Expand your Consciousness

EYC shares articles about pollution, climate disruption, and how it affects all of us. We must learn to live more sustainable lives.

  • Home
  • All Living Things
  • Conscious Living
  • Climate Disruption & Solutions
  • Food Choices
  • Pollution & Alternatives
  • Interesting News
  • About Us

Does Your Dog Wear A Seatbelt? You Might Consider It After Watching These Videos!

October 20, 2020 by Michelle Toole Leave a Comment

Share this post:

Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp

Dog riding unrestrained in car

 

I admit to being one of those drivers who never gave a second thought to letting my dog ride unrestrained in the backseat of the car. Over the years I became more aware of hazards like a neighbor’s dog becoming lost after a car crash when a car door sprang open or another friend’s dog sustaining serious bruises when it hit the dashboard in a crash.

It turns out, there are people hard at work in developing safety systems for pets in cars and raising our awareness of the potential dangers. At a speed of just 35 miles per hour, a 60-pound dog can become a 2,700 projectile in a car crash.1

The video below shows what happens to canine crash test dummies in various crash scenarios. The harness, crate, and carrier crashworthiness studies were conducted by the Center for Pet Safety (CPS) and Subaru. 2 I urge readers to view the video for yourselves and will just say that I was shaken to see how easily some of the harnesses and crates failed. If these had been real dogs, the results would have been tragic.

The CPS tests use Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards in developing their test protocols. While pet supply stores offer more and more choices for safety restraints and pet carriers, the above video shows that many fall short of the measure of safety you think you are buying. Here is a link to the Center for Pet Safety’s list of safety harnesses, travel carriers, and travel crates that have been certified as having passed their crash tests. 3

Some brands of harnesses have worked directly with independent testing facilities. Below is a video of a crash test of the Kurgo brand of dog seatbelt harness that I use with my dog Skipper (note: we do not receive any compensation for highlighting this brand). This crash test was conducted at the Calspan test facility in Buffalo, New York simulating the equivalent of a 30-mph crash. 4 Imagine what would happen to the crash test dummy pooch if there was no restraint at all or if a crash happened at a higher speed.

My goal in sharing these videos isn’t to sell you on one brand or another, but to think about your own pet and consider whether there is more you might do to ensure your shared travels are as safe as possible.

In his excellent article for Outside entitled, “We Need to Talk About Keeping Dogs Safe in Cars,” Wes Siler quoted Patrick Kruse, founder and R&D director of Ruffwear dog gear as saying “Securing a dog is kind of like buying a fire extinguisher. Most of us don’t plan on testing a dog safety harness, but if you ever do, it really becomes apparent that having a dog restrained is a good thing.” 1

—R.A. Kroft

References

1Siler, Wes. We Need to Talk About Keeping Dogs Safe in Cars. Outside. 16 July 2018.

2Your Car. Dog Crash Tests. YouTube. 26 July 2015.

3Center for Pet Safety. CPS Certified.

4Kurgo Dog Gear. Impact Harness – Crash Test Size: Large. 15 January 2019.

—

R.A. Kroft writes about her day-to-day journey in living a smaller, more sustainable life and other topics that interest her.

Share this post:

Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp

Filed Under: All Living Things, Conscious Living Tagged With: crash tests, pet carrier, pet crates, pet safety, safety restraint

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Looking for something?

Popular Articles

  • Electric Cars: A Tale of One Man’s Experience and the Future of the Industry
  • We Continually Update Content to Keep Up With Changes in Our Environment!
  • Mindful Walking: Taking Thoughtful Steps to Reduce Your Stress
  • Interesting Thoughts On How Living Outside Might Reset Your Internal Clock
  • Don’t Flush! Keep the Wipes Out of the Pipes!

Copyright © 2023 | Expand Your Consciousness

This site is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice, legal advice or professional services. If you feel that you have a medical problem, you should seek the advice of your Physician or health care Practitioner. DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support this website, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this website.

Full Disclaimer   |   DMCA   |   Contact Us

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT