(Newswire.net — January 6, 2017) — Auto accidents happen every now and then. But have you ever wondered how much of these accidents involve children? In the United States alone, about 600 children of age 12 and below lost their lives as occupants in auto crashes, while more than 120,000 sustained injuries in 2014. This is just one out of the numerous causes of death of and injuries sustained by children through accidents.
To keep your kids safe from auto accidents, here are four simple but effective strategies that you should employ.
Educate them on traffic rules
The obligation to obey traffic rules is applicable to both the driver and pedestrians. On the part of drivers, it is mandatory to follow the prompts of the traffic lights, to drive within acceptable speed limits, and to respect the zebra crossing signs.
Some of these rules apply to pedestrians too since when a driver pauses at the zebra crossing sign, it’s for pedestrians to cross the road conveniently. You must teach your kids all these rules and encourage them to use pedestrian bridges on highways.
Buy a child safety seat
Using a child safety seat or booster seat is necessary to prevent kids from getting injured while you’re driving. These safety seats are of different types depending on the age of your children.
The rear facing seats are suitable for newly born babies while the forward facing seat and booster seats are mostly used by kids of about 3 to 7 years old. Lastly, the normal seatbelts are suitable for kids that are of age and have outgrown the booster belt, forward facing and rear facing belts. These are preventive measures that keep the kids safe during vehicle collisions.
However, it is important that you ensure that the seatbelts have been effectively strapped before setting in motion. The correct way to wear the seatbelt is to strap the belt over the chest/shoulder and the laps.
Use the safety locks
Under normal circumstances, the use of safety belts should be sufficient to keep the children safe while you’re driving. However, using the safety locks or child locks serves as double protection.
Some kids are so playful that you might not know when they’ll loosen their seatbelts. In such instances, the child locks perform an additional role of keeping the doors secured. In addition, the safety locks minimize the risk of being thrown out of the car when there’s a fatal accident.
Drive carefully
There’s no gainsaying that driving carefully is the best way to protect your kids from auto accidents. This is not limited to over speeding alone; it involves distracted driving, drunk driving, and flouting traffic rules among others.
In addition, you must learn how to drive during winter, rain or at night. Learning defensive driving is of paramount importance since you can’t trust the dexterity of other drivers.
Conclusion
Since kids do not drive, there’s every possibility that auto accidents involving them are caused by other people. Therefore, it’s your duty to protect your kids from death or injuries caused by motor accidents by applying these tips mentioned herein.