Tips for keeping children safe around roads
Read this article to learn about the ways you can prevent your kids from getting out into traffic. Kids shouldn’t even play near where cars will be. Driveways are not even safe, and are in fact one of the more dangerous areas as kids can get run over without being seen. Find out more about why holding hands is a safety must.
Those living in Washington while raising kids probably get nervous whenever they go out on a family outing where there are highly trafficked streets. The injury or death by motor vehicle can happen so quickly and without warning. Couple that with the unpredictable way children have of just springing off in whatever direction they please, and any simple walk down the sidewalk could spell disaster. Luckily, parents can commit to mind some known safety practices that will prevent unwanted accidents from happening and allow them some peace of mind.
Pedestrian safety
Accidents involving pedestrians are often the most deadly, and this can especially be true for children. Of all children of age 4 or younger that have died or been injured in traffic accidents, almost 20 percent of them are pedestrians. Adults need to do more than just keep children in view. It is a good idea to have children play in an area where there is barely any traffic, and not during a busy time of day. As soon as they are old enough to understand them, kids can be taught the meaning of road safety messages and be shown how to follow them.
Holding a child’s hand when walking about is an effective way to keep them from running into traffic. This behavior should be encouraged and rewarded rather than presented in a way that makes the child feel forced. At the same time, consistency is key here, and it should be a part of every outing. It is a good idea to continue this practice up to the point a child is 8. Unfenced yards, bicycle paths, and driveways can all be dangerously close to nearby traffic.
Safety around driveways
Driveway safety is not just somethings kids need to be aware of, but adults as well need to be wary of the danger they can cause when driving. When backing out of an area where there are a number of children around, a driver should make sure all the kids are accounted for. Large vehicles with less field of view are particularly dangerous, but even the smallest vehicles have blind spots. Kids should be taught not to play on or around driveways at all. The most common age group for children to be struck and injured by a vehicle driven by an adult is below the age of two, and this seems to coincide with the fact that usually when a driveway accident involving a child happens, the child was not seen at all.
Anyone in Washington whose child has been injured or killed in a traffic accident will deal with unimaginable grief, and to make it worse there are outrageous medical bills. An attorney in the local area who represents people in motor vehicle cases may be able to help people get the financial compensation they are seeking.
Abstract:
By learning what to do to keep their kids out of the road, parents can stop accidents before they even get a chance to happen.