Warning: Driving with an unruly child in your car is hazardous

Unruly children may be a greater distraction for a driver who is the only adult in a car than is texting or using a cell phone. Ditto for screaming infants. Undisciplined and unrestrained pets also present safety issues.

1. Distractions – not necessarily involving children – cause almost 80% of crashes. Children are four times as distracting to drivers as are adult passengers, and infants are eight times more. The more kids in the car, the greater the likelihood of problems occurring. In Australia, one in five parents report that actions by a child led to an accident or a “near miss,” with men reporting being distracted more often than women.

2. Routine driving distractions are compounded by screaming infants and misbehaving children. Before setting out, check your fuel supply. Are you going on a route you are unfamiliar with? Frequently having to look at a GPS or stopping to check maps are major distractions. Wondering where you are going to park is a distraction, as is not knowing what you will do after you take the kid(s) out of the car. Honking at friends causes mishaps; don’t do it – even if children ask you to.

3. There are three main types of accident-causing distractions. Tending to children figures in all three – often simultaneously:

● Manual distractions (such as moving your hands from the steering wheel)

● Visual distractions (such as focusing your eyes away from the road)

● Cognitive distractions (such as letting your mind wander away from concentrating on your driving)

4. Be aware of your own mental and physical state when driving. Being angry or upset, having a headache, or being sleep deprived adversely affects driving skills – and probably lowers your threshold for kids getting under your skin. Being conscious of how you feel may help alleviate the negative effects of the kids’ behavior. Adverse effects from medications you take may also impede your ability to drive safely.

5. Prepare yourself mentally to ignore crying infants and older children throwing tantrums. Do not reach into the backseat to tend to children while driving. Reaching requires you to take one hand off the steering wheel, shift your position in your seat, stretch your body, and move your feet from their optimum reaction location. Let children cry until you can safely park the car. Accepting a used candy wrapper from a child in the backseat requires you taking a hand off the steering wheel for about three seconds. In that time, at 30 miles (48 kilometers) an hour, your car travels 130 feet (40 meters).

6. Prepare children for the trip. Do they have to use the toilet or need their diapers changed? (Do you have to use the toilet?) Plan to keep kids occupied with age-appropriate snacks and toys, ones that they are unlikely to drop. Bring their favorite DVD or other game. Point out places that will interest them. Unruly children are more likely to unbuckle their safety seat belts. Devices are available to make it more difficult for them to do so.

7. Place children so that they are visible in the rearview mirror. Inexpensive mirror systems are available so that you can see rear-facing infants in the back seat. Some systems provide wide-angle views and extra lighting. However, viewing them requires taking your eyes off the road. Some safety officials question whether these systems improve safety.

8. Be firm with discipline. Explain the importance of safety for older children. Tell them that excessive whining, tantrums, and roughhousing is unacceptable. If they do misbehave on the way to a movie or their favorite fast food restaurant, turn the car around and go home. No negotiations.

9. Evaluate other drivers before letting them drive your kids. Do nannies and grandparents have both good driving skills and the emotional wherewithal to handle unruly children? Some children take advantage of parent substitutes. A person’s greatest lifetime risk of crashing occurs in the first 6 to 12 months after receiving a license. One in four teenagers admits to texting while driving and 40% say they have witnessed others use cell phones unsafely. The use of cell phones, even hands-free ones, quadruples the risk of crashes. Apps are available that block incoming messages and send automated responses saying you are driving and will answer when you can.

10. Numerous car accidents are caused by unrestrained dogs. Freely roaming pets nudge drivers, sit on drivers’ laps and, rarely, place their paws on the steering wheel. In crashes, unrestrained dogs become projectiles, seriously injuring others or themselves. Moreover, many children like nothing better than riling up their pets. Getting both pets and kid(s) out of the car safely can be problematic. Pets have been killed in traffic or gotten lost while drivers are busy getting a child out of the car.

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