Kids and Cars

It’s important for parents to teach road safety from an early age. Whether your children are inside a car or crossing the road, they need to know how to keep safe.

Never leave your children unsupervised

It’s really important to always supervise your children in cars and never leave them unattended. It’s just too risky to leave your children in a car alone even for a minute. Some of the risks include:

• Heat exposure: It doesn’t take too long for the inside of a car to reach dangerously high temperatures.
• Tampering with the Brake and other controls: Another risk, especially for older children is that they can touch the car’s controls.
• Other People: Lastly, there are car thieves and other criminals to worry about.

Get age-appropriate child restraints

Always be sure that you have child restraints that are appropriate to the age and size of your child. If you have trouble fitting or adjusting your child car seat, you can visit an Authorised Restraint Fitting Station.

Click, clack front and back: Teach your children the importance of wearing a seatbelt from an early age. You can find more information on selecting the right child restraints for your children here.

Kid and Road Trips

Here are some tips for making long road trips happier for all the family:

• Exit and entry into cars should happen in the left rear door – close to the kerb and away from the traffic
• Take drinking water in kid-friendly bottles so that your children can stay hydrated
• The back seat is the safest place for children to travel
• Have safe activities for your children to do: books, stickers, soft toys
• Keep your kids entertained with games like “I spy” and songs like “The Wheels on the Bus”
• Take regular breaks for everyone to stretch their legs in safe rest areas.

Kids Around Cars

Always hold hands crossing the road: It’s as easy holding hands to keep your children safe when you cross the road together. A simple act can mean all the difference to make sure your children stay by your side and don’t run ahead.

Teach them the way to cross a road including:

• safe places to cross including school crossings, pedestrian crossings and at traffic lights
• how to check that the road is safe to cross by looking and listening for traffic
• how to cross the road safely by waiting until it is safe and checking as you cross

Don’t allow your children to play on footpaths and driveways. Always make sure that your children play away from the danger of cars and other traffic.

These are just a few tips for keeping your kids safe in and around cars. For more information on kids and road safety, see the section on children at NSW government’s Centre for Road Safety website.