Child safety is paramount. The law always takes a progressive approach to ensure that your children are protected from harm or danger. This can be seen in how certain statutes and other provisions of the law are coined in their favor-ensuring they are protected from personal injury.
While these laws are certainly important, they are not enough to guarantee your child’s safety, especially when going to school. With schools opening soon and the significant increase in motor vehicle crashes, you must take certain key steps to ensure that your child is safe on the way to school.
Such steps entail proper safety inside your car as well as outside the vehicle while crossing the streets.
Here’s what you can do to achieve the safety your kids deserve on their way to school.
Child Safety Inside the Vehicle
If you or the designated driver is taking your kids to school, then you’d most likely want your kid to sit comfortably and assume the vehicle is a safe space. So that you don’t grapple with the hard task of doing those random checks-while driving -to ensure your child is safe, you can do the following:
1. Follow the Law
There are certain legal provisions regarding the safety of kids inside a car. These rules and regulations aim to ensure that the space inside the car doesn’t compromise your child’s safety. This often takes the form of fitting child restraints correctly or sticking to the speed limit.
By doing so, you are ensured of a safe journey to or from school.
2. Fit the Seat belt Correctly
The purpose of the seat belt is to ensure your child or any other person in the vehicle isn’t hurt or injured. Therefore, when going to school, ensure that your child’s seat belt is buckled up tightly.
Also, avoid:
- Buckling your children in one seat belt
- Carrying your child in your lap while driving
3. Activate the Child Safety Locks
Child safety locks are very important concerning child safety. For proper child protection, ensure that you activate the child safety locks on your car doors. This ensures that the kids can’t open the door while the vehicle is moving.
4. Ensure your children keep their arms or heads inside the vehicle
Kids are often fascinated by things outside the vehicle. As such, they might want to catch a glimpse of what’s happening outside or even try to touch some things while the vehicle is moving.
This can be dangerous because your child will most likely get hurt or injured if their arms or head comes into contact with another moving vehicle.
A good way to prevent it is to lock the electric power windows or provide plenty of safe distractions like music or books to play inside the vehicle.
Child Safety Outside the Car
The World Health Organization suggests that children are at risk of immeasurable suffering due to a road traffic crash. This can be attested by the fact that most of these children are ignorant of traffic rules; therefore, they aren’t capable of navigating the streets safely.
However, you can ensure that your child is safe while crossing the streets in the following ways:
1. Ensure Your Child Understands the Basics
Don’t wait for something to happen to your children so that you can teach them the most basic of traffic rules. You should seek to ensure that your child understands some of the basic traffic rules before crossing the streets when going to school. This involves teaching them.
Although they may be taught at school, it is important to enhance their understanding of the basic rules. Remember, children learn by experience.
2. Make Sure Your Child Wears Bright Colors
When going to school, ensure that your child wears bright colors. Such colors are important because they “make them stand out” when crossing the streets. In other words, they are visible to the eyes of drivers-therefore reducing the risk of accidents.
Other Road Safety Tips
- Supervise your child on the way to and from school
- Be a good role model
- Plan safe routes to school with your child
Bottom Line
Whether you are with your kid or your kid is alone, you’ll want to do everything to ensure that your kid arrives home or at school safely. Taking such steps might be what you need to achieve this.
Need Help?
If you or your loved one is involved in an accident, it is important to take the necessary steps to ensure that you don’t suffer additional harm or injury. You can contact us today to learn about your legal rights and the remedies you have in the event of an accident. Also, click here to learn more about our services and how we can help.