The better option is to not track them and to trust them and teach them about risks and autonomy and then allow them to make small mistakes now, so they won’t make big mistakes later when they don’t listen to you anymore.
The obvious question is "what did we do before?" I'm not sure how tracking stops serious mistakes; maybe it resolves them after the fact, suggesting that tracking their phone is not going to help parenting and you need another approach?
And yes, I do have kids of my own ranging from pre-phone to a brand new driver, so I get your motivation.
Agreed, and it's our job as parents to sheppard them. Handing them a skinner box and plonking them into the world doesn't solve that problem. And tracking then 24/7 isn't likely to help. Kids have been finding ways to get around their parents knowing what they're doing throughout all of humanity, and smartphones won't (and haven't) changed that.
You are legally responsible for your child until they are 18. There is a universe of difference between not trusting your children vs taking reasonable steps to ensure their safety by knowing their location when necessary.
Parents have a legal right and obligation to know where their kids are. The technology used to achieve it is a mere implementation detail.
Also, technically, any adult who owns a smartphone has already consented to be permanently location tracked by their carrier and various entities that can buy location data from your carrier legally.
/s