We're Watching You...

By Jessica Burkhart, Associate Editor


"We watch for you." That's the slogan of "Teendriver Watch." At a mere price of just twenty-nine dollars and fifty cents a year, this corporation monitors a teen's driving.

Teendriver Watch slaps "discreet" colored stickers on cars of paying customers and gives each car a four-digit identification number. The sticker reads, "How's My Driving?," and is easily read by other motorists.

The corporation hopes if a teen is spotted driving poorly, another motorist will call the phone number on the car and report the teen's driving. The caller will be connected to an operator who takes information about the teen's driving. The operator then gives a report to the teen's parents via email or phone.

Ah, but what about teens who do like privacy and don't want to be monitored each time they drive? Teendriver Watch says teens will get used to the stickers by having the parent place one on a "skateboard or notebook" to get teens used to the idea before any monitoring begins.

Teendriver states that their stickers are "teen-friendly" and "cool" and the company isn't trying to embarrass the teen drivers. Of course, they're going to say that!

Teendriver Watch continues to further degrade teens by stating, "We recognize how quickly most teens can forget most anything…" and Teendriver Watch places yet another sticker in the front windshield so the teen doesn't forget he or she is under a watch.

What happened to parents looking out for their own children? Is there a problem with the Drivers Education system that leads to the creation of programs like Teendriver Watch?

If parents stick their teens behind the wheel, they should believe their son or daughter is responsible enough to drive safely. Parents who don't trust their teens shouldn't allow them to drive.

Teendriver Watch is an easy way for lazy parents to push their parental duties off on someone else. The parents who enroll their teen in this program don't share a strong trust with their son or daughter.

It's true that teen drivers don't have the greatest track record. In 1999, teen drivers made up eighteen percent of the police reported accidents. That's almost two million teens involved in automobile crashes in one year. The numbers have risen since the late nineties.

Obviously, nine weeks in Drivers Education isn't sufficient enough to help teens become safe and responsible drivers.

More states are cracking down on teens and raising the minimum driving age to seventeen or eighteen years old. Despite the minimum driving age, some teens choose to ignore the law.

A few days after Christmas in 2003, in a rural town in Florida, a police officer began chasing a vehicle that was weaving in and out of traffic. The driver of the vehicle was a fifteen year-old male without a license. The driver attempted to outrun the police officer in pursuit and ended up driving the vehicle into a ravine. The driver and the seven friends crammed in the car with him were all killed.

Would Teendriver Watch have prevented this tragedy? We'll never know. What we do know is that as teens, our driving statistics are damaged.

Police are begging parents to teach their teens to be better, more responsible drivers. Not all bad driving is a teen's fault, a portion of it could stem from the teen's parents. Whether we as teens realize it or not, we often mirror actions of our parents. If mom drives with a cell phone on her ear, cappuccino in one hand and is trying to apply mascara with the other, teen girls might think that's fine to do while driving. Guys who watch dad honk at slower cars, try to read the newspaper and eat fast food while driving might get used to it and try it themselves. Parents need to be better models for their teens; it's as simple as that.

All teens are not bad drivers but it appears it's the bad teen drivers that the media focuses on. Shouldn't teens who drive exceptionally well get recognized, too? I guess bad reports are more interesting than good ones. That's right, reading about good teen drivers is so mundane.

If you want more information on Teendriver Watch, check out http://www.teendriverwatch.net

Photo Credits:
http://www.teendriverwatch.net
http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/car_accident_photo.html

Article Credits:
http://www.teendriverwatch.net
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/outreach/traftech/pub/tt189.html