Child care providers and parents help children learn how to be safe around cars. Whether you are a child care provider taking preschoolers on a field trip or a parent driving your child to his or her child care program, you are your children's role model for car safety. Remember that staying safe around cars is something children need to learn. Teach the following rules to prevent car-related injuries while children are in your child care program.
Inside a Vehicle
- Always use seat belts and car seats when traveling by car. Insist that children be buckled up before the car starts moving. Keep children in age-appropriate child safety seats until they are large enough for a lap and shoulder belt to fit correctly. Be sure to set a good example by putting on your own seat belt.
- Load a few children at a time for field trips. If you are loading children onto a bus for a field trip, have one adult stay on the bus while another adult brings one or two children at a time to the bus. Working with a few children at a time will help you be sure everyone is safe and will give you more time to be sure everyone is secured in safety seats or boosters.
- "Click, Click, Be Quick!" is a simple reminder you can give to children old enough to fasten their own seat belt or safety seat harness.
- Seat children in the back seat until they are at least 13 years old. The back seat is a much safer position for children in a crash.
- To avoid burns during summer, cover car seats and boosters with a towel or sheet when not in use.
- Avoid distractions while driving. Keep purses, diaper bags, and other dangerous items out of reach. If children ask you to hand them something while you are driving, explain that it isn't safe. If you need to help a child when you are driving, find a safe place to stop the vehicle first.
- Teach children to sit calmly and quietly while riding in a car or bus. Leave toys that encourage active behavior at home or in the trunk.
- Never leave children alone in a car.
- Prevent UFOs. Secure large loose objects in the car. You and the children could be hurt by flying objects in a crash. Place items in the trunk. Use the seat belt to secure unused booster seats in the car.
Near Cars Outside
- Be sure play areas are fenced. Be sure gates are closed and latched whenever children are outside. Teach children that it's important to always stay inside the fence unless they are with a child care provider or parent.
- Do not allow children to play near or behind parked cars. Parking lots are not safe play spaces for children, even if the cars are empty.
- Supervise walking field trips carefully. Secure infants in strollers or buggies. Enlist extra adults to help supervise walks. Divide up children so each adult has responsibility for only a few children. Insist that everyone hold hands.
- Teach children safe street crossing guidelines. Cross the street only at crosswalks, not in the middle of the street. Stop at all corners. Look both ways before crossing the street. Walk, rather than run, across the street, and hold the hand of an adult. Use the same rules for parking lots.
