GPS Tracking

“Up to 10 over the limit and you’re good.”

Most people, when they were new teen drivers, remember hearing that sage advice from adults more experienced behind the wheel. The rationale was that a police officer wouldn’t bother to pull you over for speeding unless you were flagrantly breaking the law. That 10 mph bracket presented too many possibilities of legal challenge.

Well, apparently the sour economy is to blame for one more shift in American behavior: Cops have stopped giving wiggle room.

Drivers who tend to lean a little heavy on the accelerator should expect to find themselves in court more frequently, according to the National Motorists’ Association. The Waunakee, WI group was formed in 1982 to help everyday Joes find speed traps and fight speeding tickets.

“Police are definitely less tolerant of speeders today,” said James Baxter, president. “Our chances of getting away with a warning are very slim. Often motorists are being ticketed for violations of only a few miles an hour.” (more…)

GPS Tracking Promotes Responsibility in Teen Driving

If children came with instruction manuals, parents could be more confident that the decisions they make on their behalf are good ones. Now we learn once again that choosing to spank your toddler is ill-advised.

The May issue of the magazine “Pediatrics” summarizes a recent survey from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. More than 2,000 mothers of three-year-olds were asked if they spanked their toddlers, and if so, how often in the past month.

Those same moms were asked if their children exhibited any aggressive behaviors such as bullying, striking out against other children, destructive tendencies and cruelty.

It turns out that half of the mothers surveyed did not practice corporal punishment. Twenty-five percent had swatted their child once or twice within the past month and another 25 percent admitted they had done it more than twice in the time frame.

A definite link was found between physically-punished tots and the above stated antisocial behaviors. What apparently made this study different is that other contributors to children’s aggressive behaviors such as parent neglect and drug abuse were factored out because the moms were pre-screened.

It seems nothing more than a confirmation of what we should already know. The American Academy of Pediatrics has, for years, taken the position that striking a child for any reason is wrong.

So what is the alternative to physical discipline?

Doctors say, with the little ones, time outs and reward systems are effective. No matter a child’s age, the experts said that adults should promote good behavior and withdraw privileges for bad choices.

This approach needs to be reinforced through the teen years. Sticker charts and forced time alone for reflection won’t work when the child is bigger than the parent. But elders can treat young people like adults until they prove they cannot be trusted.

Vehicle tracking systems are one way parents can manage their teens without physically dominating their lives. A car is the solution to every teen’s desire for freedom and independence. Teen driving privileges can be granted (along with established ground rules) and removed if the responsibility is not taken seriously.

Car accidents are the number one killer of teens. Driver’s education classes and experience are not the only preventatives. Hundreds of thousands of parents are buying GPS tracking devices, finding a good position in the family vehicle for placement, and keeping records of where their teens drive, when they drive, where they stop and how fast they are driving.

Many parents are up-front with their teens about the real-time GPS tracking devices, or passive GPS tracking systems placed in their vehicles. The right to drive is granted, with vehicle tracking as a condition.

GPS tracking makes young people accountable for the decisions they make behind the wheel. Parents should make it clear to them that they are expected to operate a vehicle, that by rights is not theirs, with respect and safety in mind.

Source: WebMD

The news that Munchkin Coroner Meinhardt Raabe died April 9 had many fans of “The Wizard of Oz” taking a walk down Memory Lane once again.

Raabe, originally from Wisconsin, was just 23 years old when he appeared, uncredited, in the award-winning film. He died at age 94 in his home in Orange Park, FL.

The Munchkin Coroner, with his cape and curly-brimmed hat, appeared in all his royal blue splendor in one of the first color scenes of the 1939 movie. He sang the declaration that the Wicked Witch of the East was dead. He was one of the many memorable characters that young Dorothy Gale met in her search for a better world “Over the Rainbow.”

The film, based on a L. Frank Baum book, won two Oscars and is an indelible part of our childhoods. It’s hard to believe that the fantasy story first hit the screen seven decades ago.

Because it was one of the few Munchkin roles with a speaking part, Mr. Raabe’s character became a pop culture figure. The image is as memorable as Toto, the Flying Monkeys, The Emerald City and the Yellow Brick Road. (more…)

Texting on one’s cell phone is a form of social networking that is astoundingly popular. Anyone still doubting this point need only read news from the Oxford University Press.

In mid November the publisher announced its top candidates for 2009 Word of the Year.

In the Top 5:

·         Intexticated: Texting on a cell phone and driving at the same time, to the point of dangerous distraction.

Clever; maybe even a little funny. But the truth is that texting and driving is very serious business. A study from the Virginia Technical Transportation Institute showed that texting and driving resulted in a greater chance of crashing – greater than driving drunk!

If the federal government has its way, this bad habit will soon be illegal in every state in the U.S. Driving laws are generally left for the individual states to decide. But to nudge them in the right direction, the feds are considering holding back highway funds until the states comply.

Texting while driving is banned in 14 states. President Barack Obama recently pushed through a law that banned all federal employees from texting and driving. So it’s a matter of time before the campaign goes national. (more…)

Incident Proves Danger of Teen Driving Distractions

A Tampa Bay paper reported that a 17-year-old girl, skipping school and out on a joy ride with friends, got into trouble when she ran into a police officer – literally.

The teen driver apparently became distracted while texting and bore down on the back end of a patrol car.

Texting has officially become more popular than cell phone calls. In fact, it’s been stomping the competition for a couple of years now. Nielsen Mobile, a communications research firm associated with The Nielsen Company, said U.S. wireless subscribers average 357 texts a month, versus 204 phone calls.

Nielsen looked at the wireless bills of a volunteer sample of 50,000 subscribers and noted activities such as text messages, favorite games and ringtones.

The numbers get more interesting when Nielsen shows results by age group. Teens, ages 13 to 17, send or receive 1,742 texts per month; more than any other age category. (The next-closest age group, ages 18-24, was far behind. They averaged 790 texts a month.) Put that statistic behind 4,000 pounds of speeding steel, glass and gasoline, and you’ve got trouble waiting to happen.

That Florida teen driving disaster should feel lucky she got away with only $3,000 in damage, a ticket, and probably a good grounding from her parents.

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When a consumer is researching Global Positioning System (GPS tracking) technology, the question of legality often is raised. Can drivers’ whereabouts be logged without notification? If they are notified, is their consent required?

The laws on vehicle tracking might differ from state to state, and so might any individual’s interpretation of them. The majority of companies selling vehicle tracking systems advise that the buyer seek legal counsel and/or consult local authorities about the devices. Ultimately, the user is responsible for its appropriate use.

Under most circumstances, GPS tracking is permitted with the consent of the vehicle’s registered owner. This covers two of the most common scenarios for using GPS tracking systems: In small businesses and private households.

Business and fleet management

Companies lose money each year due to poor productivity. Anyone who has ever managed a workplace will agree that people find ways to make company rules and policies work more to their advantage.

Executives are getting serious about uncovering policy-abusers, and they feel more comfortable when they have GPS data as evidence against lawsuits or investigations that result from a termination, reported the “2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey,” (conducted by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute.)
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Concerned parents place a vehicle tracking system on there son’s truck and find shocking results. When Donna and Glen decided that they would place a GPS tracking system on there 16 year-old son’s truck they did not know what to expect. Feeling that today’s world was much more dangerous then the one they grew up in, Donna and Glen placed a GPS Tracking Key, a GPS tracking system that monitors speed and stops, on there typical teen’s car and then reviewed the historical data together. With less than 72 hours worth of data, they discovered that there son not only went to a unsupervised drinking party, but he also drove at dangerous speeds close to 100mph!

Keeping your family safe special: How a GPS tracking system designed to help keep your teenager safe is becoming more popular with everyday parents.

Libraries as well as the Internet are crammed with articles exploring every aspect of teen driving. From researching the best driver education program to addressing the issues of speeding and drunk driving, parents have access to an abundance of advice on how to keep their young drivers safe. Maybe too much.

For a teenager turning sixteen, a driver’s license is a sacred rite of passage, a tangible symbol of those important first steps toward independence. For parents, the issuance of a driver’s license can be a concern- cum -nightmare, a real life video with flashing lights and wailing sirens that ends unhappily ever after in the hospital emergency room. With teen driving horror stories abounding, methods to monitor behind-the-wheel behavior are constantly being researched and reviewed by everyone from parents to politicians, with the word “restriction” playing a prominent part. (more…)

Although the use of GPS tracking technology has become widespread and widely acclaimed, the issue of privacy continues to be dissected and debatedThis is especially notable when it comes to tracking teen driving habits.  The majority of parents testify in favor of GPS vehicle tracking devices.  They acknowledge that the installation of this unit in their teenager’s car has given them greater peace of mind while making their teen driver demonstrate more responsibility behind the wheel, thereby keeping him or her safe.  Many teenagers on the other hand, tend to view GPS tracking as a manipulative means of controlling their actions and invading their privacy, putting a decisive spin on the term “generation gap”. 

Steve Moehling, Vice-President of Sales, LandAirSea Systems, Inc., was recently interviewed by a senior at St. Petersburg High School regarding the effectiveness of his company’s most popular product, the GPS Tracking Key

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