5 Tips To Protect Your Child In The Car
By Ross Cellino
While car rides can be dangerous for anyone involved, they can be especially dangerous for children. As a parent, you cannot prevent all car accidents from happening, but there are preventative measures you can take to keep your child safe in the event of a collision.
Let’s take a look at how you can keep your children safe in the car with these 5 tips:
Use A Properly Installed Car Seat
Car seats are a great way to ensure that small children are properly restrained since they are too small to use a standard seatbelt. If your car seat is installed correctly, it can help to protect your child from injuries in the event of a car crash. However, the CDC reports that over 46% of car seats are not installed properly, which can lead to devastating results.
Properly fitted and installed car or booster seats save an average of 325 children under the age of five per year. If you need help choosing the right type of car seat for your child, visit the NHSTA’s website for car seat tips and tricks.
Keep Your Child In The Back Seat
The backseat of your car is the safest place for children 12 and under, especially if they are not restrained by a car seat, as it is the furthest away from potential impact points. If your child is sitting in the front seat of the car, they can face several dangers if an accident were to occur.
The front seat of any passenger vehicle is designed to be used by an adult. A child under the age of 13 may not have the awareness or maturity to use the front seat properly, which can put them at risk for injury. Not only can your child be in the frontal airbag deployment zone, which can cause injuries from ejecting at 200-400mph, but they can also come in contact with the hard plastic dash or glass if sitting in the front seat improperly at the time of the collision.
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Pull Over If You Are Distracted While Driving
For anyone who drives with children frequently, you’re no stranger to the chaos that can ensue in the backseat while driving. Yelling, screaming, crying, spilled snacks, and bickering are all common occurrences when you have one or more young children riding with you.
Unfortunately, distracted driving is a leading cause of accidents in the United States with 80% of accidents caused by a driver distracted behind the wheel. If you feel as though you need to tend to your children in the back seat, pull over safely to ensure both you and your child stay safe while you tend to their needs.
Use Child Safety Locks
Much like in the house, child safety locks prevent your young child from opening doors or windows they’re not supposed to. Most modern cars will have child safety locks on each rear door that you can engage to keep backseat passengers from opening the doors from the inside.
Ideally, you would want to keep these rear child safety locks engaged any time you have your child in the car with you. If your car has the ability to engage window locks, you should ensure that those locks are on each time you have a young child riding to avoid any incidents in which they may eject something from open windows while the car is in motion.
Never Leave Your Child Unattended In The Car
Each year, hundreds of children are left unattended in cars. About 75% of child deaths in parked cars are due to adults leaving children unattended in inclement weather. Even if you leave the car running to keep it cool or warm, children may be tempted to get behind the wheel or crawl into the front seat and unintentionally cause an accident.
When at home, you should teach your children to not play in or around the car without adult supervision. When backing out of your driveway or any parking spot, always check behind your car for any children or animals who may be crossing by to avoid a potential tragedy.
When To Contact A Personal Injury Attorney For Your Child
Even if you take all of the necessary precautions to keep yourself and your child safe from injury, there is still a chance they can be injured due to someone else’s negligence. If your child has sustained an injury due to a car accident, it’s important to contact an experienced personal injury attorney to ensure that you and your child’s rights are protected and you receive fair compensation for the injuries sustained in the accident.
The attorneys at Cellino Law have decades of experience in protecting the rights of parents and children who were injured due to another driver’s negligence. For a free and confidential case consultation, contact our team 24/7 at 888-888-8888.
Content checked by the personal injury attorney Ross Cellino
Ross Cellino
As a family man and a trial attorney, I pride myself on winning cases and serving the community. With over 35 years of experience, I understand the function of a jury, how juries arrive at conclusions, and the role that the jury plays in administering justice. I know how to win cases. You can find us in Manhattan, Buffalo, Melville, Rochester, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and other locations throughout New York.
