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Your teenager has passed their driving test. How can technology help?
So your teenager’s pass certificate is safely tucked away in a drawer, and you’re now being asked whether they can borrow your car. It’s a moment that tends to fill parents with pride. After all, their child is taking another step towards independence. But it’s also a moment of dread. According to U.K.-based motoring organization, the AA, road crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers. The threat to safety posed by driving is greater than that from drugs, gun and knife crime.
But there are ways to reduce the risk using technology and most of them involve little more than a mobile phone. There are apps to monitor driving speeds, family tracking apps and safe driving apps as well as services that spring into action if there is a serious problem. So long as you can get your teenager on board with the idea that you’re trying to keep them safe rather than curtail their independence, there is a strong chance they will embrace such measures.
1. Prevent driving distractions
Distracted teen drivers are involved in thousands of accidents each year, resulting in hundreds of deaths. According to research led by Rebecca Robbins, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, as many as 70% of high school students in the U.S. reported using or making long glances at their phones when driving for about 20% of each trip. The common reasons were found to be entertainment, texting and navigation.
The situation is echoed across the world, making it vital for teenagers to understand the dangers (and illegalities) of distracted driving. Anyone taking their eyes off the road for just five seconds at 50mph would leave them driving blind for 367 feet (112 metres) — a distance that’s longer than the length of a football field. With education and technology, however, the danger can be greatly reduced.
Smartphones have driving modes designed to silence notifications and incoming messages. They need to be set up, but they can be activated automatically.
On iPhones, go to the Settings app, tap Focus, select + and tap Driving. Then select Customize Focus and follow the on-screen instructions. You’ll see an option to turn on the Focus automatically. If you select Automatically, the driving focus will activate when motion is detected. If you select When Connected to Car Bluetooth or Activate with CarPlay, it will begin when the phone is hooked up to the vehicle.
On Android, open the Settings app, tap Modes and select Driving. You’ll be able to select an automatic mode which activates while the car is being driven. You can also select Android Auto or Bluetooth device as a condition – the Driving mode will activate if the Android phone connects to either in-car system.
2. Share their location
Driving brings great freedom but it can also lead to much anxiety among parents. Just where are they going? How far away from home have they travelled? Have they reached their destination safely? Encouraging teenagers to share their location can bring you great peace-of-mind. It also means you can quickly check in on them without causing a distraction or alerting their peers.
The important thing is to strike a balance between safety and independence. Nobody wants to be placed under surveillance but a safety net would be beneficial for everyone should something go wrong. It’s advisable, then, to have a conversation with your teenager before you decide to use a family location sharing app. You may discover that they already use a location sharing app among their friends to co-ordinate meet-ups so you’re just dovetailing in that.
Apple’s Find My and Google Maps’ Location Sharing are free and easy to use. On an iPhone, make sure Location Services is active (go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Find My). Then open the Find My app, tap the Me tab and select Share My Location. Next, tap People, select +, choose Share My Location and enter the name of a person you want your teenager to share their location with and set the duration.
In Google Maps which you can use on an Android phone, go to the Google Maps app, tap your profile picture, select Location Sharing and tap Share Location. You can then determine how long you wish the share the location for which can be until the feature is turned off.
3. Choose a driving app
As well as offering built-in features, smartphones have a host of driving apps to consider which not only offer a way to track the location of your teenager but help you to stay connected with alerts to potential problems.
HeyPolo, available for iPhone and Android handsets, analyses driver behavior, checking for harsh braking, speeding, rapid acceleration and incidences when the driver’s phone is unlocked and in use. It delivers a score based on these measurements after every drive and it even shows a map pinpointing where an event took place.
One of the major benefits of HeyPolo is its strict privacy policy. It doesn’t share geolocation data with third parties, so you and your teenager can be sure that only those in a family group have access. Your teenager is also able to control what is being shared, when and whom, meaning the app is built on consent.
There are other apps, however. OtoZen, for instance, keeps an eye on a vehicle’s speed and compares it to the road limits before sending you an alert if your teenager is thought to be speeding. It also encourages safe driving habits by giving weekly scores and showing driving trends.
iSharing is also worth considering. It includes a driver safety tracker that can monitor speed and track limits. It can identify when drivers are using their phone behind the wheel and it can detect if the car is braking hard or being rapidly accelerated. Parents can be alerted whenever unsafe driving activity is detected but it will also let you know when your teenager has arrived safely.
One of the most popular offerings is Life360. It analyses phone location and activity to estimate speed and movement so long as the vehicle is travelling at more than 15mph. It can determine if a car is being driven at a hard speed, work out times when the car is being accelerated rapidly or when the driver is breaking hard and it can work out if the phone is being used behind the wheel.
4. Detect crashes
The biggest worry for parents when their teenager is behind the wheel is the chance they’ll be involved in a crash. In these situations, you not only want to be informed, you want to ensure they’re going to get help and assistance as quickly as possible. Again, technology can come to the rescue.
With an iPhone 14 or later running at least iOS 16, or with an Apple Watch Series 8 or later, an Apple Watch SE (2nd generation) and Apple Watch Ultra or later running at least watchOS 9, a teenager can benefit from Crash Detection. It can detect whether there has been a front, side or rear vehicle impact, sounding an alarm and displaying an alert. An Emergency Call slider will appear allowing those involved in the crash to quickly seek help. If there is no response, the device will call the emergency services itself after 30 seconds.
A similar service is available for some Android handsets. Android Crash Detection will also work out if there has been an impact, even listening for crash sounds and detecting air pressure changes from airbags. To enable it on a compatible phone, go to Settings, select Safety & emergency, select Car crash detection and turn the feature on.
Don’t worry if this feature isn’t available. You can also use third-party apps. HeyPolo is able to detect a severe impact and issue alerts to a family group, detailing the exact location of the incident. It’s also possible for a driver to tap an SOS button and send out an alert.
Life360 also includes crash detection, sensing collisions over 25mph and immediately contacting those chosen to receive such alerts. It will also send a discreet SOS and call the emergency services. The same is true of the OtoZen app and apps such as Openroad: Safety on the Road. Just check that the service you’re interested in is available in your country and read up on the lists of features to ensure they fit your requirements.
5. Sign up for roadside assistance
Even if your teenager is driving safely, avoiding distractions and visiting safe places, you can never truly foresee what is around the corner. A burst tire, an overheated engine, problems with the lock, a depleted battery… There are so many things that can go wrong with a car.
It’s always a good idea to invest in quality roadside assistance and breakdown cover. There are many companies offering such services and you’ll undoubtedly know the main providers. Most of them also offer a smartphone app which enables drivers to report a breakdown digitally, share their GPS location and track the patrol’s arrival.
These apps can also be great at ensuring teenagers don’t forget when their car needs a service or regulatory checks and they can remind teenagers when insurance and taxes are due. They can help drivers become more responsible for their vehicles.
6. Invest in a dashcam
Over the past few years, dashcams have become near-essential. Quite aside from the rise in “crash for cash” motor insurance fraud, dashcams are thought to have a positive psychological impact on drivers, encouraging better driving and making teenagers more conscious of tailgating, speed limits and the laws of the road.
A dashcam can allow you to review your teenager’s driving from time to time and enable you to have a conversation about correcting bad habits that may have crept in. Pick one of the best dash cams such as the Nextbase IQ and you can even benefit from a Witness Mode. This would allow you to view a video feed of anything happening following an accident.
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