Road Safety

My dad once told me that the best way to insult someone is to insult their driving. Something like 96% of people think they are better drivers than average. So implying to anyone that they need to behave differently on the road is risky business. As risky as being out on the roads with all these people (not you) who have no idea how bad they really are at driving.

In The Car

No one leaves the house planning on crashing their car, but you never know what's going to happen. The majority of car crashes happen close to home, because that's where we drive the most frequently, so even very short trips should be taken seriously.

You can't plan for other people being bad drivers, so you've got to prepare for every journey not as though you're going to make a mistake, but as though somebody else is.

Car Seats

Kids need car seats. There is strict guidance on the height and weight limitations of different types of car seats for kids, so make sure you're doing your research when you're organising them for your kids. Rear facing seats are safer for babies that front facing seats, and you should never use a second hand seat. You don't know if the safety integrity of the seat has been compromised, and you really don't want to find out the hard way.

Car seats and seatbelts are designed for adults, specifically, 6 foot adult males. Anyone shorter or smaller than the 'standard' test dummy they use for crash testing should make accommodations whenever they're in a car. Your child should have good protection behind their head and neck, and their restraints - whether it's a car seat or a normal seatbelt for older kids - should be correctly fitted and nice and snug.

Never travel with a child on your lap, and never EVER travel with a child on your lap with the seatbelt strapped across both of you. In the event of a crash their body will be crushed between your body and the seatbelt, and it won't end well for anyone.

You should never use one seatbelt for multiple people - for example two children sitting next to each other in one seat - and every person inside your vehicle must be wearing a seatbelt by law. You absolutely have my permission to refuse to start the car until everyone is strapped in, and I fully support pulling over (somewhere safe and appropriate) if your little one decides to unplug mid journey.

Drive Sensibly

This seems obvious, but here we are. Pull off slowly, and break with plenty of time. The more you jostle the car around, the more likely car or booster seats are to get loose. Drive like you've got your grandmother in her Sunday best, holding an open saucepan of hot soup in the passenger seat, and you'll be golden.

Also, maybe avoid actively rear ending anyone. Just a thought.

Kids Are Distracting

Screaming, fighting, or whining kids would distract anyone. Even worse, that nursery rhyme CD you've been listening to on repeat every car journey for the last three weeks. It's okay if you need to take a break from driving when your kids are grating on your last nerve. Try to factor in an extra time to allow for shenanigans and nonsense like you would for food and toilet breaks to give yourself time to step outside and calm down if needed. No judgement, kids can be literally the most annoying people on the planet.

Hot Cars Kill

Just like dogs, you shouldn't leave your kids in alone in a locked car for any period of time. At 15°C in sunshine the inside of a car can reach over 38°C in as little as 60 minutes. At 20°C it can reach over 43°C, and on a midsummer heatwave day of 30°C air temperature, the inside of your car can rise just shy of a scorching 54°C.

Even in the shade cars heat up pretty quickly, so you should never ever leave your child (or pet) unattended in a car on even a slightly warm day. Let's face it, if it's cold enough outside that you're not worried at all about the car getting too hot in the slightest, it's also probably too cold for you to leave them in the car either.

Children literally die in hot cars, and even if they don't, heatstroke can cause vomiting, headaches, cramps, skin rashes, and a high fever. If that's not enough to convince you, just remember that some passing stranger might take it upon themselves to smash a window to release whoever you've left in the car, even if you've only popped into the shop for less than five minutes, and you'll still end up being the bad guy in the situation.

On The Pavement

In something like 60% of pedestrian-vehicle incidents, the driver of the car took all possible action to avoid the collision. That means that EVEN if you're a good driver you still might end up hitting someone with your car.

Here's how you can help minimise the risk of your child being on the wrong end of an argument with a moving vehicle.

Walking on the Pavement

Always walk on the side of the pavement closer to traffic when you're walking with a child so that the child is as far away from cars as possible. Don't let your children run ahead of you unless you're sure they understand road safety, and make sure you know where all the children you're meant to be responsible for actually are. No judgement at all, we've all temporarily lost track of a child who stopped to stroke a friendly cat while the rest of the group kept marching on.

A very useful thing to teach children as early as possible is that if they realise that they're lost or separated from the group, they should stop where they are and stay there.

Crossing The Road

Do you remember when they had the adverts on telly with the hedgehogs singing that 'king of the road' song, or are you too young for that?

The green cross code - stop, look, listen - is still the best advice there is, but don't forget that electric vehicles are much quieter than fossil fuel powered ones, so if you're crossing on a blind corner be extra careful.

Make sure all headphones or earbuds come out before crossing the road, and even if there's pedestrian crossing, make sure all vehicles have come to a stop before you step in the road. Having right of way doesn't actually mean anything if the driver ignores it.

If crossing not at a designated crossing point, try to avoid stepping out from between two parked cars which can make it hard for drivers to see you.

Be Visible

I'm sure you've had that awful moment when you're driving at night and you realise ONLY as you go right past someone on the pavement that they were even there. Pedestrians often forget that car headlights only illuminate what's directly in their beam of light, and you're not always going to have your high beams on, so that beam of light isn't actually that powerful.

Wearing all black when you're out and about makes you nearly impossible to be seen by drivers - especially if you're crossing a road and you're lit from behind by the lights of another car.

Reflector vests - or clothes with reflector strips on them - are a great idea for both yourself and your children whenever they're walking around traffic. If you really can't bring yourself to wear them (personally I look terrible in bright yellow), then wearing light coloured clothing or jackets is the next best thing.

Remember that if you dress like someone who's about to rob a bank and doesn't want to be spotted, it's very likely that you're not going to be seen until the last minute by any passing cars.

Be Present

Kids learn by example. If you're walking with kids and you need to be on your phone, stop walking.

Never ever step into the road to cross while looking at your phone screen, and if you're wearing headphones or earbuds, take them out.

Even if you don't do it for yourself when you're out and about alone, do it when you're around children. It's so much more effective to teach your children how to be safe by showing it as just a part of every day life than it is by telling your kids to do something that they've seen you do the exact opposite of a million times.

If you're walking with children or teenagers who are on phones or listening to music, make them turn off screens and sounds every time you have to cross a road. Start while they're still in the pushchair so that they learn as early as possible that screens go down when you're crossing the road.

Trust me, it'll make your life much easier if you can get them while they're still young, Training teenagers is SO much harder than training toddlers!

When There's No Pavement

If you're walking on a country path that has no pavement, you should walk on the right side of the road. I mean as in, on the wrong side of the road. That is to say, you drive on the left, you should walk on the right.

Walking against traffic means that you can see if any cars are coming and you can tuck yourself away off the edge of the road as they approach. You don't have to rely on the driver spotting you early enough, as they might be very focused on what's coming to other way (especially if it's a narrow country road with tight turns) and they might not see you until the last second.

Don't rely exclusively on your hearing, don't forget that electric cars are MUCH quieter than ones that run on fossil fuels, so they might creep up on your silently.

On The Road

Have you noticed that whenever you're in a car and there's a bike or a pedestrian on the road they never seem to know what they're doing? Even weirder is that whenever you're on a bike or walking on the road, the cars don't seem to know what THEY'RE doing!

Sometimes we have to share the road with other people, it's just an unfortunate part of living in a society. Knowing and obeying traffic rules makes you predictable for other road users, and being predictable is the most important way you can contribute to general road safety (and more importantly, your own safety, and the safety of your children).

Use Cycling Paths

If there are cycle paths available, use them. There's nothing more stressful for a driver needing to overtake a cyclist going 10mph up a winding hill in a 40mph zone, when they're cycling next to but not on a designated cycle path.

Sometimes people park in cycle paths which is incredibly annoying and can cause problems. I don't have a solution to this, but I just wanted to acknowledge that it happens. You'll just have to navigate around them when you reach them, but if it's a recurring problem it's definitely worth reaching out to your local council about the issue.

Wear A Helmet

There's no way to look cool in a helmet. I'm sorry, it's just the way it is.

You should wear one anyway. Traumatic Brain Injuries are very little fun, and the repercussions can be life changing.

Kids on bikes, scooters, hoverboards, skateboards, horses, or skates should wear helmets, especially if they're moving around traffic.

Obey Traffic Rules

Just because you're not in a car, doesn't mean there aren't traffic rules.

Bikes, e-scooters, and horses have their own rules that they must follow, so be sure you know what you're allowed (and not allowed) to do when you're navigating traffic.

A common misconception is that bicycles are allowed to slide through red lights - unfortunately that's not true and is incredibly dangerous to both the cyclist, and any pedestrians who might be about to cross the road.

Do Make Things Worse

Road rage is a thing, and it's scary and potentially very dangerous to be on the receiving end of it.

You might be completely in the right - the driver cut you off, or made a dangerous decision that you had to react quickly to so that you didn't end up crashing. The worst thing you can do is to try to retaliate against the driver. Deliberately winding someone up on the road is one of the dumbest things you can do as the more vulnerable party on the road, because being right doesn't change the fact that a car will always come out on top in a head to head collision.

Swerving so that someone can't overtake you safely, giving rude gestures, blocking the road to stop traffic from passing, or punching wing mirrors (or otherwise damaging someone's vehicle) are not good ways to deal with inconsiderate or aggressive drivers on the road.

Don't demonstrate this behaviour to your children, and definitely don't teach them that it's correct, because one day they might meet someone who takes it personally and takes it too far.

Be Visible

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you dress like someone who's trying not to be seen, you can't be surprised when you're not seen.

There are laws about the lights and reflectors that you must have on a bike in the dark, but you shouldn't rely only on them to be visible.

Reflector jackets, light or bright coloured clothing, and flags that you can stick to the back of your bike are all very good ideas if you're taking your child out on the road at night. Keep in mind that 'at night' starts at about 4pm during the winter, so if you're doing the school run by bike, make sure you're ready and prepared for the short days before they arrive.

Communicate

Signaling correctly on the road is so important. You don't want someone trying to overtake you when you're about to turn right, or turning into the street just as you're stepping off the corner to cross.

Whenever you're navigating on or beside the road, communicate clearly and with plenty of time so that people driving behind you can react accordingly.

When you're crossing the road, teach children to keep their heads up and make it clear that they're about to cross. Holding out a hand signals to traffic that you're crossing, AND doubles as a 'thank you' gesture, so get your kids to practice every time they cross the road - whether they're at a pedestrian crossing or not.

Remember that bikes don't have break lights, so the car behind won't realise you're slowing down until they start catching up to you, and only then will they be able to react. Indicating your intention to turn early give them time to slow down and give you the space you need.

Playing in the road

When I was a kid we used to play football in the street outside the house. That's a lie, actually, my brother would play football with the other neighbourhood boys, and I would stand on the corner and shout "CAR!" whenever a car was approaching to let them know that they had to move out of the way. It wasn't so much that they thought that girls shouldn't play football, just that I was truly terrible at it.

At the time, the street was a quiet one and traffic was minimal, but nowadays the road is much busier and it absolutely wouldn't be possible - at least not in the street where I grew up anyway.

If your kids are going to be playing either on the pavement or in the road, make sure they know how to stay safe, and that they remain aware of their surroundings and can get out of the way if a car does need to drive past. I'm not going to tell you not to let them play in the road ever, because you'll know if the traffic in your local streets is compatible with it or not. Consider getting some 'children at play' signs for your neighbourhood to warn drivers unfamiliar with the area, and if you have a problem with people driving too quickly you can petition your local council to install speed bumps. However, there's no substitute for making sure your kids are visible, sensible, and paying attention to what's going on around them if they're going to be playing in or near roads.

Resources

Please send me emails with updates, news, and special announcements