Car Safety For Families by Ruby Aragon

Car Seats. The very first thing that parents need to do to keep their children safe in cars is to use appropriate and approved child safety seats. There are many car seats on the market at varying price ranges. To find the best seat for your child, you need to look for one that fits your child’s age, weight and height as well as one that fits well into your car. Generally, you can find free car seat checks in your community that are staffed with people to help you fit the car seats into your car once you have one. Additionally, some also have car seats on hand to help you purchase the best car seat match for your child and vehicle.

Air Bags. Air bags are in vehicles to help decrease the injuries of car passengers, but they are designed to protect adults. Air bags can be extremely dangerous to children when they go off. They open at a rate of 200 miles per hour (necessary to protect the average adult male) and the bag opening at this rate can cause head and neck injuries. Because of this, all children under the age of 12 should always ride in the back seat whenever possible. In fact, all rear facing car seats should always be in the back. If a child or a forward facing seat needs to be in the front, the seat should be in it’s rear-most position. If possible, turn off the air bag.

Car Rules. Even at young ages, you can start teaching your children car rules. These rules should include always using seat belts and never sharing seat belts. Additionally, teach your kids to stay calm, seated and buckled at all times. Most importantly, it’s important for kids to know that you expect them to follow the rules regardless of whose car they are in.

Bus Rules. Whether your child rides the bus everyday or just occasionally for school outings, it’s important that they know proper behavior for the bus as well. General rules that your child should know include waiting for the bus on the side of the road, waiting for the driver to say that it’s okay to board the bus, staying in their seats while the bus is moving, walking in front of the bus when they need to cross either before getting on or after getting off.

Other Considerations. Children should never be left unattended in a car. They can overheat on warm days. If they are in a car with the engine running, they could get out of their seats and put the car in gear. They might also put a non-running car in neutral and get injured that way. Furthermore, it’s important to teach children to never play on, in or near parked cars.