Family Safety For Long Distance Driving Trip

I was looking for some fun safety driving education material for my family when I came to this Red Cross Homepage. I found some interesting Family Safety Planning Guide with fun and attractive way. Although this is not what I looked for but I think it is so nice and good to be converted as Family Safety For Long Distance Driving Trip. When you and your lovely family go for long distance driving, there are several thing to be prepared. I have already discussed about Long Distance Driving Preparation in my previous post. In this post I'd like to discuss about things we should do for our family especially for our children. Here they are :

Family Meeting

This is the first thing to do. Gather all of your family around and start talking about your family trip. Start with where you going to go (I assume this was a family holiday to a far and beautiful place). Talk to your kids especially about the trip and make them understand about the importance of trip safety.

First Aid Kit, Emergency Equipment, Fire Extinguisher and Communication Tool

Tell your family where they can find those safety tool and equipment on your car so every member of your family should know how to find it.

Planning Route.

Open your map and tell your family about it. Your children might not understand it if they still under 5 years, but at least we can start to educate them about the importance to plan your trip.

Check Point

Tell your family about the place you are going to stop for eating, resting and fuel refilling. Teach them to always check family member one another so nobody left behind.

Emergency Number

Make a list for emergency number in case you have some problem or accident such as police, hospital, fire department and car service. Hopefully this will never happen but we still better be prepared.

Family Number

Make list of every family member number who’s coming in the trip if there’s any. Also make a list for other family who’s not coming such as uncle, aunty, grandpa and grandma in case something happen.

Children

Make sure you have brought everything they need on the road. Since this is a long distance trip, just bring your children’s favorite food, drink or toy. Bring some pillow and blanket in case they need some sleep. It would be better if you pack your children’s stuff and ask them to carry it by themselves if it is possible. I guess it could teach them about responsibility,

After those things above and your Long Distance Driving Preparation done, I guess you and your Family are ready for your trip. Here is an example of safety checklist recommended by Red Cross - Family Safety Planning Guide :

Flashlight, Radio, Food, Water, Cloth, Bathroom stuff, matches, medicine, blanket, whistle, poncho, gloves, bandage, tape, tools, important documents, picture of whole family member, emergency contact information, money, smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector, travel map, fire extinguisher and important personal stuff.