New App Allows Parents to Monitor Their Teens' Driving

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA (RNN) - A new app allows parents to monitor their teens' driving even when they're not in the car.

My Max Speed for Android, developed by a parent himself, logs users speed every 5 seconds as they travel. The data is stored in a spreadsheet, and each speed recording can be tapped to display the exact location it corresponds with.

"This is really a teenage monitoring system for parents to monitor how fast their kids are driving," said Wayne Irving, CEO of Iconosys, the company that developed the app. "I have four kids, I'm focused on building apps that I need for myself."

Parents can pre-set a speed limit for their kids inside the app. If they break that speed, the parents receive a text message with the recorded speed, as well as a Google map showing their location.

"You can pre-set the phone, 'I don't want my kid going over 74 mph.' Even if they're not in my car, if they're in a friend's car, and they're traveling at 80 or 90 mph, as a parent, I want to know that. I want to be able to call them and ask 'Who's driving?'" Irving said.

"This isn't just for parents who have kids with cars," he added.

If you don't have kids behind the wheel but get pulled over yourself, the app can serve as a check on law-enforcement, allowing the driver to verify their speed with an officer's radar
gun.

The feature particularly comes in handy when being ticketed for a secondary offense. In many states, officers can't pull someone over for an offense like not wearing a seatbelt, but can ticket a driver for failing to wear a seatbelt if they're also pulled over for a primary offense like speeding.

The app, available in the Android marketplace or at Iconosys.com, is free with ads, or $4.99 for an ad-free version.

"We're really focused on family safety and wholesome, quality service apps that make sense, not just gimmicks," Irving said.

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