Safety on the road during family road trips is a matter of great importance. If you are planning your next vacation to be a road trip, be prepared because your car is about to become a moving family-room. However, there are things every parent can do to make sure that the whole trip goes smoothly. Here are seven safety tips for family road trips.

1. Get Adequate Sleep
Driving while drowsy is a significant contributing factor in 100,000 road accidents annually according to NHTSA. Ensure you drive when well rested and if possible, switch with another qualified adult driver every few hours.

2. Wear Your Seat Belt
Wearing a seat belt is the safest thing you can do on your next family road trip. In fact, it is a primary law in a majority of countries for front seat passengers and drivers to wear seat belts. Additionally, UK law requires child safety seats for children, and a car seat booster for kids who are not yet big enough to wear regular seat belts. Since the car seat requirements for your children keeps changing as they grow, ensure that you have an efficient car seat to suit their needs.

3. Be Sun Smart
Ensure you equip all your family members with sunglasses and sunblock during your road trip. You may as well invest in a sunshade for your backseat or pop hats on the heads of your little ones. When you leave your car, ensure you carefully cover your seats with blankets so that they do not heat up and burn the tender skin of your baby. What’s more? Never leave your kids alone because with the outside temperature at about 30 degrees, the interior of a parked car can rise to deadly temperature limits.

4. Keep Your Tyres Well Serviced
Besides making your car safe, maintaining its tyres at a recommended pressure saves you lots of cash. Consider buying a pressure gauge from Pep Boys to ensure that you have your tyres at a recommended pressure. Keep it inside your vehicle just in case you need to lower or raise the pressure. Consider replacing your car tyres with proper snow tyres for extra grip if you live in an area that gets heavy ice and snow.

5. Wear Safety Gear
The NHTSA recommends packing a car kit that contains warm blankets, water, jumper cables, a torch, tyre-changing tools, flares, a fully charged mobile phone and a first aid kit. You can also subscribe to a roadside assistance plan to ensure you know where to call during an emergency and what kind of support is in your policy plan.

6. Keep Heavy Items as Low as Possible
Store heavier items low in the seat wells to prevent them from becoming projectiles during a sudden stop. In that case, pushchairs, suitcases and anything else stored in an open cargo area should be kept as low as possible.

7. Play Defence
Apart from taking the safety precautions mentioned in this article, always think about the other drivers on the road. Always keep a safe distance behind the cars in front of you so that you have the time to turn or stop quickly. Also, make sure to avoid any activity that shifts your focus away from the road, for instance, using a handheld phone or eating.

You should also consider brushing up on your driving skills before you take a road trip. One of the easiest ways to do this is by taking mock DVLA driving tests. Top Tests offers tons of free resources as well as mock driving tests that you can take to refresh your driving skills. You can visit their website at www.toptests.co.uk.

In Conclusion
Road trips are no small affair and things can go wrong quick if the proper precautions aren’t taken. However, if you follow the tips in this article, your family road trip will be a joyous experience.

Brought to you by our friend, Carol.