No one ever plans to get a car accident. However, the facts of life are that most people spend enough time on the road each day that the odds of them getting into a car accident at one point or another are very high. And while some car accidents are little more than fender benders, other accidents can cause major damage to both people and their property.
Although there’s no guarantee that you’ll be completely physically safe after being in a car accident, knowing what you should and shouldn’t do in order to protect yourself can help immensely when it comes to walking away from an accident without major injuries.
To show you how you can reduce your chances of getting injured and protect yourself from getting more injured than you otherwise could have been, here are three ways to protect yourself from injury during a car accident.
Wear Seat Belts And Use Car Seats
One of the first and most logical things you can do to help keep yourself from getting unnecessarily injured during a car accident is to be seated in the proper seat and wearing the right seat belt or safety restraints.
According to Greg Durocher, a contributor to SafeRide4Kids.com, seat belts and car seats are designed to help keep your body protected from impact when you’re in a car accident. If you choose not to do this, you’re putting yourself at a much higher risk for getting severely injured in the event of a car accident.
As an adult, make sure you wear your seat belt the right way, with both the lap restraints and the shoulder restraints. And if you have little ones in your car, be sure you have a car seat that’s the right size for their height and weight.
Although it might be annoying to click in every time you get in the car, especially if you have to buckle a child into a car seat, doing so saves countless lives.
Prepare Your Body For Impact
While your seat belt and children’s car seats can help to shield you from some of the impact you might feel during a car accident, there are other ways you can prepare your body for the impact you’re likely to receive when in a car accident.
In the past, many people have heard that it’s better to just relax your body to prepare for impact. However, Megan Brame, a contributor to WiseBread.com, shares that this is a myth.
In reality, it’s been shown that the best way to brace yourself for impact is to keep your hands on the steering wheel, if you’re driving, and push your head back against your headrest.
With your head against the headrest, you’ll have a smaller range of motion for your head, neck, and back, which can be very helpful for protecting these areas from the impacts of whiplash. And with your hands on the steering wheel, you’ll allow your airbags to do their job more effectively than if you threw your hands up in front of your face or tried to further shield yourself from imminent impact.
Don’t Block The Airbags
Speaking of airbags, these devices can only be useful when you give them a chance to work in the way they’ve been intended. As part of this, Wes Siler, a contributor to Gizmodo.com, advises that you never block the airbags in your car, especially if you think you’re about to crash.
If you do block the airbags during an accident, not only will they not be able to work as well, but you could also cause more harm to yourself in the process. This is especially important to keep in mind when you’re packing items into your car.
If at all possible, try not to put anything between the airbags and the passengers in your vehicle. When the airbags go off, any items in front of them can quickly become projectiles that shoot around the car causing damage to people and property that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.
To help you stay as safe as possible when in your car, even during a car accident, consider implementing the tips mentioned above to protect yourself and anyone in your vehicle.
