"Lord Reginald Smithers" Ask me about my driveway leading up to my manor.
wrote in message . ..
Our youngest daughter will be turning 16 in Jan. My wife wants to give
her a GPS unit for the car. My wife's logic is she would be a safer
driver, if she didn't knew where she was going, and was not looking for
street names and addresses.

It seems to me that another electronic toy in the car is just another
thing to distract her from watching the road.

Does anyone have any experience with GPS and teenagers?

and

Most importantly, does anyone have any experience buying a handheld unit
that has both maps for city driving and nautical charts?

This may sound harsh, but your wife should be chained to a wall in the
cellar and fed unheated, undiluted store brand cream of celery soup one
spoonful at a time until she agrees to forget this hideous idea.

1) Anyone who cannot learn to read a map or jot down driving directions with
a Flair pen (so it's fat & easy to read while driving) should not be allowed
out of the house.

2) You're right - the electronic device will be another distraction,
particularly in light of #3:

3) Speak to your insurance agent and ask which gender gets hit with higher
rates at her age. Mine says it's girls. Used to be boys when I was young.
Either something's changed, or young girls have always been worse, but the
insurance agency didn't notice this 35 years ago. Girls are awful drivers.
Your daughter doesn't need any help to be worse.

4) Every time you're being tailgated *really badly*, try and notice what
kind of driver it is. Young girls are the worst with this. The last thing
she needs is a toy in the car that'll keep her from noticing the license
plate she's about to eat for lunch.