Long gone are the days when 6 of you could sit across the back seat designed for three but only has a seat belt for two.
Sure many people said it never did them any harm, and it didn’t, but it was disastrous for those who did end up in accidents.
As a parent or guardian, or even if you’re simply taking your friend’s children out for the day, it is your responsibility to ensure that your car is as safe as possible.
But it is not just about the vehicle. You need to make sure that you’re not distracted by crying, fighting, or children trying to lean across and reach things.
The truth is a car with children in it is a huge distraction, and if it’s something that you’re not used to, you might find it quite challenging to deal with.
Photo by Anton Luzhkovsky on Unsplash
Risk reduction
Your main concern when you have children in the car is to reduce their risk of danger. In the United States in 2019, more than 600 children aged 12 and younger died in motor vehicle crashes. Further to that, a vast and 91000 were injured.
And a horrifying statistic is that 38% of those were not wearing a seatbelt at the time.
One of the fastest ways to reduce your child’s risk of injury in a car is to ensure that the seat belt is used. Research shows that the likelihood of injury reduces by up to 82% just by using a seatbelt.
Nobody wants to call a car crash lawyer, but if you do need to, you should be on the right side of the law and note that you took all of the proper risk reduction steps for the children in the vehicle.
Car seats
A general overview is that children from birth until between 2 and 4 can use a rear-facing car seat. You should make sure that they are buckled in well using the safety harness and that the car seat itself is secured according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
It is also essential that you never place a rear-facing car seat in the front seat, as airbags can cause injury.
Once the child has outgrown the rear-facing car seat, around age five, they can have a forward-facing car seat around age five. A forward-facing car seat should be secured to the car’s seat according to the manufacturer’s instructions, and the harness should be well fitted.
Remember that you don’t want to put a child in a car seat with their coat on, as the air pockets in the coat’s material can mean that the safety harness is not secure enough.
Depending on the size and weight of the child will mean different things for their booster seat. When a child outgrows the forward-facing car seat, they should still be buckled into a belted position booster seat for some time. Please can be used until the child is 12 years old.
After this point, your child can use a regular seat belt cover, and you just need to make sure that it’s clicked in, and probably worn out every time.
Are you ready to take a long road trip? Read this for some great tips: Tips For Surviving Long Road Trips.
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