GPS Tracking

When Safety and Product Claims Collide

Telling the Truth about GPS

Source acquired via the Vancouver Sun, April 29, 2010, Vancouver, Canada – The Amber Alert GPS device has been a hot news topic for the past few weeks. First, critics of the device claimed that it was unsafe for children. Now, the company that manufactures the Amber Alert systems have been caught using scare tactics to sell their systems.

The Amber Alert website claims that nearly 60,582 children disappear every year in Canada alone. The site then goes on to imply that all of these children are kidnapped, though this isn’t the case. Most children who disappear are labelled as “runaways.” After being questioned about the misleading statistic, the manufacturers of Amber Alert claimed that the statistic was taken from the RCMP website. (more…)

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We’ve all seen this at one time or another along the side of the road:  a cross or other distinguishable marker bearing a name and an inscription and usually surrounded by flowers.  A curious motorist might think it unfortunate.  For the parents of a teenager, however, the roadside shrine is an emotionally disturbing reminder of their child’s mortality.

Car crashes are the leading cause of permanent disability and death among teenage drivers in America and other industrialized nations throughout the world.  In 2005, more than 7,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 20 were involved in fatal automobile accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Findings also indicate that each year, in North America alone, over 2.5 million teens will become new drivers.  And each year, teens overall will be involved in over 9,000 driving related fatalities, taking not only their own lives, but those of passengers and pedestrians as well.

To any seasoned driver, this information comes as no surprise.  Teens by nature succumb to peer pressure which invariably leads to risk taking, especially behind the wheel.  While alcohol and drugs remain major contributors to teenage motor vehicle accidents, this new millennium has ushered in the additional distraction of cell phones and MP3 players.

“So how do I keep my teen from becoming one of these awful statistics?”

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