Your most important passengers in your car or truck are your children.

According to the Center for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1,300 children died in motor vehicle accidents and more than 184,000 were injured.

Over the course of a year, that’s four deaths and 504 injuries every single day.

Many of these deaths and injuries can be prevented. Here are some very safety tips you should follow.

• Keep Your Kids In The Backseat: Children under the age of 12 years old should ride in the backseat. Deployed airbags can seriously injure children during a car accident. That is why it is important for your kids to ride in the backseat.
• Use Child Safety Seats: For babies and toddlers, it’s important to keep your kids in child safety seats. According to the CDC, child safety seats reduce car-related deaths among children ages 1 to 4 by 71 percent.
• Use Child Booster Seats: As your kids get older consider getting a booster seat. The CDC recommends using booster seats until kids are 8 years old or still under 4-feet-9-inches tall. Booster seats allow seatbelts to properly fit around small children.

These three items will help keep your kids safe while driving. Additionally, you will want to take the following actions to help “childproof” your car.

• Use Child Safety Locks: Newer cars have child safety lock features. Be sure these are on when you are driving with children. This will prevent kids from opening doors at stops or while driving.
• Use Window Locks: Disable power window features in the backseat. This will prevent children from opening and closing windows. This will help to ensure your kids stay in the car.
• Do A Safety Check: Before driving be sure to check that seatbelt and properly fastened. You may also want to do this several times throughout longer road trips.

Following these tips will help protect your children when they’re riding in your car or truck. Also, remember to get a Phoenix brake check or a Santa Fe brake check. This will help to ensure your car, truck or sports utility vehicle is in top operating condition.