Top tips to prepare for a safe car journey – a guest blog from First Aid for Life

Emma Hammett from First Aid For Life talks about preparing for car journeys and references important information about child and baby safety.

Between June 2016 – June 2017 there were 27,130 people killed or seriously injured as the result of road accidents. One way that we can attempt to curb these shockingly high figures is by planning ahead and being prepared. This article acts as a guide to preparing for safe, accident free journeys.

Key things to prepare to make your journey safer:

Ensure your vehicle is always in peak condition – check the tread on the tyres, your car is clean and in great working order.

Planning – know your route, roughly how long it should take you and alternatives for known traffic hotspots. Do not rely entirely on the Sat Nav. Getting lost is stressful and that in itself, can prove dangerous.

Don’t strap in wearing a coat as your seat belt will not be as effective. This is particularly important when strapping children into car seats as they can literally slither out in their coat.

Never drive when tired and always check side effects on prescription medication for any risks that they could cause drowsiness. Take the advice seriously.

Minimise distractions – if children become fractious during a journey, stop at the first safe opportunity. Never be tempted to try and help them whilst driving. Pets should ideally be in travel cases or travel safely and comfortably in the boot of an open hatchback.

Mobile phones, Sat Nav and other technical distractions are dangerous.

Stop regularly – have planned stops on your journey and be aware of time to next service stations etc, when on the motorway.

Cyclists and motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable road users and it is vitally important that everyone on a bike knows how to respond if there is an accident.

If cycling with children and teenagers, reinforce how important it is that they should never overtake lorries, buses and other large vehicles on the inside and explain the significance of vehicle blind spots.

Car seats

It is critical that children are in the most appropriate car seat for their height and weight. UK law states children must use a child car seat until they’re 12 years old or 135cm (4ft 5in) tall, whichever comes first. But safety experts recommend you use a child car seat for all children under 150cm (4ft 11in). … The driver is legally responsible for children being in car seats while travelling.

https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/using-a-child-car-seat-or-booster-seat

You must wear a seatbelt if there is one fitted to the seat you are in. Failure to wear a seatbelt carries a £500 fine.

Preparing for different weather conditions – snow and ice / heat

Think ahead and look at the weather forecast: ensure your car has good tread on the tyres, check tyre pressure and antifreeze levels. For snow and ice; give yourself extra time to defrost the windscreens and to ensure the car is fully demisted and you have a completely clear windscreen before setting off. Always have suitable footwear and a coat in the car with you, even if you are just going a short distance as you never know what can happen. For longer journeys pack a hot drink and some snacks. For hot weather; ensure you have ample water, ensure pets do not overheat in the car, if you are in a traffic jam and your pet is in the boot of the car, ensure they are not in full sun and stop to give them water. Fit sun blinds to reduce the impact of the sun for children and pets.

Long drives

Plan your journey carefully and take regular rest breaks. If you start to feel sleepy, stop at the next safe opportunity, never try to drive through it.

Check your car is roadworthy– tyres, petrol, water, oil, wiper blades, windscreen

Prepare for the unexpected – looking at your planned route, consider your passengers and pack additional items accordingly. Thinking in particular of elderly passengers, children and pets.

Reflective clothing etc for cyclists, pedestrians, horse riders and motorcyclists

Importance of helmets

Torch, water, foil blanket

First Aid for Life and onlinefirstaid.com provide this information for guidance and it is not in any way a substitute for medical advice. First Aid for Life is not responsible or liable for any diagnosis made or actions taken based on this information. The best way to be prepared for action in an emergency is to attend a practical first aid course or do one online.

Please contact emma@firstaidforlife.org.uk , visit our website www.firstaidforlife.org.uk or call us on 02086754036.

Click here for Emma’s previous blog on choking

How to have a baby – guest post by Natalie Meddings

We are thrilled that Nurturing Birth doula Natalie Meddings has published her book, How To Have a Baby! Here she shares some thoughts with us about the current birth situation

Messages about birth at the moment are over-miserable. Newly negative in a way that is troubling.

We’d got clear on it all once – several times to be fair – thanks to multiple maternity reviews and evidence-finding missions again and again confirming birth as safe. And yet all of a sudden and out of the blue, the cultural tide is yanking hard in the opposite direction.

Midwives are no longer permitted to talk about birth as normal; guidance on on how women might help themselves in labour is discouraged; at least once a week, the mainstream press regale us with the inherent danger and unpredictability of childbirth or the naivety/anti-feminism/selfishness of women who’s intention it is to trust their body.

Which makes doulas a precious resource. Along with Independent midwives, our professional autonomy and unquestionable freedom stands as a last little square of neutral space – our guardianship of plain truth, accurate facts and proportionately optimistic support something to prize.

It’s always been part of our job to signpost women to accurate information and to support our mothers with the choices that feel right for them. But with midwives muzzled, and the maternity ‘mood’ growingly bleak, what we offer has never been more important.

Some women will want to birth in the dark dim of their own bedroom; others will want medical options close at hand. But they can only know what is right for them if they are fully enabled to work from their own clean page.

And we can help them with that – showing them how to sidestep all the excessive pessisism and keep their confidence in tact with facts.

Like how amazing their body is to be building a whole human being from scratch. That labour is involuntary, and ‘in hand’ in the same way. By going over, and then over again how labour is an automatic process their body is designed for – a normal physiological need like sleeping going to the loo. It won’t always be easy for them to see it that way, not when they hears someone’s traumatic birth story, or see a terrifying portrayal of birth on the tv. But by digging into the democracy of female biology – understanding the universally in-built programme that is their body’s need to birth, they’ll discover something sound to trust – a safe and solid place true choices can be made from.

Natalie’s book How to Have A Baby – mother-gathered guidance on birth and new babies is out now and available on www.tellmeagoodbirthstory.com

Visit Natalie’s Nurturing Birth Directory profile

Natalie works in partnership with our Nurturing Birth mentor and doula, Michelle Gerlis – click here to visit her Directory profile

Doulas and Midwives – a video blog

Sophie Brigstocke talks about the relationship between midwives and doulas, the question most parents ask at a doula interview and how we can move forward in a positive way.

For another blog which looks at a positive relationship between midwives and doulas visit https://nurturingbirthdirectory.com/wisdom-freedom-birth-story/