KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | Tracking Your Teen: Parents turning to satellites to watch their young drivers

Tracking Your Teen: Parents turning to satellites to watch their young drivers

SPOKANE, Wash. - For teenagers, getting a driver's license is a rite of passage, providing a sense of freedom.  But to many parents, the keys to the car feel like keys to a deadly weapon, which is why some moms and dads are subscribing a teen tracking service.

The Mobile Teen GPS gives parents the ability to track their teen when they drive.  It gives parents information like where their car is, how fast they're going and if they're in an area labeled "off-limits".

It works by placing a small device somewhere on the teen's car.  Parents can then get data via satellite through a cell phone, a landline, through email or the Internet. 

The need for such a device is justified by statistics from the National Institute of Health and the National Institute for Highway Safety:

• Car crashes are the leading causes of death for American teens
• About 500,000 teens are injured or killed in auto accidents every year
• 1 in 7 teen drivers will have an accident in their first year of driving
• For every 20 teenagers in the United States, one will die or be seriously injured in a car accident this year.
• Speed and lack of judgment are the two most common factors involved in an auto crash involving a teenager.