AUTO SAFETY

How to Choose a Car with Safety in Mind
Children in Cars With Passenger Air Bags
Myths and Facts About Child Safety Seats
Staying Alert While Driving

How to Choose a Car With Safety in Mind

Safety is a top priority for many car buyers today. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recommends looking for the following safety factors:

  • Car size - Generally, the larger the car, the safer the car. Cars with wheel bases over 114 inches are involved in only one-fourth as many fatal accidents as those under 95 inches. Injuries are also more frequent in small cars than large ones.

  • Safety belts - Look for shoulder-belt adjusters and lap belts that fit snugly across the pelvis.

  • Air bags - For maximum safety, look for a combination of seat belts and air bags. Air bags cushion potential blows against the steering wheel, dashboard or windshield in front end collisions.

  • Head restraints - These should extend high enough - without having to be adjusted - to keep a person's head from snapping back unrestrained in a rear-end collision.

  • Anti-lock brakes - Emergency braking can make a car's wheels lock and skid out of control. Anti-lock brakes help drivers maintain control, even on wet or slippery roads.

  • Yellow rear turn signals - Research suggests that cars with yellow turn signals are less likely to be hit from behind while turning than cars with red signals.

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Children In Cars With Passenger Air Bags

While air bags are saving lives on our highways and are preventing many serious injuries, they have also been responsible for causing some injuries and even deaths. Infants in rear-facing restraints and unbelted or improperly belted children in the front seat of vehicles with passenger bags are among those at risk of serious air bag inflation injuries. Because children are lighter than adults, their risk is greater, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The following information is offered to parents and other adults who travel with children:

  • Proper restraint use comes first. Riding unrestrained or improperly restrained always has been the greatest hazard for children.
  • The safest place in a car is in the back seat. This was true before air bags. Now it's doubly true. Properly belted infants and children in the back seat cannot be in the paths of inflating bags.
  • Find out whether your vehicle, especially if it's a recent model, has a passenger air bag (check the visors). If it does, don't use a rear-facing restraint in front. The only exception is if there is no back seat and there is a switch to deactivate the passenger bag.
  • What's good for kids is good for adults, too, so buckle your own lap/shoulder belt. Restraints keep people in the occupant compartment in crashes and ensure they don't slam into interior surfaces. Another reason to use your belt is to set a good example for children.
  • Air bags plus belts are the best protection for most people.

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Myths and Facts About Child Safety Seats

  • MYTH: Child safety seats aren't important on short, low-speed trips around town.
  • FACT: In an accident, a 10-pound child riding in a car traveling 30 mph is thrown forward at a force of 300 pounds. It's equivalent to dropping a child from a third-story window.

  • MYTH: Small children are less likely to be injured because they are light and resilient.
  • FACT: Seventy-seven percent of all injuries to children in car accidents are head injuries. Safety seats help to absorb the force of a crash and help prevent injuries.

  • MYTH: Any normal baby carrier can provide makeshift protection.
  • FACT: Plastic infant seats or carriers cannot withstand the force of a crash. Child safety seats manufactured after January 1,1981, are designed to meet current federal standards and provide the best protection for a child.

  • MYTH: After 4 years of age, a child no longer requires a child safety seat and can use an adult safety belt.
  • FACT: Children require a booster seat in the back seat from about age 4 to at least age 8, or until 4'9" tall. A booster seat raises your child up so that the safety belt fits right - and can better protect your child.

    • Keep you and your family safe. Buckle up, and always use approved child safety seats for your small children whenever you are in your car.

    (Courtesy of the Illinois Department of Transportation)

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    Staying Alert While Driving

    One in five Americans has dozed off while driving, according to the American Automobile Association. And 80 percent of Americans falsely believe they can predict when they are about to fall asleep. In fact, researchers report that tired drivers can fall asleep without warning. Often sinking into short five-second sleep bursts called microsleeps. In five seconds, at 55 mph, a car will travel more than the length of a football field. Scary, isn't it?

    Here's a few tips for staying alert while driving:

    • Avoid taking medication, such as cold remedies, that make you drowsy.
    • Never drink and drive.
    • Sip a caffeine-containing drink, such as cola, as a pick-me-up.
    • Eat a piece of hard candy because low blood sugar can cause drowsiness.
    • Pull off to the side of the road and stop when you feel tired. If you don't feel safe, go to a well-lit exit or gas station. Do some stretching exercises to stimulate blood flow to your brain and to relax your muscles. Take a short catnap if necessary.
    • If you stare at one spot for too long, you could become hypnotized. Vary what you look at. Check mirrors. Make a conscious effort to be aware of surroundings.
    • Keep the temperature in the car cool because being warm can make you nod off. Open a window for fresh air.
    • Turn on the radio and sing along. (You don't have to be good).
    • Strike up a conversation with a passenger. Music or conversation can help you stay alert.

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