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Driving Safety Tips

Keeping these safety tips in mind can protect you, your passengers and others from experiencing injury and death.

Driver safety is one of the easiest and most important things we can do when communiting. Whether you are a seasoned driver, or you are a young teenage driver just starting out, following these driving safety tips can save lives.

Seat belts and air bags

	Know the law. New York State law requires all motor vehicle passengers riding in the front seat, regardless of age, to use appropriate restraints. Passengers under age 4 must ride in federally-certified child safety seats. All children under age 16 must use approved seats or seat belts.
	Everyone should be buckled up before the key is turned and the vehicle starts.
	The seatbelt should fit snuggly across the collarbone and hips.
	All children under the age of four must ride in a car seat. It is important to make sure that the car seat fits the child and that it is properly installed in the vehicle.
	Air bags were designed to work WITH seatbelts to prevent injury to an adult sized person.
	If air bags open in a crash, children in the front seat or in a car seat in the front seat may be seriously injured.
	The safest place for all children under the age of thirteen is in the back seat.
	Use only federally-certified child safety seats that is compatible with your vehicle and appropriate to your child's age, size, and weight.
	Follow the installation instructions that come with the child safety seat AND those that come with the vehicle's owner manual. Remember that your child's safety depends on you.
	Properly securing a child into the child safety seat AND properly securing the child safety seat with the vehicle's seat belts are equally critical.
	Children are safest when properly restrained in the back seat.
	NEVER place a rear-facing child safety seat in the front seat of a vehicle equipped with passenger airbags.
	NEVER put shoulder belts under a child's arms or behind his or her back.
	NEVER use a child safety seat that has been involved in a crash.
	Use a booster seat for a child who has outgrown a convertible child safety seat.
	The child safety seat should be attached as tightly as possible with the vehicles' safety belt. The seat should not move more than 1 inch toward the front of the car or side to side.
	There should only be room for one finger under the harness straps at your childs' chest level. The harness clip should be positioned at the childs' armpit level.
	Infants should be placed in rear-facing child safety seats until they are at least one year old and at least the minimum weight for a forward-facing child safety seat (generally 20 - 22 pounds). Children should remain in a rear-facing child safety seat as long as they do not exceed the height and weight limits of the child safety seat.
	The child safety seat should be semi-reclined at a 45 degree angle.
	Use a rolled up towel or part of a pool noodle under the car seat base to get the correct angle.
	NEVER place a rear-facing child safety seat in the front seat of a vehicle equipped with a passenger-side air bag.

Your child's safety seat MAY NOT BE SAFE if:

	it has been in a crash
	it has missing parts
	it has no labels or stickers
	it is on a recall list
	it is over 9 years old
	it is not used properly

School Zones

When school is opening in the morning and closing in the afternoon, the area around the school is a very busy and crowded. There will be many children using the crosswalk.

	Car drivers, bikers and in-line skaters must stop to allow people in the crosswalk to cross the street.
	It is important to look carefully to the left, right and left again if you have to cross the street.
	When you are waiting for the school bus, you should wait at the bus stop, and stand well back from the curb.
	When you get off the bus, look to the rear of the bus before you step off the bottom step. Reports from the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute state that more and more motorists are passing stopped school buses on the right shoulder - where the door is.
	Take (five giant steps) straight out the bus door, and out of the danger zone.
	Make sure you have eye contact with the driver, and wait for the driver to signal you before you cross in front of the bus.
	Never go back for anything you have left on the bus.
	Never bend down near or under the bus. If you must walk through parked traffic, stop and look carefully before stepping out from between vehicles.
	Remember the danger areas around school buses where the driver can't see you.
	Don't run across the street or through a parking lot trying to catch up with your friends.

School bus behavior:

	It is important to listen to your bus driver in case there are any special instructions for your bus ride.
	Sit quietly in your seat.
	Speak quietly to the other children near you.
	Do not jump up and down, fight or tease other passengers or make a lot of noise. These activities can bother your bus driver and he or she will not be able to give proper attention to driving.
	Jacket and sweatshirt drawstrings, backpack straps, scarves and loose clothing may get caught on the bus handrail or door. This is not only a danger while getting on or off the bus, but could happen any place on the bus.

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