The holiday season is here, and for a lot of people that means that it is time to travel. The holidays are a great time to go see family and have fun out of town. However, with all the snow and bad weather traveling can be scary. That is why you need to make sure that your car is as safe and prepared for the weather as possible. Here are just a few tips to make sure your family car is ready for holiday travels.
Basic Maintenance
Driving is never perfectly safe, but you can make it safer by making sure that the vehicle is in perfect operating condition. Noticing when one tire is getting low on air can save a blowout, and careful attention to the oil supply can save the engine. When you consider how many accidents happen because somebody was on the side of the road changing a flat you can see that proper maintenance might be a lifesaver for your family. You may even have to replace some auto parts that you have never thought about before.
Deep Cleaning
Crash safety is the first kind of safety that we think about for cars, but it isn't the only kind of safety. A car that has lots of food and spilled liquids in it, like a family car, has a real potential for mold and bacteria. Make the holidays safer by getting in there and clearing the car out. You may be surprised by what you find, and you will certainly feel a lot healthier after sitting in that car for hours.
Educate Your Drivers
Eventually, your kids will be old enough to drive, and they will want to drive on the holidays. Even though this is statistically the most dangerous time of the year, your young ones will want to be out on the road. Teach them how to drive safely, how to avoid distractions, and how to stand up to their friends who are driving in an unsafe manner. Human error is the cause of most accidents, so teach your children to not make basic mistakes while driving.
Child Locks
Child locks and child safety features are no joke. The physical forces unleashed in an accident are immense, and the passenger protection systems in a car must be extraordinary to even hope to counterbalance them. Inappropriate use of these systems can be worse than not having them at all. This does not refer only to the child locks on the back seat, although those are a necessity. It is essential to be certain that children who are too short do not use the chest strap on the seat belt. If there are to be passengers of substantially below-average height in the front passenger seat, that airbag must be turned off.
Renting a Car
There are family vacations and purposes for which it's simply better to rent another vehicle. This might be a van for a long trip to Grandma's house or just a one-day rental to show everybody around town. This is especially useful if you feel like no matter what you do your car will never be ready to drive out in the snow. It is much better to rent a safer car than risk driving on your own.
Overall, driving in the snow doesn’t have to be as scary as you think. All you have to do is brush up on your snow-driving skills and make sure that your car is ready to go. That way you can travel comfortably knowing that you are as safe as possible.