Going too far? New service allows parents to spy on teen drivers

[Mad Tinkerer]

http://www.wheels.ca/columns/article/799610

It's a good thing they didn't have this when I was growing up.

 

[cassidy s]

I hear you.

They should work on a device that kids driving parents' cars cannot go over 100 k.

 

[Trevino]

Nope, I don't think it's going too far. In fact, it's really nothing new. There have been ways to track the vehicle for years it just isn't factory equipped. I saw a LONG time ago on Hulk Hogan's reality show where his daughter was going out on a date and he had a locator installed on the car where he could track her via the net.

The issue here is trust, do you trust your kid to tell you exactly where he or she is going and what they're doing when they get there? Any parent who trusts their kid implicitely is nuts lol. Rarely is a teen 100% truthful.

The only issue I see is that when the vehicle stops somewhere, where it's not supposed to, how can the parent tell what's there to determine whether it is a legimate stop or not? they'd have to look up google earth or whatever to see what's around.

I mean, it would be pretty obvious if a female teen drives to her boyfriend's house then goes off to the woods to watch submarine races......

I'm actually surprised they don't have a locator app for smartphones. Something where you can load it onto your kid's phone and then at any given time, find out where they are. If they're somewhere they're not supposed to be, the parents can call and say "hey junior, what the hell you doing there? get your ass home NOW".

 

[berna]

I believe they do have that. I will try to find the link.

 

[fixer29]

Yeah they do, I did a search after I posted and came up with tons of sites that offer this service lol. What it does is emails you updates or allows you to sign on a map. I did a "free" locator test and they say I'm in toronto, on adelaide street lol....only about 250 kms away! lol If I was a kid I wouldn't be worried lol.....unless of course an idiot parent confronts junior and says "what the hell were you doing in sudbury last night" lol.

Really though, this service is just a foolproof way of monitoring your kid. No different than the olden days where when I was using the parent's car, I had to call when I got to where I was going and call when I was leaving (or if I left) to go someplace else....

 

[Pompal 09.]

When I was a teen my girlfriend's father used to follow us everywhere we went... it was really weird making out at the drive-in with this old Italian guy parked behind us, but we did it anyway.

I don't think this is going too far at all.