Child Passenger Safety Week

Child Passenger Safety week runs from Sept. 19th-25th. It is never too early to begin educating yourself with child safety and how you can do your part to keep children safe....

Here are some facts about child safety that may surprise you.....

Crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3-14....

An estimated 8,959 lives were saved by child restraints from 1975-2008...

One of the best ways to keep your child safe is to understand the child seats for.....

Infants (rear facing)

Toddlers (front-facing)

Tweens (booster seats)

Seatbelts

For more details and information on how to keep children safe in the car go here

Facts and photo from nhtsa.gov

PEDESTRIANS

Just because pedestrians are there doesn't mean they are easy to see. PEDESTRIANS are a very large hazard when you are driving a car, and cars are a very large hazard when you are a pedestrian.

Here are some facts about pedestrian fatalities.....

Most pedestrian fatalities occur in urban areas....

at night......

at non-intersections....

in normal weather conditions....

More than two-thirds of pedestrians killed are males...

This information tells us that we should notice pedestrians more than we do....look for crosswalks, and jay-walkers and when you are playing the role of pedestrian, make sure you are noticing cars because THEY MAY NOT NOTICE YOU!!!!!!

Facts by the NHTSA

Seat Belt Patrols

Hey drivers, keep in mind that King County patrol officers are stepping up their seatbelt patrols. Not that it should take that for you to be buckling up, but if knowing that keeps you from serious injury or even death, we're ok with it.
BUCKLE UP!!!! CLICK IT OR TICKET!!!!

Texting While Driving

A recent survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 46% Of teens are admitting to texting while driving. There are countless ways to avoid doing this while you are driving.....can you think of some? Pull over.....stop......dont use your cell phone at all...

Here's another question you may want to ask yourself......Does an Ipod give the same distraction as texting? What's the risk vs reward with texting while driving.......THINK.......THINK!!!!!

photo courtesy of the NHTSA

Planning your route

When you plan a trip, does it make sense for you to think about where you will be driving? Does it reduce your risk of collision? How?
Some of the easiest things to do in driving tend to be the things that nobody does.....like leaving early.
On the next trip you take, plan your route to get to your destination 40 minutes early. Then compare that with a trip you've taken where you leave just enough time to get to your destination.
What are the differences with each drive? What was your stress level with each drive? Which drive involved more risk? So the next time before you drive, do that one thing that can save you much heartache.......THINK THINK THINK THINK THINK

TEENS and SEAT BELTS

Are seatbelts that big of an issue? Doesn't everyone know to buckle up before they drive? Consider these statistics given by the NHTSA(national highway traffic safety administration).

In 2006, 58% of people 16-20 years old who were involved in fatal crashes were not buckled up.

Before you watch the video, ask yourself some questions.......Do you buckle up everytime you drive? Do you think that seat belts really prevent injury? How about after watching the video. Could this mans seat belt have saved him some pain?

Video of Crash

Distracted Driving Study

A 100 car study performed by the National Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NVCCS), found that distractions are a common occurrence and distractions that require the driver to take their eyes off the road are potentially more dangerous that purely cognitive distractions. The results below show the odds of risk for these secondary distractions. The findings may surprise you.

* TYPE OF SECONDARY-------TASK ODDS RATIO

Reaching for a moving object---8.82
Insect in vehicle---6.37
Looking at external object---3.70
Reading---3.38
Applying makeup---3.13
Dialing hand-held device---2.79
Inserting/Retrieving CD---2.25
Eating---1.57
Reaching for non-moving object---1.38
Talking/Listening to hand-held device---1.29
Drinking from open container---1.03
Other personal hygiene---0.70
Adjusting Radio---0.50
Passenger in adjacent seat---0.50
Passenger in rear seat---0.39
Child in rear seat---0.33

So according to this table you can see that reaching for a moving object increases the risk of a collision by more than eight times that of regular driving. I bet if you try hard, you can find things that you do on this list.....how could you avoid doing these things? What steps could you take?

*NHTSA (2008, July) National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Study report to congress. DOT HS 811 059 Washington, D.C. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration