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If there is one issue that concerns every first-time driver, and especially those with children, it is the issue of safe driving with kids.
In most cases, the rules for child restraint are not as intuitive as you might expect.
Have you noticed that moving trucks use the label “fragile” to transport certain items? Well, for us drivers, children become our fragile merchandise and we must learn to carry them with the proper protocols.
At Omega Drivig School, the best driving school in Montreal, our main goal is to train responsible drivers committed to vehicle safety and today we will teach you 5 fundamental tips for driving with children.
You have probably heard that children should never ride up front in a vehicle. The truth is, one of the best driving safety tips is to place children in the front passenger seat, as long as you adapt the seat for them.
The child sitting in the front seat must comply with the following conditions:
The child riding in the front seat, weighing up to 9Kg, should only be transported in the rear-facing position of the car seat.
Safety with children on board is not limited to knowing how to strap the little ones into the seat. There are other factors to consider in the vehicle.
For example, lock the doors and windows. Also, do not leave dangerous objects within reach of children, and finally, in the case of carrying more than one child, try to keep them as far apart as possible.
This way you avoid the possibility of fights in the car and you can drive with peace of mind.
You can teach and nag children ad nauseam, but children are children and when they get bored, they can come up with hundreds of risky ideas for fun in the car.
Also, children may turn boredom into tantrums or other behavior that distracts the driver’s attention.
The latter is especially dangerous when the road demands 100% of the driver’s concentration, as in the case of winter highways – You can read our article on winter driving safety for more information -.
It is best that you always have some car travel games ready, in order to keep children distracted and preserve driving safety.
You’ve probably seen on TV the typical sitcom scene where the kids are having fun singing nursery rhymes on the car ride, while the driver is bored to death.
This happens very often in real life, but far from being a joke, it can cause the driver to fall asleep or become distracted -read the tips we have in our article on how to avoid falling asleep at the wheel-.
The best option is for you to organize a couple of car ride ideas for kids, so that not only they, but all passengers are entertained.
One of the best driving safety tips you can receive is the following.
It is within the law that if you feel that by continuing to move forward, you are putting your life or the lives of others at risk, you can pull over to the side of the road or roadway at any time!
That said, if you see that the child or seat is not in place as it should be, do not try to fix it without letting go of the steering wheel. This is a dangerous behavior that can lead to serious accidents.
The best thing to do is to pull over, fix the problem and then rejoin the traffic at your leisure.
We hope this guide to traveling by car with children has been helpful and that from now on you will feel safer when traveling with the little ones.
Would you like to learn more tips for staying safe behind the wheel? udrive, your safe driving school, has lots of valuable content on its blog ready for you.
Want to know where there is a driving school near me? Just click here.