We have the right to expect fair treatment by the government be it federal, state or local. However, we have a responsibility to ourselves to drive safely. This is never more so than when we have children in the car with us. We have a responsibility to make our cars and our driving as child safe as possible and this includes being aware of children on sidewalks, crossing the road, and cycling beside us as we drive.
Every year around 600 children under the age of 13 are killed in car accidents. In addition, 120,000 or so are injured, some facing life changing injuries. While sadly, some deaths and injuries are unavoidable, 35% of those killed and probably a similar percentage of those injured were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. Simple things like this could save many lives.
However, many parents are also unaware of how to correctly install and use a child car seat or a booster seat. For example, here are the 6 most common mistakes parents make:
1. Using the wrong kind of car seat
2. Not registering the seat with the manufacturer
3. Not securing the seat adequately to the vehicle
4. Not securing the child to the seat properly
5. Not using booster seats for older children
6. Ignoring car seat recalls
It is possible to make small changes to how you approach having a child in the car with you from making sure they are buckled up to sitting in the back, not the front. To find out more information, check out this full guide from Bell & Pollock on child driving safety.
From guest blogger Jenny Holt, freelance writer and mother of two. She loves nothing more than getting away from it and taking her pet Labrador Bruce for long walks, something she can do a lot more now that she’s left the corporate world behind.
