How safe is your child in your car?
Children and cars don’t mix very well, but they’ve got to get along somehow. These are some practical, easy-to-practice tips to make sure your kids are safer on the road.
Photo credit: jonfeinstein. Click image to visit photographer.
A quick look at today’s papers will give you at least one report of a car accident in which a family of four or five were tragically killed. Often, these accidents are no fault of theirs — an overtaking vehicle, a drunk driver, even a cat caught in your headlights on a highway can make you panic and lose control. But while these driving hazards are beyond your control, you can at least do your best to make sure the environment within your own car is as safe as can be… especially for your children. Making sure everyone wears their seatbelts besides, curious toddlers and quarrelsome tweens can make you lose your concentration when driving… and I don’t think we need tell you how dangerous that can be.
Lock the windows
An annoying habit that many children have is fiddling with power windows. They wind them down, throw rubbish out of it (another story altogether!), then wind them up again. Then they do the same thing again. And again. It can be very irritating to a driver, so do lock your power windows. If your car does not have a power window lock, or if it uses manual windows, then take your car to a workshop to get them to fix it — either by installing a power window lock switch, or by removing the handles from the manual windows in the backseat. You can always put them back on later.
Lock the doors
It’s every parent’s worse nightmare: your child opening the car door whilst you’re in motion. And, yes, it can happen. All modern cars feature a child-proof door lock which prevents people from opening the door from the inside. But how many of us actually use it? Refer to your car’s user manual to find out how to operate this feature, or ask your friendly neighbourhood mechanic (although your husband ought to be able to figure it out himself). And while you’re at it, see if your car’s seat-belts have child-proof mechanisms which prevent their squirming out of them. If they don’t, ask a good car accessories shop for a gadget that makes regular seat belts fiddle-resistant.
Shut the kids up
Two kids having a shouting match in the backseat whilst you’re inching your way through shopping mall traffic is not what any parent had in mind when they decided to have children. Your already frayed nerves are slowly pushed into danger zone, you begin to lose patience on the road, and then…. Crash! You could a) yell at your child to shut up or no ice-cream; b) ignore it (which is very difficult); or, c) play silent games. One game like this is Stare (who can look into the other person’s eyes longest without blinking. Rules? No talking!). Another good game is Count the Cars (silently count how many green cars you see on the road). Always have the radio on in the background so that it does not seem too quiet in the car, and if they really must talk, play the all-time favourite game: I Spy. Start the game when you begin your journey, and end at your destination (or when they fall asleep, whichever happens first).
Don’t let them get bored
Children turn naughty when they’re bored, and nothing is quite as boring as sitting around a backseat all day… and an hour or two does seem like a day to them. As long as they are sufficiently entertained, they are generally quite happy to leave you alone. So, try and keep all manner of distractions in the car ready for use — toys, drawing paper and crayons, GameBoys, books on riddles and puzzles… anything that you can use to keep them occupied. For long journeys, try not to stop when your child is asleep. Instead, make your stops when the kids are awake, as these are invaluable opportunities for them to burn their energy.
What is a safe car?
Sedan? 4-wheel drive? MPV? Buying a car is a complex affair, but apart from what they tell you in the brochures, these are some other considerations.
- Sedans have a very low centre of gravity, and are therefore less likely to turn turtle on you if you need to make a sudden swerve. However, the doors and seats are also much lower to the ground, around the same level as all other vehicles’ bumpers. In a side-collision, passengers are far more likely to get hurt. If you drive a vehicle with exceptional safety standards (think Volvos), then this impact is very effectively dispersed to other parts of the car. Side airbags will also help protect passengers.
- 4-wheel drives have a much higher centre of gravity and are therefore less stable in sudden swerve situations. However, they have become much safer in recent years, especially with SUVs like Ford’s new Escape 2.3L VICS which features the Control Trac II 4WD System. This cool addition automatically proportions torque (even when in motion) in order to decrease the likelihood of slipping, especially on wet and slippery surfaces. Other safety features like Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) have made driving 4-wheel-drives safer, too.
- MPVs (or Multi-Purpose Vehicles) have become very popular in the last decade because they offer so much space to families. However, when all this space is filled up, the additional weight can make avoiding a collision a tricky affair. The vehicle is less predictable with a full load, and, because it’s taller, it is also harder to control in sudden swerves. But again, modern additions like ABS make them safer than they were before.
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