Seat Belts and Car Seats: Keeping Your Kids Protected While On the Road

Americans love to drive and this love affair that this country has with cars and driving them is something that every citizen of this country will have trouble letting go. That is why during summer, American families would spend their weekends coming together and hitting the road for that fun family road trip. However, before you tuck your kids in the vehicle’s backseat, you should first ask yourself, is my kid safe enough in there?

Children and vehicle crashes:

Vehicle crashes has been one of the leading causes of injuries and death in the United States. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people get injured, while thousands get killed because of these crashes. Modern vehicles employ a ton of safety features that help protect its occupants in the event of a crash. However, according to the latest National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data, more than a third of the children that died in car crashes are those that were not in safety seats or wearing their safety belts.

And so the agency, in celebration of the Child Passenger Safety Week, is promoting the use of car seats, booster seats, and seat belts for kids to help keep them safe while you are out on those long journeys. However, a Los Angeles Injury Attorneys shares that these gadgets would not work well and won’t be able to completely protect your children when not used properly. That is why the NHTSA provided some useful tips about the use of these safety aids.

Wearing A Motorcycle Helmet in California: What You Should Know About It

Every motorcyclist, especially in California, must wear a protective gear when riding out on the road. Not only is this required by the traffic laws of the state, but wearing it decreases the rider’s chance of getting seriously injured if ever a collision happens. Because a motorcycle does not entirely protect the rider from the impact of a crash, it is imperative that he or she must wear something that would protect delicate body parts, particularly the head.

As it is, the motorcycle helmet is the most essential safety gear that every motorcyclist must wear at all times when riding the two-wheeled motor vehicle. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), helmets prevent motorcycle accident deaths 37 percent of the time. Also, the safety gear is 67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries.

Because of how effective these protective gears are, a lot of states have adopted laws that make wearing helmets mandatory for persons who ride motorcycles. A total of 47 states plus the District of Columbia have a mandatory helmet law for motorcyclists. Nineteen of them have the universal helmet law, which means that helmets must be worn by both riders and passengers.

One of the states with the universal helmet law is California, which adopted the said measure in 1992. Upon implementation of the law, helmet use rose from 50 percent to 99 percent. It was proven effective once the law was laid down in the state; in fact, the number of motorcycle accident deaths decreased by 37 percent.

Daydreaming While Driving Can Lead to Vehicle Accidents

Of all the different forms of distracted driving, using the cell phone to text or call someone while driving is the one action that we are most aware of. So is tinkering the car stereo and picking up something off the car floor. In such instances, the chances of getting involved in an accident become greater once the driver takes his or her eyes away from the road for a while and focuses on doing any of these distractions.

However, there are also instances wherein drivers still look at where they are going, but would still get involved in a collision with another car or with a stationary object on the road. No, it’s not that the car brakes failed, or any important vehicle part unexpectedly malfunctioned. It has to do with the driver thinking deeply of something or someone to the point that doing so takes away the focus on the task at hand. It’s called daydreaming, and it is considered a dangerous distraction that could lead to a vehicle accident.

Daydreaming happens when the driver’s mind drifts off from what he or she sees on the road and what he or she does while holding on to the steering wheel. Technically, the driver’s eyes are on the road, feeling totally aware of what’s happening. But then, the driver’s mind is on something or someone else, so unless he or she snaps out of it, it’s just a matter of minutes or seconds before a disastrous collision happens.

Yielding: The Best Accident Mitigation Tool Any Driver Has Against a Motor Vehicle Crash

On the road, it is important for drivers to give the courtesy to everybody. If a driver puts himself first than other on the road, chances are nobody’s going to yield for anybody and this could be catastrophic. Such is what happened one day in Los Angeles, California as vehicles piled up after a collision at the intersection of the Interstate 110 and Interstate 10 where a policeman in a motorcycle was hurt.

According to reports from the California Highway Patrol, an unidentified motorcycle police officer was hurt sustaining a leg injury after his motorcycle collided with a car that caused a pile up. Currently, the authorities are investigating the real cause of the accident and who had the right of way to proceed. Such kinds of accidents on intersections of main thoroughfares happen a lot.

In a data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a lot of major accidents happen in prominent roads across the country. This is because vehicles in interstates run faster than vehicles in simple side streets in the cities and suburbs. Also according to the agency, motorcycle riders are 37 times more likely to die against passenger car occupants. Experts say that motorcycles offer little or no protection to its riders. Even when a rider is equipped with complete riding safety gear like helmets, padded body suits and more, these are still inferior to the protection that motor vehicles offer to its occupants.

According to a Los Angeles motorcycle lawyer, such accidents could be avoided. According to him, motorcycle riders should exercise more caution while riding as they know about the increased risks that they take whenever they go out for a ride. The same Los Angeles attorney added that drivers, no matter how big or small your vehicle is should be more careful whenever to go out for travel. Common safety driving tips yielding in intersections and driving at the right speed makes a huge difference between ending up in a crash and getting to where you want to be safely.