Defensive Driving

The effective and simple gesture of wearing your seat belt while driving is a defensive driving technique too. Wearing the seat belt is the easiest way of protecting your passengers and yourself. The latest research on this topic has already proven that occupants in a car will have a better than 50% chance of surviving a possible car accident as long as they wear the seat belt. Wearing the seat belt may also play an important role in reducing the injuries – thousands of people suffer severe and even lifelong disabilities in road collisions when they haven’t worn the seat belt. The seat belt will protect both you and your passengers in a wide range of ways such as: minimizing your passenger’s contact with the interior part of the car, decreasing the period of time it takes your passenger to come to the stop upon impact, spreading the whole force of the impact over greater areas of the body and preventing passenger’s ejection from the car. So, you will have to pay attention to the following safety tips in order to make sure that each of your passengers will stay safe on the ride.

Make sure that your own seat belt has been properly fastened and adjusted in order to fit firmly. Next, you will have to make sure that your passengers’ seat belts have been properly fastened and adjusted in order to fit firmly.You should pay extra attention if you are traveling with children – they need to be properly restrained in order to stay safe on the ride. If you are the driver, you will have to pay attention to all the things listed above and you will have to do this before your car starts moving. But if you are one of the passengers, you will have to pay attention to the following aspects: make sure that you have fastened and adjusted your own seat belt and encourage the driver and even the other passengers to try and buckle up in the proper way.

Being pregnant isn’t an excuse for not wearing the seat belt. Keep in mind that wearing your seat belt will protect both your unborn baby and yourself. Here are some effective tips on wearing the seat belt whilst pregnant - make sure you follow them in order to comfortably and correctly wear your seat belt. Start by placing the lap part of the seat belt right under your baby bulge and try to do this as low as possible – this lap part must not sit across the bulge, but over the upper thighs. You can adjust the angle of your seat belt by using the seat belt locator – just make sure that its sash part is right between your breasts.

Children have to be restrained too; the restraint must be suited to their weight and size and it has to be securely and correctly fitted to the vehicle. For instance, you can fit the additional lap belt in order to accommodate a small child in your back seat. But this lap belt is not recommended on its own – it is safer to use the lap belt in conjunction with the properly fitted child harness. Keep in mind that the seat belts must be kept in a perfect condition – check their condition on a regular basis. Make sure that they are not frayed, twisted or cut. The buckles must be in a perfect working order – they have to engage and release in the proper way. The re-tractors must work properly as well – the seat belt must pull out smoothly and be fully retracted when you are not using it.