Your Safe Vacation Checklist A driving vacation can be a lot of fun, but don’t leave safety and common sense behind. Here are the basics for a safe vacation. Before You Go Check your car or have it serviced before any long trip (battery, tires, belts and fluids). Have a qualified technician check the air conditioner. Check your oil. If you will be towing a trailer or boat, or driving in the desert, switch to a motor oil with higher viscosity. Pack an emergency kit that includes water, jumper cables, flares, a flashlight, equipment to change a tire, and a first aid kit. Fill up your gas tank at night or early in the morning to minimize damage to the ozone layer. Make sure your child safety seats and booster seats are properly installed. On the Road Require all occupants to buckle up, with children in the back seat. Obey speed limits and all roadway signs. Drive calmly and avoid entanglements with aggressive drivers. Pack non-perishable snacks and plenty of juice and water (individual water bottles for each family member helps you monitor intake to avoid dehydration). Take frequent breaks – at least every two hours – and avoid driving when tired. Be especially careful around railroad crossings. Avoid driving in the "No Zone" around trucks. If you cannot see the truck driver in the truck’s mirror, the truck driver cannot see you. Slow down in work zones, obey all signs and flaggers and pay attention to the vehicle in front of you (most work zone crashes are rear-end collisions due to an inattentive driver). Touring Your Destination Never leave children alone in a car. Do not leave children or pets in a car with the windows rolled up even for a few minutes. A sunshade can help keep the car from becoming dangerously hot. Cover up seat belts and child safety seats with a towel or blanket while the car is parked (on a hot day, the plastic and metal parts can get hot enough to burn). Review safe pedestrian practices with children. Taking or renting bikes? Be sure to pack your bike helmets. Have a planned meeting site in case someone gets lost. Above all – take it easy! Vacations should be enjoyable. If you are tense you are more likely to speed and drive aggressively. If you are tired, you are more likely to make driving errors or fall asleep at the wheel.

Work Zone Safety "Get the Picture. Listen to the Signs," is the theme of a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) work zone safety campaign that focuses on motorist inattention. It complements the national "Give ‘em a Brake" campaign that stresses the safety of construction workers. More than 700 people a year die in highway work zone crashes – and another 37,000 suffer disabling injuries. Speeding and aggressive driving are the two major reasons for work zone crashes. Sadly, most people say they slow down in work zones but almost none actually do, according to the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse. This situation offers an excellent opportunity for consumer education focused on summer travel. For more information, driver tips and a media kit (including PSAs, bumper stickers and posters featuring "Jack Hammer"), call the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse (a cooperative partnership between FHWA and the American Road & Transportation Builders Association) at 888-447-5556 (U.S.) or 409-862-8955, or see their Web site at http://wzsafety.tamu.edu. Fatigue According to the National Sleep Foundation, two-thirds of Americans have sleep-related problems at some time in their life and 23 percent have actually fallen asleep while driving. NHTSA research shows that drowsiness and/or fatigue is a contributing factor in approximately 100,000 motor vehicle crashes annually and is a factor in nearly four percent of all fatal crashes. When it comes to driving vacations, we tend to push ourselves too much, and fatigue can be a significant problem. Even a regular night’s sleep can be disrupted by strange surroundings and unusual noises, an uncomfortable or unfamiliar mattress, poor diet, and a lack of physical exercise during the day. Vacation safety campaigns should emphasize: good planning and reasonable daily itineraries; rotating driving shifts if more than one driver is available; regular breaks while driving (every two hours); little or no night driving (midnight to 6:00 a.m. is the riskiest time); plenty of scheduled time for a good night’s sleep; physical exercise during the day; and good diet (without excessive caffeine that might contribute to sleep loss at night and fatigue the next day). For more information on fatigue, see the Summer Safety activities guide or see Program Publications for Planner 19 to order Drowsy Driving and Automobile Crashes or Awake at the Wheel (both are in this Program Planner).