Never transport girls in flatbed or panel trucks, in the bed of a pickup, or in a camper-trailer.
Keep directions and a road map in the car, along with a first-aid kit and a flashlight.
Check your lights, signals, tires, windshield wipers, horns, and fluid levels before each trip and check
them periodically on long trips.
Keep all necessary papers up to date, such as your driver’s license, vehicle registration, any state or local
inspections, insurance coverage, and the like.
Wear your seat belt at all times, and insist that all passengers do the same; keep girls under 12 in the
back seats.
Follow all the established rules of the road in your state (following the speed limit, keeping a two-carlength between you and the car ahead of you, not talking or texting on a cell phone or other personal
electronic device, not using earbuds or headphones, driving with your headlights on, and so on).
Avoid driving for extended periods at night, when tired, or taking medication that makes you drowsy.
Plan rest stops every few hours; if driving with others, prearrange stopping places along the way. When
planning longer trips, arrange for relief drivers. Check with your council for specific guidelines.
How can you, as a Girl Scout volunteer, determine whether an activity is safe and appropriate? Good judgment
and common sense often dictate the answer. What’s safe in one circumstance may not be safe in another. An
incoming storm, for example, might force you to assess or discontinue an activity. If you are uncertain about the
safety of an activity, call your council staff with full details and don’t proceed without approval. Err on the side of
caution and make the safety of girls your most important consideration. Prior to any activity, read the specific
Safety Activity Checkpoints (available on your council’s website or from your support team in some other format)
related to any activity you plan to do with girls.
If Safety Activity Checkpoints do not exist for an activity you and the girls are interested in, check with your
council before making any definite plans with the girls. A few activities are allowed only with written council preapproval and only for girls 12 and over, while some are off-limits completely:
Caution: You must get written pre-approval from your council for girls ages 12 and older who will
operate motorized vehicles, such as go-carts and personal watercraft; use firearms; take trips on
waterways that are highly changeable or uncontrollable; experience simulated skydiving and zero-gravity
rooms; or fly in noncommercial aircraft, such as small private planes, helicopters, sailplanes, untethered
hot air balloons, and blimps.
Warning: The following activities are never allowed for any girl: potentially uncontrolled free-falling
(bungee jumping, hang gliding, parachuting, parasailing, and trampolining); creating extreme variations
of approved activities (such as high-altitude climbing and aerial tricks on bicycles, skis, snowboards,
skateboards, water-skis, and wakeboards); hunting; shooting a projectile at another person; riding allterrain vehicles and motor bikes; and taking watercraft trips in Class V or higher.
When planning activities with girls, note the abilities of each girl and carefully consider the progression of
skills from the easiest part to the most difficult. Make sure the complexity of the activity does not exceed
girls’ individual skills—bear in mind that skill levels decline when people are tired, hungry, or under stress.
Also use activities as opportunities for building teamwork, which is one of the outcomes for the Connect key
in the GSLE.
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