Child Safety In And Around Your Vehicle

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Child Safety in and Around Your Vehicle

5 Dangers to look out for and how to avoid them

1. Vehicle-Related Heatstroke 

Heatstroke is one of the most unfortunate accidents that are related to children being left in a hot vehicle.

Facts:

1. 48 pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths for the year, as of October 2019

2. 845 children have died due to vehicle heatstroke since 1998

3. 53.8 % - Forgotten by caregivers

4. 26.2 % - Gained access on their own

5. 18.9% - knowingly left be a caregiver 

6. 1.0% - Unknown 

Inforgraphic Created By TemplatePremier.com

How to prevent vehicle-related heatstroke

Set a reminder on your smartphone to check your vehicle when you reach your destination. 

Keep your vehicle locked at all times when you are not in it and secure the keys. Heatstroke deaths occur 3 out 10 times due to unattended vehicle

If you notice an unattended child in a vehicle, call 911 or get to the caregiver if you can

2. Backover or Backing Out Accident 

A backover accident occurs when a vehicle is backing out of a driveway or parking space and hits a person. This is a sad reality for some kids who get seriously injured or even death.

How to prevent backover

• Tell children about the dangers of playing around a vehicle. Teach them not to do it.

• Check to make sure your children are not close to your vehicle before you back out.

• Have your kids play with their toys and bike in a designated area away from the driveway.

• At least check your rearview and other mirrors and listen to warning devices if you own a more modern vehicle that can detect objects while backing out.

3. Power Window Accident

Unfortunately, many kids get seriously injured by the closing of car windows. Power windows make life very convenient for motorists as it takes much less effort to open and close vehicle windows. Gone are the days or winding windows up and down. One dark side of the new technology is that kids sometimes get injured when their little fingers, hands or other parts of their body get caught in a power window.

Preventative Measures

1. Tell kids about the dangers and teach them not to play with car windows.

2. Teach children not to hang any parts of their body outside the car window or to climb onto the door armrests.

3. Children should be properly restrained with seat belts to prevent them from activating power windows.

4. Prevent kids from playing with power windows by turning off the power window lock switch.

4. Seat Belt Entanglement Accidents

We know that seat belt saves lives. More than half the people killed in auto accidents were not wearing seatbelts. Did you know that kids get seriously injured every year due to them getting entangled in seat belts? They pull the seat belt out where they are enough length to wrap around different parts of their bodies.

Preventative Measures

1. Teach children the dangers of seat belt entanglement and do not let them play in the vehicle.

2. Ensure that kids are properly secured or restrained in the vehicle.

3. Know exactly how your seat belt mechanism work to properly use it and know the dangers that may occur.

4. Fix seat belt that doesn’t work properly

5. Using Child Safety Seats

National SAFE KIDS Campaign Car Seat Check Ups stated that 85 percent of child safety seats are found to be improperly installed and/or used when vehicles are stopped and checked. That is alarming and only shows that most people may not know how to properly use car seats. The improper installation or use of car safety seats can result in serious injuries or death in the case of an accident. 

Preventative Measures

• Make sure the safety belt is holding the seat in tightly and is in a locked mode

• Ensure that the harness straps are snug and/or routed correctly in place

• The harness retainer clip should be at armpit level

• Infants should not be placed in front of an active airbag

• You should read the instructions that come with the child safety seat to ensure proper installation and use of the seat

Michael Reid
Auto Repair Invoice & Forms