With a teenager’s growing independence comes greater risk, and perhaps the greatest risk of all comes when they get their driver’s license. From then on, all parents can do is cross their fingers and hope their child picked up the right driving habits off them.
But a new website is hoping to change that. Road Shamer began as a space for drivers to upload dashboard camera footage of dangerous drivers and have a medium in which to verbally wag their finger and shake their head. But now, they’re allowing parents to keep track of their children to see if they’re being courteous citizens of the road or are only adding to the chaos.
“I don’t want to find out my kids are driving dangerously by a policeman knocking on my door. I’d want to know before it causes an accident or tragedy,” Nadav Golombick, Road Shamer’s Australian manager, told A Current Affair.
From today, Mr Golombick says that the website will include an alarm system on which parents can register their son or daughter’s number plates and receive a message if the plate is reported by another website member, all for a monthly $2 fee.
“I think the parents will see this as a bit more of an ease of mind,” Mr Golombick said.
Being a new service, it is hard to predict what, if any, effect the website will have on the road’s incident and death tolls.
While it may indeed take a village to raise a courteous driver, NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury believes that it is up to the parents set a better example for their children from the very beginning.
“Anyone can learn to drive a car. Unfortunately, not everyone is learning how to drive safely,” Mr Khoury said.
“It’s not just when children first start with their learner’s license, it’s way back when they’re young kids sitting in the back seat.”
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