The Warring States of NPF - 1-800-call-dad

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How's My Driving?

I can't think of anything more humiliating, but it seems like a good idea.

Thoughts?

I think this will generate a lot of calls where people are just having road rage and/or anger management problems.

Like many of those people who drive service vans with the phone numbers on the back... :shifty:

Quote:

I think this will generate a lot of calls where people are just having road rage and/or anger management problems.

Like you?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nique (Post 827102)

Like you?

WHAT YOU SAY?!

...

No. Not like me. :shifty: Like your mom!

most of them awful

I need to think of good ways to abuse this for whenever/if I see one of these numbers.

I really hope this doesn't result in everyone being jackasses to strangers in order to make everyone else's lives miserable.
But I'm just cynical enough to not be the least bit surprised if that's exactly what happens.

I just think it s sort of self defeating. The kids aren't going to take it seriously becuase it is embarressing.

I didn't have my own car, though.

It might be embarrassing, too.

Overall, I expect there's a good amount of he-said/she-said/etc. among callers and the teen drivers. Sure, the call handlers may try to screen and discern prank calls, but it's not that difficult to seem serious. Oh no, you're recording me calling you to tell you some random brat skipped a light even if they didn't! I am so worried of the lack of repercussions!

Were I one of these kids, I'd be miffed that my folks felt this was useful or necessary. No, I probably wasn't the most law-abiding driver, but Hell my folks weren't all, "OLOLOL here are the keys we are now giving you to drive one of our cars without having taken the time to become satisfied that you are capable of handling the vehicle on your own!" And then there's the notion that parents trust anonymous calls over their kids. There may be merit in various instances, of course, but that's a bit of a downer to know as you slap that sticker on the car your driving.

But really the only thing this might do is deter kids from driving recklessly to avoid their parents being all, "Hey, we got a call about your driving today." And even then, what's the worst that happens? It's not like any of it can be verified.

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Originally Posted by synkr0nized (Post 827435)

I see it creating a LOT of tension. Teens are high-strung in concern to their privacy to begin with, and want to be trusted like an adult. Slapping a sticker on their car on its own, just the idea means that their parents don't trust them, which is a slap in the face. But then you have their parents not trusting them AND putting trust in literally the entire, faceless rest of the world to be honest and provide info on their teen when the teen is not normally being supervised (aka during an instance of privacy) and you have egregious violations of both privacy and trust. If my mom had put a sticker on my car like this, I'd have ripped it off. I'd have continued to do so indefinitely AND it would have been serious enough where I would have simply stopped driving if it had appeared more than once after the first. I really didn't have anywhere I needed to drive, but she relied on me for errands and such because she worked third shift when I was in high school. And my relationship with her has always been what I'd consider a good one. While most teens are the exact opposite, that only leads me to believe that explosions and alienation will ensue in households that use this.

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Originally Posted by bluestarultor (Post 827446)

Teens are high-strung in concern to their privacy to begin with, and want to be trusted like an adult.

And yet they can't and, furthermore, shouldn't because they are not adults.

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If my mom had put a sticker on my car like this, I'd have ripped it off. I'd have continued to do so indefinitely AND it would have been serious enough where I would have simply stopped driving if it had appeared more than once after the first. I really didn't have anywhere I needed to drive, but she relied on me for errands and such because she worked third shift when I was in high school. And my relationship with her has always been what I'd consider a good one. While most teens are the exact opposite, that only leads me to believe that explosions and alienation will ensue in households that use this.

Your situation was more of a special case, however, wherein the need for you to drive in order to help your household outweighed the fact that driving, for most people at that age, is one of those things that falls into the category of "privilege." And there are, too, a lot of kids whose behavior behind the wheel is perfectly trustworthy.

However, there are just as many--if not more--whose behavior is not. Personally, I see this service as a great idea for a kid's first year of driving, as it provides parents with an ability to monitor their children at a time when it is impossible to do so (and yes, parents are still responsible for their kids even when they aren't around) and provides teen drivers with a reason to drive responsibly other than the often inconceivable notion of their own mortality.

I say that, if no major incidents occur in the first year, it's probably safe to cancel the service and remove the sticker. However, if there are major incidents that would perhaps make parents feel that the service should continue, they can do so. It's the kid's own fault at that point.