Seat Belt Laws for Dogs
An Unrestrained Dog in Your Car Can Turn into a Lethal Missile
There are currently limited laws around the world with respect to restraining your dog inside the vehicle. However, some countries have laws that cover restraining your best friend on the back of an open utility.
Hidden Dangers in your Car
An unrestrained dog in your car becomes a lethal missile just like many other loose objects you may have in the car when it suddenly stops either through an accident or by you hitting the brakes sharply. A one kilo water bottle when traveling at 80km/h has the force of twenty kilograms in a sudden crash or stop. A ten kilo dog stopping suddenly at 80km/h hits with a force of 200 kilos, easily enough to kill or maim you or someone you love, not to mention what it will do to the dog.
Distractions in the Car
Dogs can also be a distraction in the car, particularly if they are unrestrained. Research has found that for each second our eyes are not focused on the road ahead, a vehicle doing 60kph, will have travelled almost 17 metres. Taking your eyes of the road for two seconds to make sure Fido is behaving means you will have travelled almost 34 metres without looking ahead. Imagine all the things that could have gone wrong by then. A properly restrained dog won’t subject you and your occupants to this type of danger.
Other issues to consider are that dogs jump out of open car windows, which means they sustain serious injuries and pose a traffic hazard. In addition, if paramedics are called to the scene of an accident an unrestrained dog can pose the following risks:
- It can be distressed by the crash and thus try and bite those that have come to help. The distress maybe heightened by the fact that the dog is injured.
- The dog gets out and runs away from rescuers. You may not be in a condition to do anything about this, which again means that your poor dog has become a traffic hazard.
Dog Crate versus Seat Belt
Some people believe that transporting their dog in a crate solves the problem of travelling with an unrestrained dog. Of course this may be a better option than having your dog loose in the car, however, if you do not have a cargo barrier in your car the crate with the dog in it can turn into that potential lethal missile that can kill you or one of your passengers. And if you do not restrain the crate your dog may still suffer some serious injury in the crash as the crate gets thrown around the car.
Next time you put your beloved dog in the car spare a thought to the consequences if you travel with him unrestrained. It is easy and cheap to purchase a dog harness that will keep him and you save from injuries in the event of a crash or you having to hit the brakes suddenly.
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