Category: Safety Tips

Protect Yourself as You Shop Online

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Learn how you can stay safe as you shop online.

Planning on doing your holiday shopping online this year?  Then it’s important to remember that the internet is host to many predators and criminals.  Protect yourself and your financial information as you shop by taking these safety precautions.

Stay on Familiar Sites

One way to protect yourself as your shop online is by staying on sites that you know and have used in the past.  Now is not the time to try out a new online vendor or buy from a company you’ve never heard of before.  By sticking to well-known online retailers, you can reduce your risk of falling into a trap and having your credit card information stolen by a cyber criminal.

Don’t Give Personal Info

Any site that asks for personal information that is unrelated to your purchase should raise a red flag.  If a retailer requests information such as your date of birth or social security number, you should abandon this website immediately.  The only information a retailer should ask you for is your billing, shipping, and payment information and, on occasion, your phone number and email address.

Be Proactive

Finally, you can stay a step ahead of online predators by installing good anti-virus software on your computer.  This software will alert you if a website is not secure, or if it is compromised in any way.  Additionally, having this software can protect your computer from any pop-ups or emails that might contain viruses or malware.

Take these precautions to protect yourself as you shop online.  Want another way to stay safe this holiday season?  Make sure you have the proper insurance protection in place.  To find the right policies to fit your needs, turn to the experts at Stromsoe Insurance Agency in Murrieta, California.  Our dedicated team is ready to assist you with all your insurance needs.  Contact us to get started today.

Preparing Your Teen for Unexpected Driving Situations

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Teach your teen these skills so they’re ready for any unexpected driving situation.

While your teen may feel confident in their driving abilities, as a parent, you know that there are plenty of unexpected driving situations that your teen might encounter while on the road.  Make sure your teen is prepared for these scenarios by teaching them these skills.

Bad Weather Driving

When your teen first learned to drive, they probably honed their skill in perfect driving situations.  However, your teen won’t always be out when it’s bright, sunny, and dry.  That’s why it’s so important to teach your child how to drive in bad weather conditions.  The next time it’s windy or raining, take your child out for some driving practice and advise him or her on the best defensive driving strategies to employ in each weather condition.  Teaching your teen these skills will prepare them for when they have to drive in bad weather.

Navigating with a Map

In the age of smart phones, many teens simply rely on their devices to navigate unfamiliar areas.  However, if your teen is ever lost and does not have access to cell service, they could end up stranded.  To avoid this situation, teach your child how to navigate using maps.  Additionally, you should advise your teen to keep maps in their car just as a backup plan.

How to Handle a Car Accident

While you may hate to imagine it, it’s possible that your teen will get into a car accident.  That’s why you should make sure your teen knows what to do in the aftermath of a car accident.  Start by going over the different steps your teen should complete and address any of their questions and concerns.  Additionally, you should give your teen advice on how to stay calm and how to deal with the other party if they do ever get into a car accident.  Teaching them these skills will help then deal with a car accident calmly and thoroughly.

Teaching your kids these driving skills will better prepare them for the open road.  Want another way to make sure your child stays safe while they’re driving?  Make sure they are protected by the right auto policy.  To get the best auto insurance for your needs, trust the professionals at Stromsoe Insurance Agency in Murrieta, California.  Contact us for assistance with all your insurance needs.

Protect Your Loved Ones from Carbon Monoxide

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Exposure to carbon monoxide can be deadly; learn how you can protect your loved ones.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas produced by the burning of carbon based fuel sources (natural gas, charcoal, wood, etc.).  If inhaled, carbon monoxide prevents the spread of oxygen through the body and prolonged exposure to the gas can be deadly.  Don’t let your loved ones be vulnerable to the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.  Learn how to protect them by taking these precautions.

Learn the Early Signs

One way to keep your family safe is by knowing the early signs of carbon monoxide poisoning.  Carbon monoxide can cause: fatigue, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, and mild confusion.  Unfortunately, these signs can be very mild and many people confuse them for flu symptoms.  However, if you suspect that you or a loved one is suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, get to a place with fresh air and seek medical help immediately.

Install Detectors

Because carbon monoxide is both colorless and odorless, it is virtually undetectable to the human senses.  That’s why it’s so important to install carbon monoxide detectors throughout your home.  Make sure you have these detectors on every level and in every sleeping area of your home.  If you hear a detector go off, then immediately gather your family and get outside of your home.  Then, contact emergency services to report the possible gas leak.

Check Your Vents

Finally, to make sure that carbon monoxide doesn’t accumulate in your home, make sure your home’s external vents are clear.  After a storm, debris can pile up in front of your vents, preventing carbon monoxide from filtering out of your home.  To prevent this, check your vents regularly and be sure to clear any debris that might block the way.

Take these safety precautions to protect your loved ones from the risks associated with carbon monoxide.  Another way to keep your loved ones safe is to make sure you have the right insurance protections in place.  To get the coverage you need, contact the professionals at Stromsoe Insurance Agency in Murrieta, California.  Our team is ready to get you covered today.

Easy Steps to Keep Employees Safe at Work

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Follow these tips to make sure your workplace is safe!

If you’re a business owner, you know how important it is to keep your employees safe at work. However, you also know that a workplace accident can happen anywhere at any time. While there’s no way to completely eradicate workplace accidents, there are some things you can do to reduce your business’s risk. Here are some precautions you can take to minimize your chances of a workplace accident.

Train Your Staff

One of the best ways to keep your employees safe it to make sure they understand the best safety practices for their workplace. A good training program should include how to complete a job safely and should also cover your business’s safety protocols. Finally, your training program should also discuss how to safely handle an accident in case one does happen.

Inspect Your Workplace

Another way to keep your employees safe is to inspect your workplace for any hazards. You should watch out for anything that could cause a slip or a trip. For instance, a leaky drinking fountain or some bunched carpeting could increase your employees’ chances of falling. Additionally, poor lighting could also be dangerous, so make sure you look for and fix any broken lightbulbs.

Examine Your Equipment

Finally, you should routinely check to make sure the equipment your employees use is safe. Note any issues, no matter how minor they may seem. Anything from a broken light to a strange noise should be examined and repaired. Making sure that all your equipment is safe and updated will ensure that your employees have a safe work environment.

Take these safety precautions to make sure that your employees are safe at work. Also, a great way to make sure your employees have the protection they need is to have the right insurance coverage for your business. To get the coverage your business needs, contact the professionals at Stromsoe Insurance Services in Murrieta, California. Our expert team is ready to assist you with all your insurance needs.

Tips on How to Check Your Tire Tread

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Good tires are required to keep your car under your control, is there anything you can do to ensure that your tire tread is at an acceptable level?

Your tires keep your car under control through the friction created by the tread of each tire. Friction is the resistance that two or more surfaces experience when moving along one another. Your new basketball shoes give you more explosive power because new shoes have better traction on the ground, whereas old shoes lead to slips and falls. Likewise, new tires with brand new tread have better traction on the street than old and worn out tires. Here are a few tips on how you can check if your tires are ready to face the open road and keep you safe while doing so.

– If you have no idea how old your tires are, you can always refer to the identification number on the walls (on the sides) of your tires. The last four digits are all you need in order to know the age of your tires. For example, if the last four digits read “1105”, that means that the tire or tires were manufactured during the 11th week of 2005. It is recommended that you change your tires every 6 to 10 years.

– If your tires are aged but look new, you can always perform the “penny test” in order to determine if you need new tires. The penny test requires only one thing, and that is a penny. Stick the penny, Lincoln-head down, into the grooves of the tire, then observe. If the tire covers the top of Lincoln’s head, then your tires are fine. If you can see the top of his head, however, it is a strong indication that you need new tires.

Just as you want to ensure your tires keep you safe, you should make sure that your auto insurance does the same. Contact the experts at Stromsoe Insurance Agency for all of your commercial insurance coverage needs. We will work with you to ensure you have the right amount of protection, all at the right price to fit your budget.

How to Avoid Distracted Driving

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Distracted driving is one of the reasons that traffic accidents occur, so here are a few tips on how you can reduce and avoid distracted driving on the road. 

As human beings, we believe that we are excellent drivers, but this is not always the case.  We have delayed reaction times, and have short attention spans.  To make it worse, we believe we are good at multitasking. Example? Texting, talking on the phone, snapchatting, changing the radio station, and talking to your passengers. Distracted drivers such as these account for 10 percent of all fatal crashes and 18 percent of all injury crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Avoid becoming another statistic by following these few tips on how to avoid distracted driving.

Tips on how to avoid distracted driving:

  • Take a Message – If you hear your phone ring, let your voice mail pick it up. It requires literally zero effort on your part and you can always call them back when you arrive to your destination.
  • Pull Over – If you absolutely must talk or text while you are driving, make sure to pull off the road to a safe location. It keep you and other drivers safe.
  • Use Voice-Activated Dialing – If you cannot get off the road and have to take the call immediately, you can always use your voice-activated system to take or dial a call.
  • Don’t Be a Pig – Use your human intelligence to know that eating can be just as dangerous as texting, and avoid chomping down on your breakfast while you drive to work–or any meal anywhere.

When it comes to financially protecting your car, having the right team of insurance experts behind you can give you the peace of mind that you deserve. Contact the experts at Stromsoe Insurance Agency for all of your personal insurance coverage needs. We will work with you to ensure you have the right amount of protection, all at the right price to fit your budget.

Apps to Keep Your Teen Driver Safe

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Apps help us with all facets of our life, and they can even help keep your teen driver safe. 

Getting a driver’s license is like a right of passage for most teens. It’s their first taste of real freedom. Unfortunately for them, the taste of freedom is eerily similar to the taste of growing up and responsibility. Nonetheless, teens are teens and parents are parents. Some parents may not trust their teens to drive–at least for the first few months post-driver’s license. If you want to make sure that your teen is practicing safe driving, download these apps.

Driving Apps for Teen Safety

Drive Smart

Price: Free for the first seven days, then a one-time payment of $14.99 for a lifetime subscription.

Function: With both the basic and plus versions, drivers can set their phone into drive mode, which sends all calls to voicemail while texts are muted and reply with an automatic response. Exclusive to the plus version is the ability to detect when the smartphone is in a moving vehicle and automatically activates the program. The driver can disable this lock, but this notifies the parents.

Canary

Price: Basic version is free; Drive Smart Plus is $4.99 per month.

Function: This app monitors your child’s driving practices. You receive real-time notifications of your teen’s driving behavior, including things like texting, calling, exceeding a predetermined speed limit, encroaching off-limit areas, or staying past curfew. This app drains the battery, so make sure they have a charger in their car to keep their phone from dying.

When it comes to protecting your car, having the right team of insurance experts behind you can give you the peace of mind that you deserve. Contact the experts at Stromsoe Insurance Agency for all of your commercial insurance coverage needs. We will work with you to ensure you have the right amount of protection, all at the right price to fit your budget.

Common Car Seat Questions

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As a new parent, you likely have a lot of questions about your baby’s health and safety, and we’re here to help when it comes to car seat baby safety. 

As soon as your child came into this world, your instincts to keep them protected kicked in. It’s only natural, and that parental instinct can be seen in many creatures across the animal kingdom, from octopuses to crocodiles, to all birds and mammals.

As is the case in the 21st century, we drive nearly every day, and taking your baby outside to explore the world is a healthy part of human development. That means your child is going to drive alongside you and you must ensure their safety. This is where car seats come in, but there are many questions to be asked about car seats. We answer the most common.

Common Car Seat Questions and Answers

  1. How do I know my baby’s car seat is installed correctly?
    Before you hit the road with your little bundle of joy, check with your local Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) to ensure that the car seat is correctly installed. You can find one by visiting a local police center or fire station.
  2. How do I know my baby is secure?
    You can use the “pinch test” to make sure that your baby is safe and sound. If you pinch the harness and can gather material, it needs to be tightened a little more.

When it comes to protecting your car, having the right team of insurance experts behind you can give you the peace of mind that you deserve. Contact the experts at Stromsoe Insurance Agency for all of your commercial insurance coverage needs. We will work with you to ensure you have the right amount of protection, all at the right price to fit your budget.

Safety Towing Tips

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Towing is something that you may have to do eventually to carry various items that don’t fit in your car or truck, here’s how you can tow safely.

People love to take camping trips in the summer and fall. They are the perfect camping climate because you can huddle around the warmth of a campfire and sleep snuggly in your trailer. But how do you get your trailer to the camping grounds in the first place? Or perhaps you’re moving and your things don’t fit in your car, so you have to rent a separate moving apparatus to attach to their truck. Many choose the option to simply tow it and some experience the consequences of not doing it safely.  Here are some safety towing tips to keep you and your vehicle safe.

  1. Consult your car’s owner’s manual. Written in the manual is the weight limit that your vehicle can haul. This weight limit includes the entire weight of the car, including the people, other things in the car, and whatever you may want to tow. Be sure to not exceed this weight limit as you can do some serious damage to the car.
  2. Follow the pre-tow procedure. 
    – Check the tire pressure on your truck and the trailer.
    – Make sure the hitch is secure and the safety pin is in place.
    – Make sure the trailer’s lights are working: taillights, brake lights, and turn signals.
    – Raise and lock the trailer jack, tongue support and stabilizers.
    – Check your visibility. If you can’t see around the trailer, install extension mirrors.
  3. Properly connect safety chains. The chains shouldn’t be extremely tight, in fact, they should have a fair amount of slack between the trailer and the truck. They should also crisscross under the trailer tongue.

For all of your auto insurance needs in California, be sure to contact Stromsoe Insurance Agency. We are more than happy to help you get the coverage you deserve!

What Do I Do When the Check Engine Light Comes On

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You detest it, but those check engine lights are a part of the driving experience, so it’s important we know what they are, and what they mean.

If you’ve been on the road for some time, you’ve likely come across the pesky check engine light at least once (and a few times if you’ve been rather unlucky). But what are you supposed to do when it turns on? Should you stop the car immediately? Do you need a tow truck? Here are the answers to those questions that may end up saving you from paying for further damage when your check engine light comes on.

The Three Stages of the Check Engine Light

  1. Off – This is the stage on which we hope the light stays. This means that your car is operating within normal standards.
  2. On – This means that our car has a problem and we have to get it checked as soon as possible. While it’s not necessary to pull over immediately, you can likely drive it to your mechanic. However, you are risking that the problem will worsen.
  3. Blinking – When your check engine light is blinking, it means that you have an engine misfire and should take it to your mechanic immediately. Driving when you have a blinking light could mean some serious damage that will cost you to reach deeper into your pocket to find the funds.

Can You Fix It Yourself?
It’s possible that you can fix this issue yourself by purchasing your very own OBD II scanner. It connects to your car’s computer and is able to tell you what is causing this issue. If you know you can tackle the fixes necessary, doing it yourself will definitely save you money; it’s important, however, not to get in over your head when it comes to car repairs.

For all of your auto insurance needs in California, be sure to contact Stromsoe Insurance Agency. We are more than happy to help you get the coverage you deserve!