Child safety on short journeys
Never let your guard down when transporting children in your vehicle
Road Safety
I’m sure you are familiar with these phrases: “It’s only going to be a moment”, “We’ll be right there”, “It’s such a short time, you don’t need a car seat”, “We’re not going on the highway”, “We’re only going to the beach”, “There are no police”, “We’re not going to have an accident”.
But the issue is not insignificant. Eighty percent of fatal accidents occur on short journeys. This means that it is precisely in these circumstances that we should pay more attention when taking the appropriate measures to reduce the consequences of a collision, since it is on these occasions that we neglect both our own safety and that of our family and friends.
On short journeys, we let our guard down and drive more absent-mindedly, thereby increasing the risk. We also commit traffic violations as a result of overconfidence and relaxation, since these are usually stretches of road that we are familiar with.
Due to the very nature of these trips they may also involve the consumption of alcohol at meals with friends or family, and we may not consider this important because of how close we are to home.
This is exactly why the concept of a short or long trip should be eliminated from our safety vocabulary, since we cannot apply safety measures based on the distance we are going to travel. A collision can happen at any time, and therefore the greatest possible precautions should be taken to reduce injuries on any trip, regardless of whether it is short or long.
Remember that the use of the appropriate restraint system, its correct installation, the proper securing of the occupants, and the position of the front seats as far as possible from the rear seats are measures that we should always adopt.
On this type of journey, we must take extreme safety measures and check the following points:
- That all the occupants of the vehicle are wearing seat belts or harnesses, and any children are correctly and securely fastened into their child seats.
- That the driver has not consumed any substance that impairs their ability to drive.
- That the driver respects traffic signs, road safety regulations and traffic police.
- Avoid becoming too relaxed at the wheel due to overconfidence because you know the route.