Best Smartphone Apps to Keep Your Child Safe on the Road
If you have a new teen driver, you know the anxiety that comes with giving your child that level of independence. Drivers can be reckless and unsafe, so how are you supposed to let your teen roam the roads without you? This is an important part of growing up, and you don’t have to loosen the reins completely. With certain smartphone apps, you can keep your child safe while still encouraging their independence.
While you can help your teen drive more safely, you can’t control what other drivers do. If your teen is involved in a car accident caused by someone else, let us help. Call Peake & Fowler at 803-788-4370.
Waze
Waze is a navigation app that can help your child avoid traffic and closed-down roads, which helps them take the most convenient route. The less time your teen spends fiddling with their phone to check their directions, the better.
Life360
The Life360 app comes with a number of safe driving features that are ideal for families with new drivers. Crash detection is a lifesaver, notifying the police and emergency contacts when the phone detects a crash. Drivers can also request roadside assistance if their vehicle breaks down. The app provides regular family driving summaries so you can see how much your loved ones are driving and make sure they’re going where they are supposed to be going. This feature also tracks drivers’ speeds.
Safe 2 Save
Sometimes, a little bit of external motivation can be the push your child needs to drive safely and avoid distractions. Safe 2 Save rewards drivers for engaging in safe driving behavior. Teens get points for every minute they drive without using their phones. They can redeem their points at over 1,500 locations for gift cards. Options include restaurants and popular retailers.
Safest Driver
Safe driving guidance is always useful, but not always welcome—especially when it’s coming from a parent. The app detects when you start and stop driving, and the phone itself measures how well you are driving. Upon completion of each trip, you get a summary of your drive. It gives tips on areas like phone usage, braking, and speeding. As you improve and drive more and more safely, you get stars and move up the leaderboards.
TrueMotion Family Safe Driving
Renowned as a family-oriented driving app, TrueMotion Family Safe Driving gives you insight into all of your loved ones’ driving. This can be encouraging for teens, who often feel like they are the only ones being watched. If you present it as everyone improving their driving together, they may be less resistant. The app will let you know where your teen driver is, the route they took, how fast they drove, and if they are using their phone while behind the wheel. Each trip is graded on a scale from 0 to 100.
Bouncie
While this app does require an outside device, it is small, unobtrusive, and easy to use. Once installed, the Bouncie device provides tons of features that can help you make sure your teen is driving as safely as possible. The GPS tracker updates every 15 seconds, and as a parent, you receive route details and your teen’s trip history. You can track your teen’s speed and set the app to alert the driver if they are driving outside approved speed limits. Other features include accident detection and notification, vehicle diagnostics, and adverse weather alerts.
OnMyWay
This app turns on automatically when it senses your vehicle moving more than 10 miles per hour. It allows you to use music and navigation apps but prevents you from calling or texting. However, it does let you answer calls hands-free. Drivers earn money for every mile they drive without texting, and they can use that money towards gift cards from popular stores and restaurants.
Looking for Help After a Car Accident? Contact Peake & Fowler Today
Accidents happen, no matter how careful you are. If you or your teen driver have been hurt in a Columbia car crash, it’s time to talk to the team at Peake & Fowler. Call us at 803-788-4370 or reach out online to get a consultation.
