Tag Archive: Children and cars

Reflective vests for children

Reflective Vests At School Bus Stops

Should children be required to wear reflective vests at school bus stops? That’s the opinion of a South Carolina man after he was involved in a tragic incident last month.

At 6:30 in the morning, a 15 year old girl, escorting her younger siblings to school, tried to cross a four lane highway. Wearing dark clothes and crossing away from an intersection, she was struck first by a semi and then struck again as she was lying in the roadway. Police didn’t charge either driver because they felt there was little either driver could do to avoid hitting her.

Torn by the incident, the driver of the second vehicle wrote a letter to his state representative asking for a law that would require children at school bus stops to wear reflective vests.

His proposal isn’t a bad idea. While it may not be necessary for the state to pass a law, it is certainly something that school boards should encourage and parents can easily do on their own. With the time change last month, many kids are heading out to school while it’s still dark. Kids are impulsive and don’t always follow the rules. Anything that can be done to make them more visible is a good idea.

A quick search for children’s reflective vests on Google shows a wide variety of vests from $5 to $15. A cheap price to make the kids more visible. Reflective tape can also be sewn or pasted on backpacks at a very low cost.

Read more: Driver who hit Darlington teen asking lawmakers to require safety vests at bus stops

A child is a human caution sign

Every Child Is A Human Caution Sign

“Every child is a human caution sign” is the theme of this year’s Child Safety Awareness Campaign for the month of August. Each week during August, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) will highlight a different traffic safety issue involving children. Read more: DHSMV Promotes Child Safety Awareness in August

being left in hot cars

Leaving Reporters in Hot Cars

A Sacramento area TV reporter decided to experience what it’s like to be left in hot cars for himself. It didn’t take long before he was in distress. This happens all too often to children and dogs. Read more: What it’s like to be stuck in a hot car?

Kid proofing a car

Kid Proofing Your Car

One tenet of Murphy’s Law (What can go wrong, will go wrong.) says that “nothing is foolproof because fools are so ingenious.” Not that our children are fools but every parent knows that kids can find some ingenious ways to get into trouble with no regard to the consequences and we owe it to them to do everything possible to prevent trouble. Here is some very good advice on economical ways to kid proof your vehicle. Read more: 5 Ways To Child proof your car – safe Summer travel!

Children of drunk drivers

Most Children Killed In DUI Crashes Are Passengers Of Drunk Driver

Most often, when a child is killed by a drunk driver, the child isn’t a passenger in another vehicle but instead is a passenger of the drunk driver. A recent study led by Dr. Kyran Quinlan of Northwestern University looked at traffic deaths involving children under the age of 15 over a ten year period. The data showed that, two-thirds of the time in DUI related crashes, the child was being driven by the drunk driver responsible for the crash. The data also showed that, the more the driver had been drinking, the less likely that the child was buckled into a seat belt or child safety seat. Read more: In Crashes That Kill Children, It’s Their Driver Who’s Often Drunk