Going on a summer vacation can be fun, both for you and your kids. On top of making sure your children have fun, you have an added responsibility to make sure they stay safe.
One of the areas that you need to exercise extra vigilance over your child’s safety is when they are in the car. This is crucial when you plan to take a long drive with your family. Some car accessories can help you to stay on top of your children’s safety during this time.
Let’s look at some must-have accessories that can add to your car for extra safety as you take your holiday road trip.
Must have safety car accessories for kids
Car seats and boosters
Safety child seats are a significant component of a safe drive with kids. According to Forbes, installing child seats can reduce fatal injuries to up to 71% for infants. Having a safety child seat installed, you can protect your kid from injuries in case a car accident.
It is also essential to ensure that the seats are correctly installed. Nearly 75% of child seats are usually not installed correctly, according to NHTSA’s data. Since car crashes are the leading causes of death among children and teens, always make sure you have your child’s safety seat installed correctly before you head out for your summer road trip.
Rear-facing child seats
When traveling with infants of up to two years of age, always have them in a rear-facing safety seat. Children this young tend to have large heads and weak neck muscles. This poses a high risk of head, neck and spine injuries in case of a crash.
To minimize this risk, always have your child in a rear-facing safety seat when driving.
An automatic temperature control system
Heatstroke is a leading non-crash fatality cause among children. According to the Department of Meteorology & Climate Science, there have been 808 child deaths due to heatstroke in vehicles since 1998. All of these being preventable deaths.
Death occurs when children are left in a hot vehicle for a long time. The heat in the car causes the child’s body temperature to rise to lethal levels when they remain unattended for a long time. A heatstroke will begin at around 104 Fahrenheit.
A decent temperature control system can help you prevent this problem. If your car doesn’t have an automatic heat control system, you need to get one before you head out for summer. If you have an old car, make sure to get an upgraded air conditioning system.
Here are some other pro tips to help you prevent heat stroke:
- Avoid leaving your child in the car, even for a minute (it is against the law after all).
- Carefully monitor your child’s temperature while in the car.
- Keep your vehicle locked when not in the car. Most heatstroke fatalities happen when a child gains access to the vehicle and remains inside, either after falling asleep or by locking themselves inside. Therefore, always keep your car locked and your keys out of reach to avoid your kids having unauthorized access to the car.
UV window films
Driving for long distances during summer can be uncomfortable. At least not with the beaming sun rays. Most often, kids will start to experience headaches and getting sunburned. Depending on the age of your child, they might not be able to wear sunscreen.
Installing a super simple window sun shade can block these damaging UV rays, therefore, giving your kids eyes the protection they deserve. Here are some of the ways in which a window tint can protect your kids.
- Block cancer-causing UV rays. Cancer-causing UV rays do penetrate glass. Each time you ride with your kids in the car, they get exposed to these rays and therefore have high chances of developing cancer later in life. Tinting your car’s windows can help you reduce exposure these cancer-causing sun rays.
- Protect your children’s eyes. Sunrays can be quite deceptive. They are beautiful, comforting, and a source of vitamin D too, but at the same time quite dangerous for your child’s eyes. Installing a super simple window sun shade can block these damaging UV rays, therefore, giving your kids eyes the protection they deserve.
- Lower the temperature in your car.
We all know how annoying it can be when you have to wait for your super-heated leather seats to cool down before you can use your car. Having your vehicle exposed to sunlight for a long time raises the temperature of the interior upholstery, which can lead to severe burns for your kids. Protect your car from sunlight exposure by installing a quality UV window film.
Conclusion
Traveling with kids can be challenging. But by being attentive and safety conscious, you can achieve a safe drive this summer.
By Guest Author Eric Tress
