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Keeping Children Safe When They Are Riding in Your Car or Truck

July 24, 2023

The psychological damage a parent endures after a child sustains injuries while accompanying them in a vehicle can be debilitating. Most drivers strive to do everything within their power to protect the passengers of their cars, particularly children.

If your child is injured in an automobile accident, speak with a compassionate Charleston car accident attorney to work with a team focused on securing resources to aid your child’s recovery. Access to care following an accident can affect your child’s ability to thrive and recover. 

Ways to Keep Your Child Safe

There are simple steps that each driver can take to contribute to the safety of the smallest passengers that ride with you every day. The few extra minutes can prevent a lifetime of heartache.

Provide the Proper Seating

Until the age of two or they outgrow their car seat’s weight and height restrictions, children should be transported in a rear-facing car seat. Rear-facing seats have been proven safest.

After that, a booster seat can be beneficial until age eight to twelve, depending on your child’s weight and height.

Seat belts are made for adults, and a child will not benefit from their safety until they reach approximately 4 feet 9 inches in height. A Charleston product liability attorney can help if a faulty car or booster seat injures your child.

The Back Seat is Safest

It’s often a right of passage for a child to sit in the front seat. Siblings have fought over the coveted space for ages. But a child is safest in the back seat until they turn 13 years old. 

The backseat helps protect children from common impacts and protects them from frontal airbag deployment.

Airbag construction was intended for the protection of adults and older teens. Smaller children can be severely injured or killed from the impact of an airbag meant to protect larger individuals.

Always Accompany Children in the Car

Never leave children alone in a car or truck, even to make a quick run into the convenience store. Children learn how to unbuckle restraints at a very young age and have set automobiles in motion by accidentally shifting the gears. Windows are simple to roll up and down, allowing a child to get caught and compressed unintentionally.

Cranked automobiles are easy targets for criminals. Leaving your child in a running automobile poses an extremely great risk of having your child abducted when a criminal steals your car.

Check the Back Seat

We live in a hectic time. Our minds are constantly racing with the day’s to-do list and preparing for what must be accomplished in the hours ahead. If transporting your child to school, daycare, or babysitter is not part of your normal routine, leaving a sleeping child in a backseat where heat can kill in minutes is alarmingly easy. Always open the back doors of your vehicle to ensure your most precious cargo is not back there.

Charleston Car Accident Attorneys Care for Your Children

The importance of family and keeping your children safe is a priority for Salango Law, PLLC. We are here to help you recover the maximum settlement if your child is injured in a Charleston car accident. Contact us today, and let us advocate for your family and your child’s well-being.