It's that time of year again......(I can hear that "oh eee oh" chant from wizard of oz.

The children are heading back to school!!! Retailers are smiling with all the new children clothes sales and Office Max is JUMPING!!!!

With all of this commotion it can be VERY distracting to the dangers of "School in Session" makes. It is this time of year that driver and passenger safety need to be at their HIGHEST AWARENESS. Please read the bullet points below and put them to PRACTICE!!

1. All passengers should wear a seat belt and/or an age- and size-appropriate car safety seat or booster seat.

2. Your child should ride in a car safety seat with a harness as long as possible and then ride in a belt-positioning booster seat. Your child is ready for a booster seat when she has reached the top weight or height allowed for her seat, her shoulders are above the top harness slots, or her ears have reached the top of the seat.

3. Your child should ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until the vehicle's seat belt fits properly (usually when the child reaches about 4' 9" in height and is between 8 to 12 years of age). This means that the child is tall enough to sit against the vehicle seat back with her legs bent at the knees and feet hanging down and the shoulder belt lies across the middle of the chest and shoulder, not the neck or throat; the lap belt is low and snug across the thighs, and not the stomach.

4. All children under 13 years of age should ride in the rear seat of vehicles. If you must drive more children than can fit in the rear seat (when carpooling, for example), move the front-seat passenger’s seat as far back as possible and have the child ride in a booster seat if the seat belts do not fit properly without it.

5. Remember that many crashes occur while novice teen drivers are going to and from school. You should require seat belt use, limit the number of teen passengers, do not allow eating, drinking, cell phone conversations or texting to prevent driver distraction; and limit nighttime driving and driving in inclement weather. Familiarize yourself with your state’s graduated driver license law and consider the use of a parent-teen driver agreement to facilitate the early driving learning process.

West Loop Auto strongly advises that you review and practice the safety measures above with your precious loved ones.

Let's have a great start to school and lets have our DRIVING AWARENESS at its PEAK STATE!!

Until next time...

Tony Morice
West Loop Auto Body
General Manager
www.westloopauto.com