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Being A Driving Parent: Safety & Convenience Tips

Whether it’s running errands, taking your kids to school or going to a play date, when you are the one in charge of driving your children around, your responsibility as a driver can become a bit overwhelming. Keeping your children safe during rides is your main priority here, but there are a few other things you should consider just to make driving a bit more convenient and pleasant. There are a few driving tips parents should be aware of, which will keep everyone protected and will reduce the likelihood of facing certain unpleasant scenarios on the road. Here are some pointers you should keep in mind from now on:

Why Should You Involve A Road Accident Lawyer?

One of your worst nightmares is probably being involved in a car accident as a parent. It is scary for you, but it can also be traumatic for your children. If you are involved in a road accident, it is essential to seek legal help as soon as possible. A road accident lawyer can help you navigate the complex legal process and ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve.

Work With The Right Team

As a driving parent, you should work with the best legal team available. The lawyers from the Law firm of Silverstein & Kahn P.C. have many years of combined experience in driving law. 

In case of a traffic violation, the firm has the necessary knowledge and experience to represent your interests in traffic court. Do not take chances with an inexperienced lawyer. Your lawyer can make all the difference in the outcome of your case.

They can also defend you during an unfair stop by the police. Many people believe that they don’t need a lawyer when stopped for a traffic violation, but this is not always the case.

If you are ever stopped and questioned by the police, be sure to have your lawyer’s number with you. You never know when you may need it. Also, always be polite and cooperative with the police. It is always in your best interest to do so.

Know your legal protections

Your ability to drive might be crucial to your livelihood and to help commute for both you and your children. However, there are instances in which your ability to drive can be taken for you if, for instance, you are given a suspended license for traffic offences. This might throw your life into chaos but you are not without options, as you can look at the possibility of getting a hardship license. This means that you can prove that you would be put into serious trouble if you were unable to drive entirely, which can offer you a limited license to drive on until your suspension lifts fully.

Use technology to your advantage

Safe driving is now easier to ensure than ever, considering the variety of tech gadgets that have appeared on the market over the last years, designed to make driving safer and more convenient. As a driving mom, you should invest a bit of money into the right gear. There are several items that will be useful to have around. Parking sensors are a great example here. It can be difficult to concentrate on parking, when you are in a hurry, the kids aren’t behaving and you have other things on your mind as well. Bumping the car in the parking lot is something that can happen, so instead of facing such a scenario, you should simply be prepared and install advanced parking sensor technology. A rear view camera will also be highly useful on the road. It will increase your visibility and naturally make all of your rides safer, which is the ultimate objective here.

Get your hands on the right insurance policy

While facing a car accident is certainly something you would want to avoid at any costs, these events cannot always be predicted or prevented. Considering you are driving with children, your insurance policy should be sufficiently extensive, incorporating all the coverage details you are interested in. Also consider which are the cheapest cars to insure. Talk to a broker and discuss your possibilities here.

With so many packages available, it can be difficult to decide on the right fit, so you will need to do your research, just so you are completely certain of your final choice. Besides the regular auto policy you have to purchase, you may be requested to hold a SR22 Insurance as well. Driving with noisy kids in the backseat might have often put you in the position of getting a traffic ticket or mistakenly making a traffic offense, so getting this extra policy could be mandatory if previous violations have occurred. Looking into the topic of auto insurance isn’t something you should take lightly, considering how important this can be in certain cases, so handle the task attentively.

Being A Driving Parent: Safety & Convenience Tips

Don’t drive if you haven’t had enough sleep

If your children are still small of age, lack of sleep might still be a problem in your life. Whether you toddler wakes up multiple times at night and you need to cater to their needs, of there are days when you have too many responsibilities to handle and don’t get enough rest at night, sleep deprivation can

be a big problem in a parent’s life. Well, during days you feel tired and you know you have slept too little the night before, it’s better if you simply avoid getting behind the wheel. Paying attention to the road when you have kids in the car is already difficult enough, considering how distracting they can get, but when you are unrested, you‘ll find it even harder to maintain your focus, which will naturally come with increased safety risks. Do your best to avoid driving, ask someone else to do it or simply call a cab if you have anywhere important to go with your children.

Have a charger around

Whether you’re going on a city break somewhere, or you are simply in a part of town you don’t know that well, using a GPS app is necessary. Nowadays, it’s easy to drive in unfamiliar areas, considering you can get all the guidance you need directly on your mobile. Smartphones are great, but they often run out of battery way too quickly, and being on an unfamiliar road with no battery on your phone and with tired and noisy children in the backseat can be highly inconvenient. Always have a car charger with you, just so you can tackle this type of issue. Also, a hands free car kit is a must-have, and you already know that you should never be calling or texting while driving.

Being A Driving Parent: Safety & Convenience Tips

Bring entertainment on long rides

This particular suggestion is advantageous for both the kids and you personally. Children get easily bored, and when you need to go on a lengthy ride, you might hear a lot of complaints from the backseat. Because you probably don’t want to spend the entire drive hearing your children fuss and complain, you should always be prepared with a bit of entertainment. Your choices here depend on the age of your children. You can opt for anything from coloring books to music or audio stories. Think about what your kids like and what would keep them less agitated on a road trip. You will be glad you have paid attention to this particular aspect when you have several hours to drive and you are able to keep them happy and quiet, which means you will be able to drive without distractions or constant “nagging”.

When you have kids in the car, your driving style needs to be more focused on safety than ever. While you might consider yourself a responsible driver, in this scenario, extra attention and care will be demanded. There are a few important things you need to focus on, in order to make your “taxi-mom” status as convenient as it can get. From making sure your auto is properly insured to taking a few extra means of precaution, these suggestions will help you get peace of mind when you are behind the wheel and you have children in the backseat. Take them into account and use them to your advantage.

9 thoughts on “Being A Driving Parent: Safety & Convenience Tips

  1. Being a mum is definitely a lot of great responsibility. Kids are playful and we definitely want to drive safely and keep our kids safe as well. This is a lovely article and educating and I am sure every mum can learn from the tips here. Thanks for the article.

  2. I find it helpful when you suggested that a parent should invest in SR22 Insurance in order to cover incidents of getting a traffic ticket due to having noisy kids in the passenger’s seat. If this happened to my aunt while she’s driving her five adopted children to and from school, I would look for a local lawyer who can help defend her against it. Doing this will help keep her record clean to avoid her insurance premium from going up due to the offense.

  3. Having kids in the cars is always a reason to be ultra-cautious and it’s not only for keeping them safe.

    Kids copy the behavior of their parents and if you are a bad driver while you have them in the car it almost guarantees that they will become bad drivers in the future. So parents should also have this in mind instead of whining to their kids when they are adults that they are bad drivers etc

  4. Hi Heather, Being a parent it so hard to control 3 children while you are driving, they are always fighting with each without any reason. When searching online about driving tips for parents then I came across this article. Really great work carried on.
    Thanks

  5. Modern life is more distracting than ever before, so you need to know basic driving safety and practice it constantly. I agree that the most important thing is to focus!

  6. Thanks for your point about using technology to your advantage while driving. I would imagine that having a quality cell phone holder would make the technology easier to use. This way you can stay safe while listening with the phone.

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