Road Safety
Belt up all the family including your pets
By Noel Gibbons
9, Oct 2010 - 08:34

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 Kilometers per hour - a bad-news reality for the dog and for the humans in the car.

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.

For the fact is, we have heard from way too many emmergency workers about an unhappy cascade of horrors that often occurs when an unsecured pet travelling in a vehicle is involved in a collision. Not only can there be significant injuries to the animal and the people in the car, there's frequently a second wave of awfulness.

Mr Damien Feeney paramedic said '' Maybe the dog escapes through a brokenwindow and dashes into traffic, causing more collisions and very often getting killed. Or maybe the dog, hurt and scared, gets protective of its human and won't permit the emergency workers into the vehicle to assist, sometimes going so far as biting.''

The campaign is sponsored by Petworld, where pet owners are reminded to make sure that not alone are all humans safely belted up in the vehicle before they make their journey, but all pets are safely belted up also. Petworld locations can be found in Athlone Co. Westmeath, Santry Co. Dublin, and two locations in Galway City Co. Galway. There are also Petworld stores located in Horkans Lifestyle & Garden Centres in Turlough Co. Mayo and Sligo Co. Sligo. where pet owners are reminded to make sure that not alone are all humans safely belted up in the vehicle before they make their journey but all pets are safely belted up also . Mr John Horkan, Managing Director for Petworld said ³We take the safety of pets and pet owners seriously at Petworld, and have built up an extensive range of essential products for every pet owner, from seatbelt harnesses to window vents and more. Petworld will be offering a 10% discount on all safety products from October 1st - October 10th, 2010, so come on over to Petworld and get your furry friend the gear they need to stay safe while travelling.