Transporting children in a vehicle is a huge responsibility that must be taken seriously. Traffic accidents are unpredictable, but precautions can be taken to ensure the safest environment possible for children and other passengers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for persons between the ages of 5 and 29. While not all vehicle accidents are preventable, many can be avoided with proper training and attention to detail.
In 2015, more than 870 children age 0-12 were killed and thousands more were injured in vehicle accidents. Many of these incidents could have been avoided if the adults transporting the children had taken more responsibility to ensure the children were properly restrained, the vehicles were in good working condition, and distractions inside the vehicle were minimized. Most child care centers transport children for two main reasons: field trips and picking up school-age children at school and transporting them to the center for after-school care. In both instances, it's imperative to follow all safety regulations. Your center should have a written, comprehensive general transportation policy covering all aspects of center transportation, ranging from vehicle maintenance and passenger safety to minimum driver requirements and safe driving practices. In addition, a separate transportation policy should be developed for parents explaining center rules such as pick-up and drop-off procedures at the center, emergency procedures, and the use of parent vehicles and drivers for filed trips.
Accountability for child care centers is at an all-time high. Lawsuits threaten to close many doors. How can you insure a tragic situation doesn't happen to your center? And what about the responsibility of drivers you hire for center vans that pickup and return children back home? Or for field trips? What about children with disabilities? View Article
Some of our best memories with our kids take place while traveling. It might be those crazy summer road trips, or walking to and from school every day. But either way, we're here to help make sure you have all the information you need to keep your kids safe in and around cars, on the bus or on the sidewalk. View Article
This Month's Trial Course: Transportation and Field Trip Safety
CCEI offers
ADM103: Basic Transportation and Field Trip Safety for Child Care Centers as an online no-cost trial
child care training course to new CCEI users during the month of May.
This course presents recommended practices and policies for the safe, developmentally appropriate transport of young children to and from child care centers. Information is based primarily on federal safety standards, which are generally used as the basis for state standards. Topics include staff training and support; recommended vehicle types and maintenance routines; child passenger restraint systems; operating procedures and practices; safe loading and unloading procedures; field trip safety, and more.
