Child Safety Week: Top Travel Safety Tips from Diono

This week is Child Safety Week, which is the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s annual education campaign, designed to raise awareness of serious childhood accidents, and ways to prevent them. As part of this Diono, one of the leading brands of high quality family travel solutions is working with leading child passenger safety instructor Allana Pinkerton, to discuss the importance of using a high back booster seat when travelling in the car with children.

Following a recent study, Diono revealed that 75 per cent of parents questioned* consider safety their number one concern when purchasing a car seat. However these parents were shocked to discover the relatively low speeds used to crash test car seats and that some seats are not tested for side impact protection at all.

Diono Monterey Booster

A backless booster will not provide any significant protection during a side collision, leaving children at greater risk of head injuries and other serious harm. Surprisingly however, over a third of the parents surveyed, admitted to using a backless booster for their child.

Diono is keen to raise awareness of the benefits of high back booster seats and help communicate the messages to parents so they can make an informed decision. “Often parents believe that all booster seats offer the same safety features but high-back boosters provide additional protection because your child is kept in a more secure position, especially if they fall asleep,” says Allana. “Many high backs, in particular the Monterey 2, have additional EPS or EPP foam around the torso and head which adds more defence during side impact collisions.”

The choice of car seat is the first consideration for travelling safely with children but in addition to this, Allana offers parents her top ten travel safe tips:

  1. Always keep safety a top priority when travelling
  2. Seek out a certified professional to learn how to install the car seat properly, most are unknowingly installed incorrectly
  3. Choose the proper car seat according to your child’s weight, height and level of maturity
  4. Be sure to read the entire manual for your child’s car seat and the section on car seats in your vehicle manual
  5. Pay close attention to all the warnings in the manuals. They are printed for a reason!
  6. Always check that your car seat is properly installed on a regular basis, seats tend to get unbuckled for one reason or another
  7. If your child always needs your attention while you’re driving, plan shorter trips or use appropriate reward incentives
  8. When travelling abroad always check their safety laws to be sure you are bringing the correct seat or renting one when you arrive
  9. If you are distracted to the point where it is a danger for you to drive, pull over, count backwards from 10, breathe deeply and relax for a few minutes.

I am pleased to announce that we are taking part in the Diono Monterey Challenge and we will be reviewing Diono Monterey 2 Expandable Booster over the next few weeks.

In the meanwhile, have a safe journey! 🙂

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