635 posts categorized "Safety - Child Safety"

A new survey recently released from Sylvania Automotive Lighting reveals that more than two thirds (70 percent) of American drivers are increasingly concerned about driving at night.

Motorists surveyed said they occasionally avoid driving during evening hours due, in part, to the following concerns:

--Difficulty seeing hazards and other drivers (28 percent)
--Discomfort with other vehicles’ headlights and brake lights (26 percent)
--Decreased trust in other drivers‘ abilities at night (25 percent)

According to KidsAndCars.org and the CDC, children are more than four times as likely to be killed by a car while trick-or-treating on Halloween night than at any other time of the year.

Halloween is a dangerous night, but it doesn't mean you should be scared to let your kids out of the house as long as you help them understand how to be a safe pedestrian.

We're deadly serious on this one: Don't even think about getting behind the wheel if you've been drinking! Even just one drink can be enough to impair your driving and lead to devastating consequences.

According to the Center for Disease Control, 9,967 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2014, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.

Although teens say they think using apps while driving is "dangerous," tests show that they still feel driving while apping is not "distracting."

"We were surprised to find a disconnect between the dangers associated with 'apping' while driving, while a majority see 'texting' as dangerous," says Dr. William Horrey, Ph.D., principal research scientist at the Liberty Mutual Insurance Research Institute for Safety. Horrey notes that app interaction is like texting; it requires both visual and mental attention as well as physical manipulation.

Ever since I became a mother more than 20 years ago, I've recognized the value of having tinted windows. Once you start driving around with kids in the car, the importance of keeping the sun off their little faces becomes pretty much a no-brainer.

I've lived in the San Fernando Valley for 30 years now. Aside from places like Phoenix, Arizona; Dallas, Texas; and Orlando, Florida; the valley ranks pretty high as a Hellhole between June and August when the summer sun blazes at its hottest. It doesn't take long for a car's interior to climb to oven-like temperatures, and when you're toting a baby around, that heat can be more than inconvenient: It can be downright dangerous, especially to small children whose little bodies heat up three to five times faster than an adult’s.

Chevrolet recently commissioned a Harris Poll of parents with teenagers from 13 to 17 years old to find out how seriously they are concerned about their teens' driving. According to the survey, parents with teens worry more about their child driving (55 percent) than any other area of parental stress, including drugs and alcohol (52 percent), sexual activity (49 percent), and academic performance (53 percent).

It doesn't take a Harris Poll to know that parents always want their kids to be as safe as possible, so Chevrolet offers Teen Driver Technology on 10 of its 2017-model-year cars, trucks, and SUVs to help encourage safe driving practices. Teen Driver is a non-subscription-based service currently available on the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, Camaro, Colorado, Cruze, Malibu, Silverado, Silverado HD, Suburban, Tahoe, and Volt.

Even if you have a roadside assistance program, be sure to have your teen driver practice changing a tire, so she will be prepared in case of emergency.

A recent survey found that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of drivers on the road today have experienced a flat tire, and the majority of Americans (68 percent) indicated that changing a tire on the side of a busy road is the biggest safety hazard of a flat tire. Make sure your student isn’t one of them!

As parents, we always want to ensure our children are as safe as possible when riding in a car. I may have been considered a bit of an over-protective parent, but my number-one rule was that all passengers HAD to be properly buckled in to their safety seats or wearing their seatbelts. And no, the armrest is NOT a place to seat your child! 

In 2015, IIHS established the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) rating program to encourage automakers to design LATCH hardware that meets specific ease-of-use criteria. While child restraints can be installed properly using vehicle safety belts, using the LATCH system is intended to make correct installation easier for parents. 

The fact that I love driving is a given, considering my automotive background. However, for five years I lived in downtown Toronto and was more often a pedestrian than a driver.

As many of you may know, driving in Toronto has its challenges and parking is expensive; also, driving can be a little overwhelming at times with so much going on around us. So I found it easier to either take public transit or walk to wherever I was going.

As a pedestrian I felt like everyone driving should be “seeing” me as I was crossing the road. What I came to realize is that many drivers don’t see pedestrians and that pedestrians shouldn’t be so sure of being “seen.”

Take the time to teach your teen about proper tire care.

Tires are the only part of a vehicle making direct contact with the road, so it’s critical to make sure they are road-ready. Bridgestone's safety slogan encourages drivers to "inflate, rotate, and evaluate."

• Inflate: To check tire inflation, use a tire pressure gauge to make sure your tires have the proper inflation pressure. A lot of people mistakenly think that the correct inflation pressure is on the tire’s sidewall, but that’s not correct. What’s listed on the sidewall is the maximum inflation pressure for the tire, and not necessarily what’s appropriate for the load carrying capacity of a particular vehicle. To find the proper tire inflation pressure for your vehicle, refer to the placard that’s located in the driver’s side doorjamb or your vehicle owner’s manual. Tire pressure should be checked at least once each month, as tires can lose one psi (pounds per square inch) of pressure under normal operation. Also, for every 10 degree drop in temperature, tires lose one psi. Proper tire inflation pressure is critical for safety, maximum performance and fuel efficiency.

• Rotate: Have your tires rotated and balanced every 5,000 to 7,000 miles (check your vehicle owner’s manual for specific vehicle manufacturer recommendations).

• Evaluate: Continually evaluate your tire’s tread depth to make sure you have enough traction to grip the road. The penny test is a simple way to do this. Just place a penny upside down in the tire’s tread. If any part of Lincoln’s head is covered by the tread, you should be good to go. If not, it may be time for a new set of tires.

Get all ten #AskPatty #BackToSchool #SafetyTips here at AskPatty.com

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