The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Clemson University have decided to team up with a local wildlife agency to help research and track the local alligator population. The Nemours Wildlife Foundation hopes to conduct this study for the benefit of everyone living in the area including the alligator population. Together, the wildlife enthusiasts have set out to tag alligators with their own personal GPS tracking device.

This technology is expected to closely monitor the whereabouts of the animals. These actions, argues Ernie Wiggins of the Nemours Wildlife Foundation, will help researchers discover how alligators move around human populations.

These efforts can help protect both the gators and humans by minimizing the overall interactions between the two. Researchers can learn more about what encourages and discourages alligators from traversing certain areas around South Carolina.

Alligators have widely adapted to avoid areas heavily populated by humans, but residents still come into contact with these massive creatures frequently.

Each GPS tracking unit will ping the gators location every three hours for the next two years. At least five Sea Pines Alligators were tagged throughout the group’s efforts in April. One of these reptiles was estimated to be around 37-years-old. He was around 11 feet long and weighed about 250 pounds.

A video of the alligator’s release can be found on Island Packet. The team of researchers re-released the alligator back into Lake Joe after equipping him with a tracker, and they have been monitoring his movements ever since.

The group has decided to publicly share all information they discover during the reptile study. One of the goals of these efforts, according to David Henderson the director of special projects and operations for Sea Pines, is to educate locals. Residents of the area can learn more about how to discourage gators from wandering around their homes.

This ongoing study is expected to be completed around 2022. The communities involved in the program include Sea Pines, Fripp, Spring Islands and Kiawah.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), six teens between the ages of 16 and 19 died every day in 2015 from motor vehicle injuries. Those numbers accounted for 2,333 teen deaths and 235,845 injuries requiring emergency department treatment.

Despite the fact that teens in this age group only account for seven percent of the U.S. population, they accounted for 11 percent of the total costs of auto accident injuries.

CBS goes on to report that there have been more than 14,000 fatal crashes involving teen drivers in the past five years.

For parents preparing to send their teens out onto the road, these numbers are nothing short of alarming.

Why Do Teens Pose Increased Risks?

There are many reasons teens seem to present greater risks behind the wheels of cars. Most of those increases begin and end with a lack of experience behind the wheel.

The solutions many states have come up with to reduce these number is to increase the driving age and employe graduated driver laws. While some argue that gives them less preparation behind the wheel before heading off to college and work, it also gives them less training in avoiding distractions and reducing their own risks as drivers.

Specific risks teen drivers face include the following:

• Using mobile devices while driving. Talking or texting can be lethal behind the wheels for drivers of all ages.
• Driving over the speed limit. The CBS report states that half of teens drive 15 miles per hour above the speed limit.
• Distractions in the vehicle. This comes in the form of other teens, radios, applying makeup, and these distractions are in addition to cell phones.
• Unfortunately, it happens. Despite all the options available for teens to seek sober rides home, some drive while intoxicated causing accidents that injure themselves, their friends, and random strangers on the road. Sometimes fatally.

What’s a Parent to Do?

You can’t go everywhere with your teen, but you can have the next best thing if you use GPS tracking for teens. GPS teen tracking allows you to track the speed your teen is traveling, swerving, weaving, aggressive driving, and other behaviors that indicate your teen may be distracted behind the wheel.

Additionally, you can set up alerts to notify you if your teen’s vehicle has gone beyond certain geographic boundaries or is being operated outside of designated hours. With some systems, you can even remotely disable the vehicle so that your teen must wait for you to arrive and drive them home safely.

It’s not the bubble you’d like to protect your teen in, but GPS tracking for teen drivers is the next best thing.

Give us a call here at LiveViewGPS at 1-888-544-0494 to learn how GPS tracking for teens can help give you peace of mind.

Safety is one of the primary concerns today’s fleet managers must deal with. Not only about the drivers who work for them and the vehicles they’re responsible for, but all the other drivers on the road and the reputation of the entire organization.

Issues that are particularly challenging for fleet managers in light of the 20 percent rise in fleet accidents, include the following:

• Compliance
• Driver accountability
• Scheduling
• Enforcement of company policies and state and federal requirements.
• Costs
• Safety
• Customer satisfaction

It’s a delicate balance you must learn to walk and may feel more treacherous than a high-rise act with no net on some days.

Why Is It So Important to Avoid Accidents in Fleet Vehicles?

According to Automotive Fleet, fleet accidents account for the most expensive injury claims the average business faces with average costs approaching $70,000. Nearly twice the average cost of all other workplace injuries. With so many organizations choosing to self-insure their fleets, these are costs directly to the business.

While fleet managers have no control over other cars hitting their vehicles, there are things they can do to train drivers to be more defensively minded and keep their focus on the road. Doing this will be instrumental in avoiding preventable accidents, even when other drivers are the potential cause of these accidents.

How Can GPS Fleet Tracking Help?

GPS fleet tracking offers many benefits you may have never even considered before. Most people are aware of the benefits GPS tracking offers for conserving fuel and planning more efficient routes for your drivers to take.

What you may not know, though, is that GPS fleet tracking can also help you more effectively manage and monitor your drivers even when they’re on the road. These are just a few ways GPS tracking can help with that:

• Notify you whenever drivers deviate from prescribed routes.
• Record and notify you when drivers drive in excess of the speed limit (you can even identify specific speeds at which you wish to be notified)
• Track location of drivers in real time so you can send emergency responses immediately if they are in accidents.
• Send alerts when drivers display aggressive driving behaviors, such as; swerving, hard braking, and weaving in and out of traffic.

GPS fleet tracking also records the number of hours drivers spend behind the wheel when they are on the road so you can be certain they are maintaining compliance when it comes to maximum hours behind the wheel.

Just imagine the many ways GPS tracking can help you reduce the number of fleet accidents in your organization at a time when they are on the rise for so many others.

To learn more about how GPS fleet tracking can help your commercial fleet, give us a call here at LiveViewGPS at 1-888-544-0494.