As a mother, you probably worry about plenty of things once your kids arrive. You certainly want what is best for them, which means keeping them safe from the world’s various dangers. That includes automotive perils that they might run into as they grow up.
Cars always present some degree of danger since, even if you’re a great driver, you have no way of knowing whether the same is true for the people around you. That’s why you should make every effort to protect your kids when you take them out for a drive. Let’s look at a few ways to keep your children as safe as possible when you hop in your vehicle and head out for an excursion.
You Can Get Them the Proper Car Seat
Several car accident types can occur. You have rear-ended collisions, T-bone accidents, or the common side-swipe collision. The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety states that 242,000 of these side-swipe crashes every year are often caused by drivers who are not paying attention or have ingested drugs or alcohol.
One way you can protect your younger kids from these dangers is by getting them a car seat and making sure that you buckle them into it correctly every time you take a trip. Even if you’re going down the block to the grocery store or gas station, strap them in every time.
You should also make sure that you get the right car seat for your child, depending on how old they are and how fast they are growing. You can look at some online reviews before deciding on a particular brand. You might also choose to talk to your family doctor to see if they have any recommendations.
You Can Make Them Wear Their Seatbelt
Once your child is old enough that they no longer have to sit in a car seat, that’s a milestone for them. However, you still need to properly restrain them in their seat when you go out for a drive. That means telling them to buckle their seatbelt, even for short trips.
You can implement a family policy when you’re about to go somewhere. You never put the car in drive until everyone is in their seat with their seatbelt fastened. Many studies show that the chances of surviving a car wreck are much higher if you are wearing a seatbelt, including your passengers.
You Can Put Them in the Backseat
Other studies reveal that more individuals survive car wrecks when they are in the backseat instead of the front. Either the driver’s seat or the passenger’s seat right next to it both have higher fatality and injury rates than the backseat, so you should consider having your kids sit back there when you’re going on trips.
If you and one of your kids in the car going somewhere, they might think it’s a little strange that you don’t want them to sit in the passenger’s seat beside you. Statistically, though, they are safer in the back, and you can show them the data if they are reluctant to do it. If their safety is your priority, and they know that, then they should have no problems doing as you ask.
You Can Avoid Night Driving
You can also avoid night driving with your kids in the car. It’s probably not realistic to think that you will never have to go anywhere at night, with or without your kids in the vehicle. However, visibility is not as good at night, so you can at least make an effort to take care of whatever you need to do during the daylight hours when that’s possible.
You can take day shifts rather than night shifts at work, and you can pick up any supplies you need or run errands during the day. You can visit most stores during the day that close at night anyway, so this pattern should not be too disruptive.
If you do have to pick your child up from a late event and the sun is down, you can use your high beams if you’re on back roads or ones that don’t have streetlights. Just be sure to turn those high beams off if another car comes at you from the opposite direction. Also, in case of an accident, contact the hospital, insurance company, and a car accident attorney. Or you can also visit the website here to learn about your rightful accident compensation.
Avoid Bad Weather Driving
You can also avoid driving your kids around when there’s poor weather. If you know that there’s a rainstorm, a snowstorm, fog, hail, or any other bad weather coming your way, you can put off anything that’s not too urgent.
If all your kid wants is for you to drop them off at a friend’s house or take them to the movie theatre, you can tell them they can go another time. Bad weather driving that’s not to go somewhere urgent is seldom a smart idea, regardless of whether your kids are in the vehicle with you or not.
You can also talk to your kids about these habits once they’re teenagers, and you start teaching them how to drive. You can tell them to avoid driving in the dark and bad weather driving as well. They will already know about wearing their seat belts every time you have always had that policy for your whole family.
You can tell the other adults in your family to set positive driving examples as your kids grow up. Children often emulate their parents or older siblings. If the adults in your family have always shown safe driving behaviours, then it’s likely the kids will follow in their footsteps as they grow.
On the other hand, if your kids have seen you driving after consuming alcohol, trying to text while driving, tailgating cars ahead of you, and speeding, they will probably think all of that is okay. Setting a positive example they can follow is just as vital as anything else you might do concerning vehicle usage.
One last thing to note is the fact that you should make sure your car itself is safe. If you have a very old car, or even a salvaged car sell it and move on to something a little more secure.
