New parents are often unaware of child safety regulations or that they may need to change their driving habits after their new baby is born or new child comes home. Safe driving tips for new parents of infants and older children alike include knowing current child seat, restraint, and traffic laws and reading all manufacturer warnings and recommendations that accompany child restraint products like car seats, booster seats, and safety belts. Children should never be left alone in or around a car, and special care should be taken to remove anything from the vehicle that could become a choking hazard or projectile. Use these tips to maximize children’s safety while riding in a vehicle.
Tennessee law requires all front seat passengers to wear safety belts, but infants and toddlers are required to ride in the back seat until they are 9 years old. Car seats and booster seats come with their own included restraint systems that integrate with the car’s safety belt.
Every parent should carefully read the instructions and warnings provided with these products. Instructions and warnings include things like proper age and size for a product, which way the child should face (all babies face rear), and that coats should be put on children after being secured in their seat to ensure maximum safety. Products that come with registration papers should always be registered so that parents can be notified in case of a recall.
At age 12, the state recommends children ride in the back seat, but it is not a legal requirement. Children are always safest in the back seat, though, regardless of age. Find out more about child restraint laws in Tennessee by visiting the Tennessee Highway Safety Office online.
New parents should know whether their car has antilock brakes and how to safely apply their brakes to prevent wheels from locking up. If wheels lock up during braking, children will gain forward momentum in the vehicle and could be injured.
Antilock brakes require applying pressure to the brakes firmly and continuously. Brakes without antilock technology require that the driver pump them instead if wheels begin locking up.
Most drivers are taught to maintain a distance of two car lengths between their vehicle and the vehicle in front of them. By the time drivers reach parenthood, however, most become accustomed to following too close.
Now that a baby is in the picture, the results of a fender bender can be more dramatic. Drivers should always allow adequate space for braking in case the car in front of them stops suddenly. New parents also need to keep a close eye on the following habits of cars behind them, using their rear-view mirrors, and adjust their driving accordingly to protect children in the back seat from being hit by another car following too closely from behind.
Distracted driving is increasingly the cause of major motor vehicle accidents and injuries in Tennessee. Installing an extra, front-facing mirror in the back of the vehicle allows parents to glance at rear-facing children, but proper placement and installation is necessary to ensure safe usage. Also, tempting as it may be to gaze at that new bundle of joy, parents need to occasionally glance back at their child without becoming distracted.
It’s a new experience to have to endure cuteness, crying, cooing, or even suspicious silence coming from a new baby or child while driving, but allowing these things to distract from driving poses a serious safety hazard. Knowing what behavior to expect out of children in a car at different ages and setting rules for children who are old enough to understand will help parents remain focused on safe driving.
Distracted driving also includes texting while driving and talking on the phone. Many new parents today grew up in the age of cell phones, and texting and driving was not prohibited by law in Tennessee until 2009. Just as many of today’s grandparents became parents when seat belt laws were new, evolving vehicle safety laws save countless lives and must be followed.
Regardless of how long a parent has been texting and driving without incident, it is against the law and an egregious violation of safe driving habits. Although cell phone conversations are not prohibited in Tennessee while driving, safe driving habits dictate that drivers wait until they have arrived at their destination before taking or making any phone calls.
Never, ever leave a child too young to be left home alone in a car by themselves. If parents leave the keys in the car, the child could lock themselves inside the vehicle, putting them at risk of heat stroke, choking, or other hazards. Even babies can become trapped, between auto-locks and flailing arms, fists, and feet.
Furthermore, kidnappings can happen quickly and suddenly when a child is left alone in a vehicle. An infant, especially, will not even know enough to scream for help or bang on windows to alert anybody.
Children should not be given food, bottles, or toys while traveling. If a child begins choking, the parent will be unable to help without risking an accident. Bottles and toys can become projectiles and injure the child or anyone else in the car.
Following Tennessee driving laws is especially important when new parents become directly responsible for another human life. Driving the posted speed limit and waiting for hazardous weather conditions to pass go without saying, but re-thinking other driving habits and safety considerations for riding with children will ensure new parents meet and exceed their responsibility to keep their new child safe.
After spending his secondary years of study at The McCallie School in Chattanooga, G Turner Howard III earned his BA at Tulane University. A member of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, he received his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Before becoming an attorney, he earned a Master’s and Doctor of Divinity at Andrews Theological Seminary and Columbia Theological Seminary. He also served as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army in Vietnam. With more than 20 years of experience, his firm has helped clients receive millions of dollars for personal injury, and in many cases, much faster than they ever expected.
