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Grob, who lives in Holmen and runs a marketing and online car financing business out of a La Crosse office, said he wasn’t a bad driver as a teen, just a little wild from time to time.
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“I was like most kids. I did some things now that I realize were pretty dangerous,” Grob said.
With his latest business venture, Grob hopes to help make teens better drivers by keeping them accountable for their behavior by devising a way for other drivers to report dangerous or reckless driving.
The venture is called “hotfoot” and is based on the Internet at www.hotfoot.info. The inspiration for Hotfoot came in fall 2007 when a teen driver in a red Grand Am with dealer plates cut Grob off in traffic while he was traveling with his wife and two young children. Irritated and concerned by the teen’s driving, Grob contacted the dealer to report his teen daughter’s actions.
“As I started looking into this, the first thing I did was research the statistics on teen driving,” Grob said. “I was amazed at how dangerous it is, and knew I had to do something to help make things better.”
The concept of Hotfoot is based on the “how is my driving” stickers seen on the back of many semi-trucks and delivery vehicles.
A decal affixed to the customer’s vehicle encourages other motorists to call a toll-free number to report poor driving.
The reporting driver can either call the toll-free number or, if the incident is not as serious, wait to send an e-mail.
Using the serial number on the decal, the complainant leaves a detailed message about the incident, telling where, when and what happened. Once the report is submitted, the system sends a text or e-mail message to the account holder who then goes online where they can hear the message and see a map of where the incident happened.
Since starting work on the concept in fall 2007, Grob said the service is now ready and on-line.
“We’ve tested it to make sure it’s completely ready to go before we actually get started,” Grob said. “The last thing we wanted was to have problems with the system right away.”
Grob admits other services involving in-vehicle cameras and GPS units will record the teen’s speed and driving habits. But, he said, those can be too expensive for most parents.
Hotfoot is available for an initial fee of $9.99 and then $4.99 per month. It provides two decals with the same serial number so decals can be placed on vehicles the teen drives.
The parents can place up to five cell phone and e-mail addresses to ensure they are notified immediately if there is a report. Since the reports get to the parents within seconds, Grob said Hotfoot could be a life-saving service.
“I can see cases where the parent will get a report and see what their child is doing, then call them on their cell phone and deal with it right away,” Grob said. “Or they can wait until their child gets home and take care of it then.”
THE GREG GROB FILE
Name: Greg Grob
Age: 35
Home: Holmen
Employment: Owner of Grob Marketing and Consulting, edelaer.com and hotfoot.info.
Family: Married with two children
Bio: Grew up in Madison and Tomah. After school worked as a car salesman in Eau Claire before moving into auto financing which led to his own online car finance business in 2001.
bigcity608 wrote on Jan 5, 2009 10:49 AM: