<p>I have rearranged the post “trust and verify with GPS” to make it easier to read and I wanted the title to be more specific so that anyone willing to read this long post would know what is in it. If it helps one person it was worth my time</p>
<p>speeding prevention first</p>
<p>Our son transferred schools in the 9th grade which required a 50 mile round trip to school everyday…half way through his 9th grade year, he got his drivers license …
we decided to buy the safest truck on the road, via consumer reports, for him to drive…2007 Toyota Tundra Crew Cab…side, front, roof and backseat airbags…the only vehicle like it on the road at the time…
the problem was with the power of the truck…zero to 60 in no time flat…power is safer when passing once one has driving experience but our son had little experience driving alone making speed a liability…
therefore I installed a GPS system in the truck before I ever gave it to him to monitor his speed and picked a plan to monitor the truck once a minute…my son was given the truck with the stipulation that I expected him to drive 60 mph but, under no circumstances, was he to ever exceed 65 mph…he agreed…
i told him that I have many friends who are highway patrolmen and they have assured me that they will be looking for him and reporting to me about his driving…
furthermore, i was not wanting my son in another 16 year old’s car because I would not have a clue as to what was going on…therefore provided unlimited gas and a really good sound system to boot…
** occasionally**, he would creep above the 65 mph and I would tell him that I was informed by a highway patrolman friend that he was exceeding 65mph but not enough to warrant a ticket…I told him that if he continued to go over 65 mph that I would install a speed tracker in his truck so I would be aware of his speed all the time…
he continued to exceed 65 mph once every 3 or 4 days…I talked to him about trust and my request that he drive 60 mph and he assured me that he was honoring that request…
one night i clicked on the sight and he was going 83 mph on a back road just cruising (i have no problem with cruising, just speed)…
I immediately called him on the cell phone and told him to slow down…lol…he freaked out telling me how he was going to disconnect the device, etc …
i told him that would be fine with me, but the truck is staying in the garage unless the device is working …
he asked me if I knew where he was too and i said no (shoot me, I lied) I told him that a tracker had been embedded in the wheel of his truck while he was at camp …I said the tracker relayed the speed through a satellite that allows me to set a max speed…I told him that the company would call me immediately if the speed was exceeded…
I told him that starting tomorrow if the company calls me and you are over 65 mph you will lose your truck for a day and your mother will carry you to school and come pick you up after school…
he asked why I couldn’t trust him and said how unfair it was and how none of his friends had to endure this, blah, blah, blah…I reminded him of our agreement and the talks on trust we had and how he was the one responsible for breaking the trust, not his parents…
maybe some of you see the parents as breaking the trust by installing the GPS tracker in the first place…IMO the GPS device is one of our verifications…trust and verify…
he would test us and lose his truck a day every so often…
finally, i told him that we paid the $27,000 for the truck and we paid all the gas, insurance, tag, etc. and that if he was so spoiled that he could not drive the speed I asked then i would sell the truck and we will wait a year and try again…
he drove 60 mph for about 6 months and now drives just under 65 mph…
fast forward, he is now 18.5 years old and has not gone over 65 mph in 21 months…the novelty of the truck or any other vehicle is gone now…he is a much better driver now and his odds of survival have improved…
I also sent him to Bondurant Racing School [Bondurant</a> Racing School of High Performance Driving](<a href=“http://www.bondurant.com/]Bondurant”>http://www.bondurant.com/)
to improve his driving skills (high speed turns, hydroplaning, uncontrolled skids, etc)…he wore a helmet the entire time…he also had 5 hours of ground school…I highly recommend the GPS as a help to verification…[GPS</a> Vehicle, Fleet, and Teen Tracking Systems](<a href=“http://www.gpstechnologies.net/]GPS”>http://www.gpstechnologies.net/)</p>
<p>now drug prevention</p>
<p>Although not the original intended use of the GPS tracking system, we were able to see where our son was while checking his speed…
he had one month left in the 9th grade when he begin using the truck…around the spring of the 10th grade we begin to notice that he was driving into a section of town he had no business being in and stop for 5 minutes or so and then drive to the levee where he slowed down to around 5 mph and stayed on the levee in the middle of nowhere for 30 minutes or so and then go on back to town.
we took note of this and noticed it happening several more times…I ordered several drug testing kits and checked his urine after one of his slow rides on the levee…positive marijuana…
prior to this, I had many conversations with my son about the perils of any drug, including marijuana, and I was assured by him that I could trust him not to partake…I had told him that i would trust him and give him plenty of space until he gave me a reason to doubt him…
we grounded him for one week and took away all electronics, truck, cell phone…everything but books and keyboards…we told him if there was a next time we would ground him for 2 or 3 weeks, maybe more…he assured us that he had learned his lesson and it would never happen again…
several months went by and we noticed him in the same location in the bad neighborhood followed by a slow drive on the levee…a few days later i asked him how he was handling things when drugs were around… he reassured us that he had learned his lesson and that he would leave that to everyone else…he said he did not like it anyway… he was very convincing, not batting an eye…
a few days later, the whole routine repeated itself…i told him that a friend of mine thought he had spotted his truck in so and so neighborhood and asked him if it was indeed his truck and if so what was he doing there…he assured me that my friend had made a mistake and that he had never been to that neighborhood…I said i hoped so because there was only one reason to be in that neighborhood and we will not tolerate it…I asked if I could trust him to never buy marijuana and he assured me that he would not do that…
a few days later, same thing…i called him on the phone and persuaded him to come home under false pretenses and drug tested him…positive marijuana …grounded two weeks…
this happened two other times and he was grounded 3 weeks each time…
after the second 3 week grounding, we told him that if he tested positive again that we were going to rock his world as he knew it to be… I told him I would sell his truck and his mother or I would be taking him to school and picking him up for the rest of his high school days…we told him his cell phone would be disconnected, his x-box and TV sold and anything else that we could think of…we were dead serious and he knew it…
fast forward…we have randomly drug tested him over over 12 times and I believe he is drug free…I also know who he was hanging out with back then and who he hanging out with now…where he was going then and where he is going now… and that is further confirmation to us that he is drug free…
will he smoke pot again…honestly, i would be shocked if he did not…however, he will be more mature then than he was 2 years ago…in the future the consequences will not come from his parents but from society…
our son has been accepted to a top 50 university and, regardless of his major, he is planning to take the prerequisites to med school…he thinks a career as some type surgeon is something that he wants to pursue…
I have told him that drinking responsibly and in moderation is acceptable but that he would be better off without drinking…i told him that unlike alcohol, marijuana stays with you…if you smoke weed frequently, your mind will not be as sharp, you will calculate slower, you will recall less information from your brain on demand…you will not be able to compete with those who take the clean route…
furthermore, your reputation will be damaged and possibly prevent positive letters of recommendations to med school…
**marijuana or any other drug is just not worth it… drugs will steal your dreams and rob you of your self esteem…drugs are enticing, sexy and sustainable for several years…drugs can captivate you…by the time you come out of it (if you come out)you will find yourself in a land of limited opportunity in many career fields… **</p>