According to research carried out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it seems that fewer children died last year in roadway crashes. Yet, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is cautioning parents and caregivers alike to retain the use of child safety seats or booster seats. The data for child fatality point out that the leading cause of child death was vehicle crashes. From ages between three and fourteen, young children lost their lives and up to 490 were injured each day in 2009.

It is a known fact that child safety seats saves lives and parents and caregivers are encouraged to use this safety measure. Avoid graduating too quickly to booster seats or passenger belts, until the child is able to fit properly in both. Once your child outgrows their child safety seat, fit them into a booster seat which is the next level of vehicle safety precaution. Avoid fitting a child to a passenger belt until it fits properly, usually at the age of eight. It is better to remain in a booster seat until the passenger belt fits the child, resulting in fewer roadway deaths and injuries.

Leave no room for mistakes when it comes to the safety of the child every time, on every trip. As someone who works for a n online traffic school, I’m well aware of the significance of not leaving child safety measures to chance. Although we always try to drive home the importance of safe driving here on our comedy traffic school website, child safety is number one!

Unleaded regular’s hovering around $3 per gallon – which is high, but manageable. What if it goes back up to over $3 per gallon – or even $4 per gallon? Here are a few things to think about in the way of hedging your bets and insulating yourself and your family from the economic shocks that could very well be just around the corner:

Evaluate your fleet:

If you currently drive a gas-hungry vehicle, the time to consider replacing it with a more efficient one is before gas-hungry vehicles become virtually worthless overnight – as would happen if gas prices head south of $4 per gallon.

People who are driving 17 mpg SUVs and pick-ups when gas prices suddenly spike will be left holding the keys to vehicles almost no one else wants, either.

Meanwhile, it’ll be a seller’s market for fuel-efficient cars. Those who don’t have one will have to pay top dollar to get one.

Act pre-emotively and you’ll come out on top. Fail to act and you’ll be stuck with a vehicle that may cost $100 to fill-up that isn’t worth a third of what you paid for it.

If you absolutely must have a truck because of the work that you do or the area where you live, consider buying a diesel-powered pick-up to replace your gas-burning one. It’s true diesels cost more to buy – and the fuel is often more expensive than gas. But at $4 or $5 per gallon, the economics of owning a diesel truck that gets 30 mpg vs. a gas truck that’s in the teens back flips in your favor. Plus, a diesel-powered vehicle can last two or three times as long as an otherwise similar gas-powered vehicle. If you only have to buy a new vehicle once every ten or 12 years vs. once every eight or so, that’ll save you some bucks, too.

Pare down your fleet:

Some families have more vehicles than people. That’s fine, provided you can easily afford all those vehicles – and not just the cost to feed them fuel. People often forget all the peripheral costs of ownership, like insurance, taxes and, of course, necessary maintenance. If you keep multiple vehicles, the total costs can end up being quite high – even if you’re not actually driving the cars much.

If you can get by with two cars instead of three – or one car instead of two – the savings now can be considerable. And they’ll be even more so in a world of $4 gasoline.

Another savvy move is to cash out the equity you may have in excess vehicles. By selling off a surplus car or two, you can sock away several thousand dollars – which could come in very handy on the day that fuel prices rocket to a buck (or three) more per gallon than they are right now.

Investing in a low-bucks used economy car is another smart move. The glitter surrounding a new electric car or hybrid may be dazzling – but it’ll take many years to work off the cost ($41k for a new Chevy Volt) of buying one, even at $4 or $5 per gallon. A $4,000 used Corolla that gets 35 miles per gallon could ease the pinch of $50 fill-ups considerably.

Evaluate your job/where you work:

Many of us spend two hours (or more) every workday getting from home to our jobs and back home again. We bought into this because of the math. The lower cost of living in the ‘burbs offset the cost of fuel spent commuting, etc… Well, it used to.

But the equation changes when gas prices double or triple. All of a sudden, instead of spending $40 per week for fuel, you might be spending $80. For many families, the additional unexpected expense might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. And there’s a double-whammy involved. Once gas prices sail past $4 per gallon, those far-flung suburban homes become less and less desirable – and their value falls.

This is already happening. But if we get to $4 or $5 fuel, the downturn in the housing market could become a collapse. Few people can afford a big mortgage – and $400 per month for gas on top of it.

So if you’re already close to the edge, money-wise, and know that a significant increase in your commuting costs could put extreme stress on your budget – begin thinking about options before a theoretical risk becomes an immediate crisis. Ask about telecommuting (if possible). Discuss ride-sharing with co-workers and friends. Maybe even consider moving closer to where you work. Once we get to $4 or $5 gas, your options will not be nearly as good as they are now.

Save elsewhere:

None of us can control the cost of fuel; if the sign says $4 per gallon and we need to fill up, that’s what we’ll pay. However, we do have control over other expenses. And we can compensate for increased energy costs by reducing what we spend on other things.

Many of us, for example, could easily get by without things like video cell phones and PDAs. Sure, electronic gadgets are fun – and handy. But the question should be: Are they necessary? And if the answer is “no” then the next question ought to be: Do I prefer having some money in the bank to cushion against possible upticks in energy costs (which can’t be evaded) or am I willing to risk being strapped for money if that happens in order to have the gadgets I want but don’t really need?

One last thing. Did you know that in most cases you can save money on your car insurance if you take an online traffic school class or defensive driving course? It works perfect for people with bad driving records and there are even comedy traffic schools online to make taking a class even easier. The more money you have in the bank – and the lower your monthly expenses for other things – the less $4 or even $5 per gallon fuel can hurt you.

It may seem like every day is a battle while driving on the road. You race across town to get to places on time .. avoiding cars that are driving too slow or too fast. In most cases you may fall into the latter category since you’re always trying to make it to your destination on time.  And then BAM a speed trap…

Most of you may have experienced being in a speed trap and it sucks getting that hefty traffic ticket which usually derives you NO mercy especially if you’re going fast on residential roads.
Although we are in no way encouraging you to beat the system and go fast through town here are some tips on how to minimize getting caught in “THE SPEED TRAP.”

Note: We do not condone speeding.
1. Don’t speed. But if you are then look out for typical speed trap spots like heading down hills, rounding curves.

2. Utilize services online that will help you on the road. Folks are getting hip to speed traps around their town and are using the world wide web to help their fellow drivers:

The Speed Trap Exchange website [http://speedtrap.org/] helps you find speed traps along your route; before embarking on a trip do a little research and take the list with you.

Another tool to avoid speed traps and apparently favorite amongst soccer moms can be found at Trapster.com. This application can be downloaded to your cell phone and will send you real-time alerts about locations of a speed trap. What’s even better is that it is hands free so it also avoids you getting a ticket for holding your cell phone to check. Visit Trapster.com for all the info.

3. Buy a Radar detector. Note to Truck Drivers: By federal law, radar detectors are illegal in commercial vehicles (such as trucks) in all states. Radar “jammers” are also illegal in all states.

4. Seems that the best tool on the road is to have knowledge of the road you’re traveling so educate yourself on the maximum speed limits in all the states you’ll be visiting as speed laws vary from state to state. Visit: http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/enforce/speedlaws501/introduction.htm

So enjoy the road with these little tips on avoiding speed traps but most of all drive safely … not too fast. Also, if you happen to need it online traffic school or defensive driving course could be the best way to fix your driving record.

Yep you read that title right, but this is actually a book title. “Buddha on the Backstretch”  is about how to deal with handling all the little setbacks in life with a mindful approach learned from Buddhism and  from Dale Earnhardt. We suggest reading this book to handle your 4 hour commute to work. (more…)

If you haven’t heard of Mr. Traffic Ticket yet; he may become one of your best friends. A San Diego attorney, Mitchell Mehdy aka Mr. Traffic Ticket is telling a judge to take red light camera tickets, and throw ’em out!

We agree. You get hit with $460 ticket and have to defend yourself against a machine that took your photo. The company that created the cameras, American Traffic Solutions is based in Arizona and are paid over a million dollars. Mehdy relays how it all really works in an interview with San Diego’s news reporter Michael Turko on KUSI:

“What they do is they have a custodial officer,” explains Mehdy, “he gets an evidence package and he opens it up and there are a bunch of statements in there from a bunch of people saying I did everything correctly. Now if you ask the officer any questions concerning the censors or the record history, they’re not going to know that. You’re not going to be able to confront a witness, you’re not going to be able to fight the ticket.”
Mehdy says the city needs to provide a real expert witness in each case. Someone who can testify with firsthand knowledge about how each driver was caught on camera.

“The city wants to be cheap,” he says. “They want to save as much money with the camera system and maximize profits on this thing. This fight is going to change the way they do business, and the way they do business now is just not right.”

Mehdy recommends that if you are dealing with a red light camera ticket the best course of action is to ask for a continuance instead of paying the $460 fine. The challenge against red light tickets is still being evaluated and hopefully a judge will “throw ’em out”

Indeed more and more cases are being thrown out due to lack of evidence as recently reported by KUSI Turko Files. but if you do get one remember an online traffic school is a great way to not have it effect your insurance.