is available, cellular data communications is the most common and cost effective.   Automatic incremental updating provides a continuous source of tracking throughout a recording period.  This provides for current as well as historical logging positions.  The frequency of these updates depends upon the manufacturer’s design capabilities as well as the data plans the customer has chosen.  Customers utilizing real-time GPS Tracking solutions range from consumers, fleet managers, small to large business owners with mobile assets and employees, and government agencies.
 

Quality real-time GPS Tracking solutions not only offer rapid updating, they take into account design considerations that ensure the same key features as identified in the passive units above.  This includes accuracy, sensitivity, frequency of sampling points, power resources, reliability, and software that translates this raw data into an effective tracking resource tool.   Since the cellular data module adds an additional power draw, LandAirSea incorporates a 4400 mA lithium-ion battery pack.  This gives the user the option of portability or hard-wire installations that do not have an adverse affect on 12V power systems. 
 

The LandAirSea real-time 8100 series GPS Tracking device was released after 2-1/2 years of extensive development and testing.  Similar to the LandAirSea passive line of products, the 8100 was designed to create a competitive advantage by offering the customer true real-time tracking.   Unlike the competition, the 8100 has the ability to transmit positions as fast as once per second.  This provides a user the ability to monitor vehicle updates as they occur.  After many years of calling GPS Tracking units providing one (1) to five (5) minute updating as “real-time”, LandAirSea has bridged that technology gap and offers the true real-time solution.  This comes as no surprise as LandAirSea has always stayed ahead of the GPS Tracking technology curve and continues to develop new products.
 

The LandAirSea 8100 data servers operate in a climate-controlled, 24/7 monitored co-location office.  This provides mission-critical reliability and peace of mind operation.

GPS Tracking System 8100

Since the GPS is a receiver and not a transmitter, passive GPS Tracking devices lack a transmission device such as a cellular uplink module that sends the GPS data from the vehicle.  Therefore, the passive GPS Tracking devices, also known as data loggers, are primarily recording devices. 

GPS data loggers have an internal flash memory, a memory card slot or a USB port. They can store GPS data gathered from the asset to which they are attached. The stored GPS data can be downloaded into a computer for further analysis. The GPS data recorded includes speed, location, and time or how long the device remained stationary. With LandAirSea GPS tracking systems. The stored GPS data can then be downloaded via USB port and the animated route could be viewed with Google Earth. These passive GPS tracking devices are used by sports enthusiasts while jogging or backpacking to calculate the length and duration of a trip. They can be used by parents for teenage tracking and by private investigators. They give the freedom of not having to track the target asset or vehicle closely.

Not all passive GPS Tracking devices are created equal.   When considering a passive unit, comparisons should be based upon accuracy, sensitivity, frequency of sampling points, power resources, reliability, and software that translates this raw data into an effective tracking resource tool. 

The LandAirSea passive GPS Tracking devices include the GPS Tracking Key and GPS Tracking System 3100 series

A GPS Tracking device can enable anyone to track the location of a person, a vehicle, or an asset anywhere on the earth. There are 27 satellites orbiting the earth, 24 are operational, the other three will become operational if one of the satellites fail. At any given time there are at least three satellites that are visible in the sky from a location. These satellites could then triangulate on the position of the GPS tracking device attached to the object targeted. By continually triangulating the coordinates on a regular interval, the satellites could determine the speed, distance traveled, and how long an object remains stationary.

There are two types of GPS Tracking systems in the market and these are classified as Passive and Active. 

Passive GPS Tracking

Active GPS Tracking

Not all GPS Tracking devices are created equal.   When considering a GPS tracking unit, comparisons should be based upon accuracy, sensitivity, frequency of sampling points, power resources, reliability, and software that translates this raw data into an effective tracking resource tool. 

The LandAirSea passive GPS Tracking devices include the GPS Tracking Key and GPS Tracking system 3100 series. 

Accuracy

  The Land Air Sea line of GPS Tracking Devices, whether active or passive, provides 2.5 meter (roughly 6 foot) accuracy. 
 

Sensitivity

  Since GPS Tracking for many users is covert in nature, the tracking device needs to be manufactured in a way that maximizes GPS reception.  Most traditional GPS devices need a clear view of the sky and will lose GPS reception if placed in a compromising position.  The LandAirSea line of GPS Tracking devices are designed with these concerns in mind providing the ability to hide the unit in effective, covert locations. 

Frequency of Sampling Points

  The LandAirSea passive GPS Tracking devices capture and store GPS signals including time, position, and speed once every second.   Competing products capture data once every five (5) to ten (10) seconds per sampling.  The second by second data provides more fluid, detailed reporting information.

Power Resources

  Because the highest percentage of GPS Tracking customers require portability, it is critical that the devices are power efficient.  All LandAirSea tracking devices provide a minimum of 20 hours of “wheels in motion” tracking.  With motion sensor technology built-in, you can expect days or even weeks of tracking ability.  Results will vary based upon the number of hours “in motion” per day.
 

Reliability

  All products offered by LandAirSea go through extensive pre-development research and testing.  The end result ensures our customers are purchasing products that are at the forefront of GPS tracking technology.  This process is responsible for establishing LandAirSea’s position as the industry leader in GPS Tracking solutions and are the systems of choice regardless of customer type.
 

Software

  The LandAirSea GPS Tracking software provides the user with three methods of evaluating passive tracking data in a user-friendly package that meet the needs of the computer novice as well as the more advanced computer users.

1. Digital street mapping provides a historical in-motion replay showing when and where the vehicle traveled with animated speedometer, clock with second-hand, compass, etc. 
2. Google Earth® satellite image display accurately showing the path and stops.
3. Detailed activity reporting identifying daily summary and individual driving segments.  This includes the starting address, time departed, time en route, arrival addresses, miles traveled, and how long the vehicle stayed at each location.  The stop time interval is also customizable.

The significance of second by second data is critical in providing a comprehensive, fluid replay of any and all historical tracking data.  Any device providing less than second by second recording falls short of these expectations.  As an example, the LandAirSea Passive GPS Tracking devices record 3,600 positions per driving hour whereas competing devices recording every 5 seconds only provide 720 positions per driving hour.

Did you know the number one cause of teenager deaths are car accidents?

In 2000, 6,495 people between the ages of 15 and 20 were killed in motor vehicle crashes—the leading cause of death for this age group.

GPS tracking systems have given parents a convenient, cost-effective and easy-to-use tool to keep their teenagers safe. GPS tracking systems helps parents keep their teenagers accountable while still giving them privacy. Passengers affect the way teenagers drive, they drive differently depending who is in the vehicle with them. However, with a gps tracking system, parents are able to monitor teenager’s driving habits without having to be in the vehicle with them. Here are facts that every parent need know from the National Security Counsil(NSC):

• More than 3,800 young drivers age 15-20 are killed every year in traffic crashes. More than 326,000 young drivers are injured.
• Young drivers are involved in fatal traffic crashes at over twice the rate as the rest of the population.
• Exceding the posted speed limit or driving at an unsafe speed is the most common error in fatal accidents.

It is very important for parents familiarize themselves with their teenager’s driving habits. Without proper monitoring and guidance, the risk of young and inexperienced drivers can be fatal.

GPS tracking systems are able to monitor speed, location, time and time duration of the gps tracking device remains stationary. In addition to tracking driving habits, it also keeps teenagers accountable of where they went. With LandAirSea GPS tracking system, you will never have worry about where your teenager’s been or how they’re driving as LandAirSea GPS Tracking System keeps them accountable and helps build your trust with your teenager.

As seen in New York Central NBC

Back in July, George Ford was arrested in Chenango County for the death of a 12-year-old girl. Ford was charged with reckless endangerment. However, authorities discovered there was a global positioning system in his car. The device is called a tracking key. Ford’s wife put it in his truck, because she suspected he was having an affair. Based on the information taken from the tracking key, Ford was charged with murder.
  

To test this out, we got our town tracking key from Land Air Sea Systems. For the test, we put it in one of our news cars and headed down to Chenango County. The tracking key followed our every move, just as the Chenango County District Attorney says it did to George Ford.

“The tracking key provided vital information that we never would have had or have been able to prove,” says Joseph McBridge, Chenango County District Attorney.

However, can the information be trusted? The Vice President of Land Air Sea Systems testified to a grand jury in the in the Ford cast that it can.

“We use one of the most sensitive GPS receivers on the market.  It gives us 2.5 meter accuracy plus or minus roughly 6 feet accuracy,” says Steven Moehling, Vice President of Land Air Sea Systems.

It reads your position every second, but we wanted to see it for ourselves. We kept logs of everywhere we turned, every stop we made and when. The GPS allowed us to track our movements using printed tracking logs. An animated mapping system and Google Earth which shows satellite pictures of the areas we drove through, second by second.

“Obviously for law enforcement purposes is to have this in some body’s vehicle when they are committing a crime was priceless,” says Joseph McBride, Chenango County District Attorney.

The Chenango County Sheriff says in Ford’s original story, he was driving 12-year-old Shyanne Somers home after babysitting around midnight on July 7th. He detoured on Will Warner Road to show her some horses. When she got out, Ford says he turned around recklessly and accidentally ran Somers over.

“He said he stayed at the accident scene for hours because he was in shock…then he said he got lost because he didn’t know the back roads,” Sheriff Thomas Loughren, Chenango County.

The Sheriff says when they found the tracking device; they determined Ford’s first stop on Will Warner Road with Somers wasn’t the pasture, but an abandoned house where investigators say his truck stayed for three hours.

“While at the abandoned house we believe Shyanne got away on foot and proceeded down will warner road,” Sheriff Thomas Loughren, Chenango County.

Based on the information from the tracking key, that’s when investigators believe Ford chased Somers down the road in his truck and intentionally ran her over around 3:00 am. But Ford’s attorney maintains his client ran over Somers around midnight.

“I don’t have evidence that he intentionally killed anybody and there is no GPS to show that,” says Randel Scharf, Ford’s attorney.

So, we re-enacted what happened based on what Ford told investigators. We left his house, drove up Will Warner Road to the pasture, near where Shyanne would have gotten out. Then we turned around. When we looked at the information from the tracking key, we saw our speed, altitude and the time every step of the way with shocking accuracy. The GPS also clearly showed that we changed direction twice while turning around by the pasture.

The Chenango County District Attorney says the GPS being used in the Ford case shows Ford never went by the pasture where Somers was killed until 3:00 am, contrary to everything Ford told the Sheriff’s office. This is why the District Attorney says it’s essential to his case, and he believes it will soon be an essential part of daily life. Ford’s attorney is trying to keep the tracking device out of the trial

Select Radio Shack Dealers now also carries the GPS Tracking Key. To find an authorized Radio Shack dealer click GPS Tracking Dealers

Radio Shack Co.  is one of the nation most experienced electronics specialty retailers.  They have over 6000 company-operated stores and dealer outlets all across the United States and Mexico.

The first RadioShack store opened in 1921 in Boston, Mass. “RadioShack” is a nautical term that dates back to the invention of the radio at the turn of the 20th century. At the time, wireless radio equipment aboard ships was generally housed above the bridge in a wooden structure called the “radio shack.” The founders of RadioShack thought the name appropriate for a new retail business that supplied electronic equipment to “ham” radio operators and ships’ radio officers. RadioShack became known as the place to go for help getting the most out of technology – and it still is today.  Click here to learn more about our history.