Vehicle GPS Tracking for Senior Citizens

If you’re charged with caring for an elderly parent, one of the scariest things to consider is having to issue a Silver Alert. Just like an Amber Alert notifies people about a missing child, a Silver Alert is used to spread the word about a missing senior citizen—someone who may be unable to care for themselves or be able to grasp their bearings in an unfamiliar place.

One of the easiest ways to prevent having to issue a Silver Alert is to invest in vehicle GPS tracking. More often than not, seniors get into their vehicles to drive to the store or somewhere else nearby, take a wrong turn and end up far from home. Vehicle GPS allows you to quickly locate the vehicle they’re driving and, hopefully, the missing senior citizen driving it.

Freedom of Mobility

Many seniors feel like they’re being held captive in their old age. If they’re relegated to a nursing home, have their driver’s license taken by a family member or aren’t allowed to leave home, they often get the urge to break free, to regain their freedom. The easiest way to do this is to hop in the car and take a trip to somewhere nearby—somewhere familiar.

The problem, however, is that their faculties aren’t always in order. Taking a left instead of a right or driving down a side road can quickly lead them into unfamiliar territory, and as they try to get back home they can quickly become even more lost. If you’re the child of an elderly parent, you likely know this all too well.

Active GPS tracking can help you observe erratic driving behaviors. It’s possible to use GPS Technologies monitoring to track:

• Speeding.
• Traveling too fast for road conditions.
• Traveling too slow for road conditions.
• Unsafe or random lane changes.
• Running red light, or stopping at green light.
• Passing to the right on the shoulder of the road.
• Possible failure to yield right of way.

You may not want to avail yourself of our most advanced technologies just to keep track of the elders you care about. But if the seniors in your life have assets that inspire injured parties to sue, an umbrella policy isn’t enough. You may want advanced GPS tracking technologies, too.

Vehicle GPS can be the answer. A vehicle equipped with a GPS tracking unit allows you to monitor the speed and path of a vehicle, to help you ensure your elderly parent isn’t straying from their route. And, if they do get lost, it’s easy to quickly track them down to prevent them from getting into trouble. You can still afford them the freedom of mobility, while keeping an eye on them for their own safety.

Knowing Senior Citizens Whereabouts

If you arrive at the location of a vehicle and your elderly driver is gone, it’s critical to act swiftly to make sure they’re found before harm befalls them. Vehicle GPS tracking has the essential information you need to start your search in the right place. Through GPS you can determine when the vehicle stopped, what route it took, what time of day they left at and how long they’ve been away. All of this means starting the search for someone with the best possible baseline.

If a Silver Alert needs to be issued, GPS data enters a whole new stage of importance. Being able to give that data to authorities can mean the difference between a comprehensive manhunt and a swift, decisive location of your elderly driver. In the extreme winter and summer months, this is imperative. But not all tracking devices are equally effective.

Could You Not Just Use A Smartphone to Track?

Smartphones are less than ideal for tracking senior citizens. There are a number of reasons mobile tracking from GPS Technologies will better meet their and your needs.

For one thing, many seniors don’t have smartphones. If you give a senior who has never used a smartphone a device you surreptitiously intend to use for tracking them, they may simply forget to recharge it or leave it on a shelf.

Wearable devices enabled with GPS don’t work really well, either.

Even if the senior in your life sees the value in your knowing their location at all times, things may not work out as planned.
Some seniors are sharp as the proverbial tack. Other seniors face cognitive limitations.

Getting your senior to use a wearable tracking device requires them to make a habit of wearing it. That’s one more thing to do before they leave the house. That’s one more item that places a strain on a limited attention span.

Seniors who are quite intelligent and capable of making their own decisions may not think as quickly as they used to. They may take so long going down their mental list of things to do before they leave the house that they remember the tracking device but forget their keys or their wallet.

And if the smartwatch of GPS-enabled Fitbit displays a lot of new but interesting information, seniors may be distracted from important safety tasks. Like letting you know they are taking a trip somewhere than to a usual destination.

Active GPS tracking in your loved one’s car is the least intrusive intervention. It is the least likely to cause upset or a rift in your relationship.

Do You Need to Implement Active GPS Units to Protect the Seniors in Your Life?

If you have an elderly driver at home or have an aging parent who often strays from where they should be staying put, in search of adventure, it’s time to think about installing a vehicle GPS tracking unit in your cars. When you can’t find them and the car is gone, this simple unit could be what keeps you from having to issue a Silver Alert. Contact GPS Technologies to learn more about what we can offer.

Categorised in: News

This post was written by Malcolm Rosenfeld