Next time a young hot rodder cuts you off, how would you like to tell his parents about it?

A Texas company is one of several that does just that.

Dena Hurst, a mother of three from Plano, signed up two years ago for ReportMyTeen.com, a company started by two Texas moms — one a former trauma nurse, the other a software specialist. The program costs $47 a year.

As with similar services in other states, parents simply slap a sticker on their new driver's car. Passing motorists can anonymously report any erratic driving by dialing a toll-free number and giving the driver's ID code; the kid's parents then hear the recorded message via email.

As you might expect, the concept's seen as great, or nasty, depending on whom you ask.

Soon after Hurst put the sticker on her daughter Stephanie's car, two calls came in that the girl had been driving carelessly.

Hurst said she took the car away for a week, and did so again in August after getting a speeding report. Not surprisingly, the whole experience has created some friction.

"She's still mad at me," Hurst said of Stephanie, now 17. "She's the only one of her group of friends who has it, so she gets razzed a lot. But she's also the only one of them who has never gotten a ticket."

There have been some prank calls, Hurst said, but because she is able to listen to each call, the fakes are fairly easy to pick out.

Vic Barriga, is founder of HowsMyKidDriving.org, which for now is based in his Haledon, N.J., home and still without customers. "I just want everyone to feel safer on the road," the father of three said. Barriga is a Passaic County, N.J., sheriff's officer who also runs the agency's multimedia department.

Inspired by truck decals, bumper stickers for teen drivers have been around for more than a decade. Barriga's service costs $89.95 a year; in other states, some go for as low as $20.

To 16-year-old Ariana Parmese, the whole thing sounds a little too much like spying.

"I'd definitely put up a fight if my parents wanted to get one," she said, fresh from getting her driver's permit at a Motor Vehicle Commission office in Wayne, N.J. "Something like that — it's like that they don't trust me."

"It has nothing to do with trust," her father, Vincent Parmese, said in favor of the idea. "It has to do with safety."

Company owners say parents have good reason to sign up: Vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers, with the first year of driving especially perilous. They agree with experts, however, that nothing can replace talking to kids about the risks of driving.

Another company, HowsMyTeenDriving.net, encourages motorists to report incidents online to avoid using a cell phone while driving.

By the way, Barriga and other law enforcement officers say motorists should always alert police to dangerous drivers before dialing the stickers' toll-free numbers.

Other methods of tracking young people's driving habits are more high-tech. TeenArriveAlive.com uses satellite navigation software that allows parents to locate their child's Nextel cell phone. If the phone is in a moving vehicle, they see the vehicle's direction of travel and speed.

Alltrack USA goes further. Parents install black-box recorders in their children's cars to allow them to download travel information. They can even create "electric fences" online and get alerts if their kids drive beyond the boundaries.

Such programs can help kids resist peer pressure to drive faster or take risks, said Bill Van Tassel, manager of driver training operations at the American Automobile Association.

"It's kind of like drug testing where a kid says, 'I'm not smoking pot — my dad tests me every Saturday night,' " he said.

But he added that parents should consider starting with a teen driver contract, available from AAA and driving schools.

"If there are problems, the teenager would agree to have these devices installed," Van Tassel said. "They (the devices) could be a promise of additional scrutiny by a parent."

Besides averting trouble, such programs could someday save money for motorists.

Insurance discounts might come in the near future, said John D'Agostino Jr., former president of the Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey and vice president of the D'Agostino Agency in Hammonton, N.J.

"If these companies offering the tracking devices can put hard data out there, I think you'll start to see an increase in savings," he said.

For parents like Vincent Parmese, it's another reason to consider a bumper sticker program for his daughter, Ariana, whom he acknowledged — at her prodding — as already being pretty responsible.

"It's a scary thing to think about your firstborn driving," he said as his daughter looked on in feigned alarm. "God help the other drivers!"