Summer Safety Tips: How to Keep You and Your Family Safe

Summer means more time outside and more time spent with family and friends. But some summer activities like boating, swimming, biking, and drinking can be dangerous if you’re not careful. These summer safety tips can help keep you, your family, and your friends safe this summer.

Boating Safety Tips

Be Prepared

Before heading out on your boat, make sure to check the weather, get familiar with where you’re boating, and have everything you need, including at least one life jacket for everyone on board and a boat safety kit that includes a flashlight, duct tape, a bucket, a first aid kit, a whistle, ropes, a mirror, and a fire extinguisher.

Use Common Sense

Especially when you’re boating somewhere familiar, it can be easy to let your guard down. Be sure to stay alert at all times, adhere to the speed limit, follow proper anchoring and docking procedures, and avoid drinking.

Swimming Safety Tips

Prohibit Dangerous Games

Prohibit any games that involve holding your breath for as long as you can, interacting with the pool drain, running around the pool, dunking other swimmers, or carrying others on your shoulders.

Know What Drowning Looks Like

While adults should never swim alone and kids should never swim unsupervised, if you don’t know what drowning looks like, you could miss the signs. Remember, it’s not always what it looks like in the movies, so know what to look for and be vigilant in your supervision.

Alcohol Safety Tips

Eat & Stay Hydrated

Don’t drink alcohol on an empty stomach and try to drink a full glass of water between each drink to avoid dehydration, especially when you’re drinking out in the sun.

Use Common Sense

When drinking alcohol, it’s important to use common sense and make smart decisions. That means setting a limit and sticking to it, as well as avoiding buzzed driving, boating, swimming, grilling, hiking, biking, and other summer activities that could be dangerous under the influence.

Biking Safety Tips

Get the Right Gear

Before you start riding, make sure your bike is the right size, you’re wearing a well-fitting helmet, and you’re decked out in tight-fitting, bright colored, reflective clothing.

Be Alert, Predictable, and Smart

The more predictable you are on the road, the more likely you are to avoid getting hit. You should also always ride with traffic, keep at least one hand on the handlebars so you’re ready to brake at any moment, and avoid wearing headphones so you can hear approaching traffic.

Now that you know these summer safety tips, you can start enjoying your summer. But first, make sure you have the proper Homeowners and Boater insurance coverage. In the meantime, check out our insurance blog, where we cover everything from surprising things Homeowners insurance covers to summer fire safety tips.

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