As people take to their cars out and about more with their dogs in summer, road safety professionals are asking motorists to “Belt Up All The Family”, including pets.
A recent survey in the UK showed nearly 90% of all motorists who regularly travel with their pets had been distracted by their animal when driving.
A further 11% had nearly crashed into the vehicle in front because of the distraction. Paris Hilton started a fashion trend with her Chiwawa pursepooch Tinkerbell so in many cases dogs are becoming a Fashion Accessory and are carried on their person or displayed in their vehicle.
Pets car travel safety is a major concern. There are serious dangers with unrestrained pets that travel in the car. An unrestrained dog or cat in the car during travel can be a hazardous distraction to a driver. Even if your pet is well behaved in the car, you still have to consider your pet’s safety should another driver cause you to slam on your brakes or get into a collision.
A 27 kilogram dog riding unsecured in a vehicle will become a 1224 kilogram projectile if a wreck happens at just 55 Kilometres per hour – a bad-news reality for the dog and for the humans in the car, in some cases Insurance claims can be invalidated if pets are not safely restrained in the vehicle.
A high percentage of people don’t use safety restraints or crates for their pets when they’ve got them in the car.” Any passenger can be a distraction for a driver, we need people to belt up the whole family, including the pets,” said road safety officer Noel Gibbons.
“Dogs are such an important part of people’s lives so it’s understandable that owners want to take them out and about with them.
However, the survey shows many people don’t know the safest way to travel with their dogs and some are even unwittingly breaking the law by letting their dogs roam around the car whilst they are on the move.”
It’s strongly advised to ensure your pets are safetly and comfortably secured in your car. Also experts reminded people to never, ever leave a pet on their own in a car with all windows up.
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