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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ask him a bunch of questions to lock down his story before he starts lying to cover his tracks.

Establish that (a) his friend wasn't going 95; (b) he wasn't driving on I-95.

Then BAM.  You have a new jeep! [/quote]

OP, I actually understand your dilemma.  If the text read 'just passed Larla going 95" it could mean he didn't type the "on" after going.  For all you know, he and his friends could have been looking for Larla at the event and gave up and left and your DS saw Larla driving so he wanted to let his friends know he saw her and that she did leave the event too.

BUT that should still be a HUGE problem because he's texting and driving (even if he's going 50 mph on 95) and there should be consequences.  If you want to keep your cover and not disrupt things too much, I suggest going out and getting a flip phone and forwarding his existing smart phone # to the flip phone.   Tell him you know for a fact that he was texting and driving.  Period.  Don't even get into an argument over that part.  You don't need to tell him what the text was or what it said (and that may actually make him think you have more insight that you actually do - he ma think you know when/where he texts but not what the texts say).

Take his phone away and give him flip phone.  Limit his driving to school, activities and home.  Here's where it takes effort on your part.  You need to know what his activities are and when, where, and for how long they are.  And you time him.  Tell him you're timing him and if he is late, the car gets taken away.

Any social events - you drive him and pick him up.  He cannot get rides from his friends.

This is a HUGE deal.  Even if he was joking (which doesn't even sound like a joke) it is VERY telling that he and his friends think doing that is fun, exciting, brag-worthy, or whatever.  That is the attitude that needs to change.

Oh, I also liked the pp's suggesting of having him watch that video and then either writing an essay or (what I would do) is have a talk with him about the video.[/quote]

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