The safety of your kids is undoubtedly one of your greatest concerns. Unfortunately, the road is an inherently dangerous place. Keeping your children safe during a long car ride involves using some special equipment and following some simple guidelines. This article walks you through how you can best ensure your child’s safety in a vehicle.
Take Regular Breaks
Not all dangers to your child involve a crash. Keeping your child hydrated is very important during long journeys. Make sure to take regular breaks that include drinks of water.
Insist On Seatbelts
Seatbelts are lifesaving devices. From 1972 to 2017, seatbelts have saved an estimated 379,196 lives, according to the NHTSA. 47 percent of all fatal car accidents occurred when people were not wearing seat belts, despite almost 90 percent of the population wearing them.
Correctly fitting your child’s seatbelt is crucial before every journey. If you or your child were not wearing seatbelts during a crash, sensible lawyers like Horst Shewmaker in Georgia would likely inform you that you do not have a valid personal injury case.
Don’t Let Young Children Ride Up Front
They can talk coherently from the very minute many kids ask if they can ride up front with you on long car journeys. While this might be an appealing bonding exercise for any loving parent, it puts the child at considerable risk. All modern cars have front seat airbags. While these can be lifesaving devices for adults, they can cause potentially fatal injuries in children. As gruesome as it sounds, having a row of seats in between your child and the front of a car is considerably safer than just having an airbag. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, no child under the age of 13 should sit in the front seat of a car equipped with airbags. Once a person reaches a larger size, airbags turn from menaces to saviors.
Choose The Right Child Seat
Cars carrying children need to be equipped with special seats to ensure the safety of their smaller occupants. The type of seat your child needs depends on several factors, including age, size, and developmental needs. For infants and toddlers, child seats need to be rear-facing. This is to provide a protective shell in the case of the seat flying forward during a crash. Older children can make do with seats that boost their height so that their seatbelt works effectively. If a seatbelt snags around a neck, it can cause serious injuries during a crash. Children’s car seats are usually made of a soft plastic or polystyrene core, much like a bicycle helmet. They are designed to absorb kinetic energy, which is released in huge quantities during car accidents. Replace your child’s car seat if you have an accident – even a very minor one. Protective materials have a habit of breaking by design after a single necessitated use; it is definitely better to be safe and cautious where your children are involved.
