Teen Driving: I'm Gonna Go Tell Mom!

And you thought your mom was bad. Tampa, Fla., resident Donna Graf was so concerned with her 17-year-old son Michael's driving that she launched a national campaign to get irresponsible teen drivers off the streets. Modeled after the How's My Driving? program for truckers and cabbies, Graf's Go-Get-Mom spinoff uses bumper stickers to urge concerned citizens to rat out irresponsible teens. For $79.95, parents register up to three vehicles in a central database and receive bumper stickers with a toll-free number. When a complaint is received, the parent is notified by both telephone and e-mail within five seconds. Graf is now working to persuade insurance companies to offer discounts for her customers.

How has Michael fared? "I got one call about a month after we put it on his car," says Graf. "I think it curtailed him. I think he thought, 'Wow. She really does know what I'm doing'." Michael paints a different picture of his mother's crusade: "I thought it was stupid. I told [my parents] I wasn't going to let them put it on my car, but they did anyway."