According to the FBI, car thefts increased to 773,000 in 2017 representing an eight-year high and presenting quite a problem for consumers reporters say are often to blame for the thefts of their vehicles.

How are car owners to blame for many of the car thefts that occur? Simple carelessness. Many thieves are simply taking advantage of opportunities that present themselves when car owners thoughtlessly leave key fobs in their cars.

Thieves swoop in and drive off in these newer vehicles without a hitch. With so many vehicles operating with push-button starts today, they only need the key fob to be present in the vehicle for it to start. This means thieves push the button and drive away.

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When your fleet drivers are driving your vehicles, you expect them to do their very best to avoid distractions and pay attention to the road. But, there are a number of things that can distract your drivers, even unintentional. One type of distraction is visual distractions.

Visual distractions are actually one of the more common types of distractions for most drivers. These are distractions that take the driver’s eyes and focus off the road, even for mere seconds. These could include adjusting vehicle devices like the GPS or radio to viewing text messages from their phone. Any type of visual distraction will keep the driver from focusing straight ahead where they’re supposed to be looking to drive safely.

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In a bill designed to give peace of mind to parents, the New York City Council approved a measure to install GPS systems on all New York City school buses by September 2019. This allows parents to track the progress of school buses transporting their children via apps.

The inspiration for the bill was an incident in November 2018 that left children stranded on school buses for hours during a snowstorm while frantic parents were unable to reach their children.

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Over the course of the past two summers, oceanographer, Dave Sutherland, from the University of Oregon, along with a small team of researchers have devoted three or four weeks of their summer boating from iceberg to iceberg off the coast of Greenland to conduct research into how climate change is affecting both the shipping industry and the climate.

They are doing this with the assistance of LiveViewGPS tracking units that have been set up on over a dozen icebergs in the area. The GPS tracking technology collects data throughout the year providing researchers with the information they need to draw various conclusions about the icebergs in real time and from a great distance. Their goal is to observe and track where the icebergs have moved and how fast they are melting in real time.

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Car theft happens at dealerships far more frequently than anyone cares to admit. In fact, the news is filled with stories about car dealership thefts these days, including the theft of six vehicles from a dealership in Loveland, Colorado and three vehicles stolen from a Youngstown, Ohio dealership. If you own a car dealership, there are things you can do to improve security and reduce your risks of vehicle theft and your odds of recovery if thefts occur.

1. Light it up at night.

Thieves prefer the cover of darkness to commit their crimes. If you have every corner of your dealership lit up like Christmas, it will make it an unattractive target.

2. Fence it in.

Another great way to make your dealership a less attractive target is with the physical barrier a fence represents.

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