I hope you and your children are enjoying the official first days of summer (June 21). That means time for vacations, theme parks, visiting family, and road trips!

While relaxing is part of the summertime experience, please do not overlook auto safety for you and your kids.   Everyone riding in an automobile should wear a seat belt or appropriate child restraint device to protect themselves in the event of an accident.

As a parent, it is important to discuss seatbelt use with your teenagers, especially as they begin driving by themselves. The Tampa Bay area has one of the highest teenage death rates from auto accidents in the country. This statistic can be changed with increased use of seat belts.

Younger children are always safest in the backseat. If your child is less than 13 years old, they are safest when properly restrained and sitting in the back seat. Airbags in the front seat are much more likely to severely injure a child's small body because of the airbag's tremendous force when deployed. 

Once your elementary school child has outgrown their forward-facing car seat, a booster seat is the next step. You will likely  be surprised to hear that if your child is in elementary school, they probably should be in a booster seat. A good test to see if a booster seat is appropriate for your child is to check where the seatbelt falls. The seatbelt should fall across your child's chest and upper thighs. If the seatbelt falls across your child's neck and abdomen, they are safest in a booster seat because during an accident, the seatbelt will lock and cut across your child's neck and abdomen, increasing their chance of spinal cord and internal abdominal injury.

Take a look at this video from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and how they test how well a booster seat fits a child:

If your child's booster seat does not fit like these engineers are saying, please get them in one with a "Best Bet" rating soon.

Be safe out there on the road this summer and have a Happy 4th of July!