Safety Precautions For Kids In Cars by Dr. Chetan Ginigeri

• Children under 12 years are not only allowed to ride only in the back seat, but they also should be appropriately fastened either in a child safety seat, or an infant seat, or by means of a seat belt, depending on their age and height.
• Make sure that the restraint straps for children are not twisted, and if by chance, the child removes them, immediately stop and correct it and explain the reason behind it.
• You can ask the child not to touch the straps again, but he or she may not obey you, so it’s advisable to give them a distraction or a promise to do something else till you reach the desired destination.
• Make it a point never to share a single seat dealt with another person. Start driving only when all seatbelts are done up.
• If the booster seat is empty, tie seatbelt because if in any case, the car crashes, it can injure someone.
• Traveling of pets in the car along with you should be avoided. One can use pet harnesses to secure your pet using a seatbelt. This protects the pet as well as the other passengers inside the vehicle.

Where Children Should Sit In Cars

As already explained above, children less than 12 years are allowed to ride only in the back seat. Precisely the middle seat. This is considered as the safest spot for a child. One of the main reasons for insisting on putting your child in the back seat is that, if some mishaps happen, the airbag alone can kill your child. Did you know the airbag set out very fast, almost around 1/20th of a second? This force is not bearable for a small child. This impact most probably brings about a head injury to the child as the bag winch them off the sit and hit the roof.
For the safety of children, there are some laws or rules legally prescribed for motor vehicles about seating arrangement of children:

• In case of a car contains more than two rows of seats, a child under four years should not travel in the front seat
• Once they cross the 12 years barrier and want to raid in front:
• Make them wear a seat belt
• Push back the front seat as far as possible and ensure it is away from the margin where the airbag would set out.
• Your thirteen year old may still need to use a booster seat if he or she is less than 4 feet 9 inches tall.

Apart from the above discussion, there are few extra tips that should be kept in mind while driving:

• When the car is moving or parked on, its important that the child keeps legs, head, and arms in the car.
• Childproof locks should be used for the doors to prevent children from going out.
• Loose items should be kept in closed boxes or drawers of the car; otherwise, in case of a crash, they may bounce and hurt someone.
• On long journeys, it is necessary to take the child out from the side opposite to traffic.

How To Keep Your Child Happy In The Car

It’s necessary that children are always happy while in a car. Their quietness and sadness can distract you and risk driving. Look at the following points to keep them cheered:

• One should keep talking to children about the things they were doing earlier or point to the beautiful sights outside the window. This would distract them. Playing audio stories, singing different nursery rhymes/songs can be a good idea.
• Children do the things they are praised for very accurate and more often. So it’s necessary to praise them for maintaining good car manners, keeping a seatbelt on, and that has to repeat a number of times in a journey to encourage them.
• A number of distractions should be provided condition they are safe for the child, such as music or audiobooks, to listen along with soft games that are hand-held or giving them some books to read.  Involve them with eating snacks or taking drinks if you wish to keep an eye on him or her directly.
• In case the child desires the attention, you must stop by the side and listen to him.