Using the Car
Principle: As long as you prove to be a safe and careful driver, you’re welcome to use the car in-town occasionally, with permission, to meet friends, go to class or run errands; we want you to be able to drive the children to school/errands and in case of emergency.
Personal Use of the car is a privilege.
- Always put Child1 and Child2 safely in car seats.
- Always wear your seat belt. Require your passengers to wear their seat belts.
- DO NOT use your cell phone when driving the car. It is against the law to use a handheld cellphone while driving, and it’s also a bad idea. If there is an emergency and you need to make a call or answer a call, pull the car to the side of the road (or somewhere safe) and park it; then make your call. This takes a little extra time, but even in emergencies it is important to drive safely and follow New Jersey State Law.
- Never let Child1 or Child2 ride with someone else or be driven by someone else without our permission.
- The car is normally available for local trips in OurTown you are off-duty, within approximately a 5-mile radius. Clifton Commons and Willowbrook Mall mark the outer limits of what is to be considered local.
- Use local roads only. No driving on the highway, e.g., Garden State Parkway, NJ Turnpike, Rt. 3; no driving into NYC.
- The car should be returned to home by midnight on work nights and by 1:30 a.m. on weekend nights. The car may not be taken overnight without explicit permission in advance and contact information (name, address, phone number of location).
- Only you are permitted to drive the vehicle; our insurance will not cover another driver.
- Never drink and drive or ever ride with anyone who has been drinking. We will always come get you or you can call a cab if you need a safe ride home.
- In case of an accident, no matter how small, call the police to fill out a report, then notify us so we can discuss what to do next. Do not converse with the other driver except to exchange names, telephone numbers, and car license plate information. Never be talked into not calling the police. Use AAA in an emergency.
- Lock the car and shut all windows when you park it. Never leave the keys in the car.
- Move the car into the driveway at night. It cannot be left on the street overnight. Then, in the mornings, take it back out and park it on the street—this will help reduce frustration when we have to get to the station wagon to drive the girls somewhere.
- You are responsible for refilling the gas tank after you drive, keeping the car clean, and alerting us to any potential problems with the car. Please take the car to a car wash occasionally (every two months or so). Also, feel free to use the Dustbuster to vacuum out the car occasionally.
{ 5 comments }
thanks for the 13 gold rules.. sometimes the car drivers as me forgot how to protect your life and your relatives life
dino…
I would specifically mention no texting AT ALL while driving. This was a huge problem with our second au pair, and she appeared to think that our rule about not being on the cell phone while driving didn’t include texting. Either this, or as with a lot of things, she thought we wouldn’t call her on it. We did.
Here are our car rules. Maybe someone will find them useful.
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We know that your being able to get around easily is important to your general well-being. This is why we decided to give you the privilege of using one of our two cars, the Toyota Camry.
As with any privilege, this one comes with some expectations in terms of how you will use your privilege.
We ask that you pay attention to the following things in terms of using the Camry?
1)Your ability to use the Camry is a privilege. We politely ask that you always keep this in mind, and that you please not take your use of the Camry for granted.
2) Please ask us to use the Camry well before you want to the use the car – ideally at least 24 hours beforehand — so that we can make plans too. We have only two cars in our household and three drivers.
3)To begin, we ask that you do not use the Camry more than one time on the weekend evenings and nights. If things go well, we will consider expand your weekend night driving privileges. If you want to go on short, local shopping trips, on the weekend during the day you can do this. Please ask us beforehand, though.
4)You will be allowed to use the Camry to get to your classes and to get to some official Au Pair Care events (depending on what the events are, where the events are, and how far away the are). You will also be able to drive the kids places, perhaps to the zoo, to the park, etc. These miles will NOT count as personal miles.
5)Gas is expensive. So we ask that if you end up driving more than 300 personal miles a month that you, out of courtesy, give us money to help refill the tank. We ask that you give us $1 for gas for every 10 personal miles you drive beyond the 300 miles. We also ask that you do not exceed 450 personal miles per month total – except when we have given you special approval for a long trip, for instance to go skiing in the mountains.
6)Do not exceed the posted speed limits by more than 5 miles per hour. Drive with the utmost care, for our two little girls, and for yourself!
7) If it is snowy and icy, you cannot drive the car without our permission – unless it is to your class, an Au Pair Care event etc. Even then, one of us might choose to drive you to where you are going. Icy roads are very dangerous!
8)We ask that you do not forget that there is a light rail that goes to downtown. Generally, we prefer that, when possible, you use the light rail to go downtown, rather than drive. This is especially true if it is snowing, etc.
9) Absolutely no talking on the cell phone OR text messaging when driving!
10) No alcoholic beverages in the car, and no smoking in the car – this includes passengers!
11) Please do not drink and drive!
12) No friends, etc. are allowed to drive our car.
13)To start, we ask when you have the car on weekends, that you be home by 2 a.m. We may expand this time, depending on how things go. (It gets more dangerous to drive as it gets later on weekend nights, due to more drunk drivers).
14) Be aware that American drivers and driving rules are very different than German drivers and driving rules. In general, American drivers are not as orderly and a bit more unpredictable than German drivers.
15) Always, always drive safely! Do not take unnecessary risks! Driving safely is a matter of life and death!
Thanks for sharing your rules! It always helps to see consistency across families, especially around safety issues. Your comments also made me realize how *old* this list of rules is…it predates the appearance of texting on our au pair’s cellphone service! So I’ll put that in — it is critical. No using the cell phone AT ALL.
(There is a separate post about cell phones and driving … I’ll need to make the prohibition on texting prominent there too!) The times are a changin’, but the emphasis on safety endures….
Chris, I really like your list of car rules. However, I have concerns about rule number 6 “Do not exceed the posted speed limits by more than 5 miles per hour.” It seems like this is basically an invitation to break the speed limit law. Yes, I know, most of us speed sometimes (and by more then 5 miles), but I wouldn’t want to encourage that type of behavior. Also, should an AP get busted for speeding and get a ticket, I would not want to hear that I (host mom) approved of such behavior.
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