How to travel safely during summer
When temperatures are rising, there are some important things to keep in mind to travel safely during summer. Choosing a safe and fitting child car seat for your child when going on a car journey is an obvious first step, but there a few other tips that help you making sure that your child is perfectly safe on your summer journeys.
Why leaving a child unattended in a car can be dangerous
Temperatures inside a parked car can rise by approx. 3 degrees Celsius within just ten minutes and by more than 10 degrees within 30 minutes. Even if the windows are opened, temperatures inside the car can still rise quickly.
Children are especially vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, as their bodies produce more heat relative to their size than adults and because their abilities to sweat are not as well developed yet. It is therefore extremely dangerous to leave your child (as well as any pet of course!) unattended in the car during warm days.
How to make sure that your child can travel safely during summer
We at BeSafe of course care deeply about your child’s well-being and therefore recommend you to never leave your child unattended in the car, even if you’re just briefly stopping to pick up some groceries or an ice cream. Please check on your child regularly when driving and take them out in the fresh air as often as possible to ensure that they travel safely during summer.
In addition we recommend you to always protect your child’s head from any direct exposure to sun rays coming in through the front window to prevent heat strokes. The BeSafe iZi Go Modular i-Size’s low reaching sun canopy with SPF 50+ protects your baby’s sensitive skin, while accessories like a click-on sun canopy for toddler seats also keep older children safe.
When placing your child car seat on the rear seats, covering the side windows with sun shades not only protects your child from direct sun exposure but also increases comfort.
Help other parents to keep their child safe during summer
Many parents might not be aware of how dangerous it can be for a child to be inside a hot car, especially because the risk of a heat stroke is not as great for us adults as it is for children.
If you’d like to help make more parents aware of the danger of children in hot cars, you can put up posters in your day care or hand out flyers so that even more children travel safely during summer. To make spreading the word easier for you, we have prepared an A4 poster and A5 flyers that you can download and easily print out at home.
DOWNLOAD A4 POSTER
Thank you for helping to spread the word! With your help, even more children will travel safely during summer.
Sources:
Mann (n.d.): “Danger: Kids Left in Hot Cars. Expert tips for keeping your kids safe from heat stroke in cars.”
Grundwein, Dowd, Meentemeyer (2010)
