Ensuring Child Safety While Driving

 Posted on February 13,2018 in Car Accidents

As we continue to work our way through another tough Illinois winter, most of us have experienced less than ideal road conditions. Whether it is fluctuating temperatures resulting in an abundance of black ice, or the huge snowfall we experienced in early February, we know that road conditions can become less than ideal at any moment. Winter is a stressful time for most drivers, and that certainly holds true for drivers with small children.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 600 children ages 12 and younger were fatally injured in automobile accidents throughout the United States during 2015. In 2014, upwards of 120,000 children suffered injuries in automobile collisions nationwide. Understanding the precarious nature of winter driving, it is important to understand how to keep small children safe while driving.

Tips to Keeping Kids Safe While Driving

With a few months left of sub-standard road conditions this Winter, it is important to know what steps parents can take to keep their children safe while traveling.

• Use a Safety Seat With Small Children: Safe Kids USA states that children under 57 inches, and weighing less than 100 pounds, are not adequately restrained by standard safety belts designed for adults. Often times, parents elect to remove their children from a booster seat once they have outgrown their initial seat. Yet while some children do outgrow their initial seat, they still may not be ready for a standard seat belt. Plainly put, a booster seat is needed if the shoulder strap of the seat belt lies on your child’s neck rather than across his or her shoulders. Using the correct safety restraints for your child may be the difference between safety and injury.
• Keep Your Children in the Back Seat: This tip may seem obvious, but surprisingly enough parents continue to make the mistake of allowing their children to ride in the front seat. Airbags inflate at rapid speeds that can reach up to 200 mph, the impact can be incredibly painful, even for adults. For children, the impact may strike them in the neck or head area, often times resulting in serious spinal or head trauma. In many cases, these injuries can prove fatal.
• Hey! Wear Your Seatbelt: Monitoring your children can be an incredibly difficult task. When traveling via automobile with your children, supervision is paramount. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 35 percent of the upwards of 600 children, ages 12 and under, were fatally injured in car accidents throughout 2015 and were not wearing their seat belts. Everyone knows the importance of seat belts, as well as the safety benefits they can bring to passengers. Helping to remind your children could ultimately save their lives.

Contact Us

Keeping our children safe is every parent’s top priority. At Salvi & Maher L.L.C. we understand how difficult it can be to navigate the aftermath of a child’s injury. If a member of your family is injured in an automobile collision, contact an experienced Waukegan personal injury attorney today.

Sources:

http://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=motor-vehicle-safety-for-children-85-P01038

https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/child_passenger_safety/cps-factsheet.html