Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Child safety advocates in Palm Beach County have come up with an inexpensive idea to help parents and caregivers remember when there’s a baby in the back seat of their vehicle.

The Safety Council of Palm Beach County along with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and others will be giving out 10,000 blue silicone bracelet for caregivers to wear when a child is in the car; if the caregiver still has the bracelet on after leaving the car, the child is likely still there.

Two children have died this year after being forgotten in vehicles in Florida. Six such deaths were recorded in 2010.

Jim Dodson Law supports any and all efforts to prevent these tragedies. We  have reported in the past about a device that senses the child in the rear seat and gives an audible and persistent reminder to remove the child. Such a device should be mandated on new car models. Until that happens, drivers are encouraged to use any means at their disposal to avoid forgetting. The bracelets are a good first step in raising awareness of the problem.  To get your free bracelet call the Safety Council @ (561) 845-8233.

Florida child injury attorney Jim Dodson is a longtime advocate for child safety.  He provides information to the public on keeping children safe and has a free consumer guide on legal steps needed to recover damages when the worst happens and  child is injured or killed due to someone’s negligence at http://jimdodsonlaw.com/category/library/child-injury/.

For Immediate  Release

December 15, 2011

Clearwater, Florida – Jim Dodson Law and Chainwheel Drive have joined together to donate bikes to deserving children for Christmas.  Five children will have the joy of receiving a shiny new bike and helmet on December 21, 2011 at Chainwheel Drive, 1770 Drew Street, Clearwater. 

For the past two years the law firm has given 5 bikes to deserving children who are 12 years of age or younger for Christmas.  Several local agencies have helped to locate children who needed or would enjoy a bike but have not had the opportunity to receive one. This year Chainwheel Drive, a local bicycle store, has partnered with Jim Dodson Law to provide the bikes and helmets. 

The 5 children range in age from 5 year old twins to an 11 year old.  The children, along with their parents, will receive their new bikes and helmets in a presentation at Chainwheel Drive on Wednesday, December 21, at 5:30pm.  They will also receive safe riding literature and will be given general instruction on care of their new bikes.

Jim Dodson says, “This is always a pretty meaningful experience for all involved, particularly the parents and the children!” Tom Jessup, owner of Chainwheel Drive, added, “We are excited to partner with Jim this year to provide new quality bikes to children at Christmas   It’s a wonderful moment to see a kid’s eyes light up when they see their first new bike.”

More information about Jim Dodson Law can be found at
http://jimdodsonlaw.com/about-our-firm/

More information about Chainwheel Drive can be found at http://chainwheeldrive.com/articles/about-us-pg85.htm

A report of a particularly heartless hit-and-run pedestrian crash comes from South Florida television station WSVN. Police are looking for the hit-and-run driver who struck a young child, who is now confined to a wheelchair.

The six-year-old boy, a pedestrian, was hit by a car when he crossed Lucy Street near Second Avenue in Homestead, in the company of his father and three-year-old brother, at around 7 p.m. on Thursday. The boy was in the turn lane when he was hit by the car. The driver fled the scene without stopping.

Police have located the vehicle, but the whereabouts of the twenty-two-year-old driver is unknown.

The injured child was taken first to Homestead Hospital and then to Miami Children’s Hospital. He has been released in a wheelchair with a rod in his leg.

Police are appealing to the public for help in locating the missing driver. Leaving the scene of an accident in which a person has been injured in a third degree felony in Florida at present, but the Florida legislature is considering a bill introduced by Senator Mike Fasano to increase the penalty to a second degree felony.

Florida child injury attorney James Dodson has successfully represented many children injured when hit by cars in the state and has assisted their families in recovering damages to assure that the injured child is able to receive needed medical care.

Attorney Dodson has written a book, “When Kids Suffer Big Injuries,” which he makes available free of charge to the families of children who have been injured as pedestrians, available at http://www.jimdodsonlaw.com/.

In a heartbreaking accident  in Titusville this month, a 19-month-old boy was killed when he fell from a trailer being pulled by a riding lawn mower and was then struck by the mower.  The child’s grandmother was driving the mower, according to several media outlets. The toddler was taken to Parrish Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

 This case is still under investigation and the names of those involved are being withheld.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that about 75 people are killed annually and about 20,000 are injured on or near riding lawnmowers and garden tractors. One out of every five of those fatalities is a child. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics in a 2001 article in the journal Pediatrics, which was reaffirmed in 2010, states that “many of these injuries can be achieved by 1) design changes of lawn mowers to enhance safety, 2) appropriate age and maturity guidelines for mower operation, and 3) education of parents, other child caregivers, and children regarding the hazards associated with lawn mowers.”

Florida Child Injury lawyer Jim Dodson provides this information to increase consumer safety and awareness. It does not imply that an attorney client relationship exists nor is it to be considered legal advice to any viewer.

Alcohol not only puts a driver at risk and threatens the safety of others on the road, it can also impair a person’s judgment to the extent that the driver places the lives of his or her own children in peril.

Police report: Jacksonville father arrested on DUI charge was driving with his children.

A 41-year-old Jacksonville man was charged with driving drunk with his three young children, ages 5, 6, and 9 in the car with him, the Florida Times -Union reports. He was also charged with hit-and-run after the children informed their mother that their father had “hit a car at Target,” according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office.

Police spotted Oscar Adolfo Gomez driving his Toyota erratically on Collins Road at Ortega Bluff Parkway shortly before 9 PM on Friday. When they pulled him over, they observed that Gomez’s speech was slurred and he emitted a strong odor of alcohol, the sheriff’s report states. The three children were in the passenger side and rear seats of the car.

Dispatchers matched the car to a reported hit-and-run accident where the Toyota had allegedly rear-ended another car. This was confirmed when the victim of the hit-and-run was taken to the scene and identified the car as the one that hit her on San Jose Boulevard then drove off over the Buckman Bridge.

Gomez was charged with DUI while accompanied by a minor, DUI causing damage, leaving the scene of an accident, and careless driving. The children were released to their mother.

Gomez told police he had three beers and had taken codeine. He has a history of traffic violations.

Being under the influence is one of the common causes of a driver leaving the scene of an accident.

Information about Florida’s tough DUI laws can be found at http://jimdodsonlaw.com/2011/09/07/florida-dui-laws/

At the law office of Clearwater Child Injury Attorney James W. Dodson, we all too often encounter cases where children have been injured traveling to and from school.  We envision a world in which all children are free from harm, and child safety is the rule. Florida is part of the nationwide Safe Routes to School initiative.

What Safe Routes to School Hopes to Achieve

Among the goals of the program are to increase bicycle, pedestrian, and traffic safety, and decrease traffic congestion, to have more children walking and bicycling to schools. Other benefits will be improved community safety, accessibility and increased community interest in bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. 

How to Achieve Safe Routes to School

These goals can be accomplished by encouraging community involvement and improving partnerships among parents, schools, municipalities, and community organizations, and by improving the physical environment to increase the ability to walk and bicycle to school.

What are the 5 E’s of Safe Routes to School Recommended by the Federal Highway Administration?

• Engineering to create infrastructure surrounding schools to reduce speeds and conflicts with motor vehicles and safer crossings, walkways, trails, and bikeways
• Education to teach bicycling and walking safety skills and driver safety around schools
• Encouragement through activities to promote walking and bicycling 
• Enforcement by police of speed limits, yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks, and proper walking and bicycling behaviors; community enforcement, e.g. crossing guard programs
• Evaluation by monitoring and documenting outcomes

Clearwater Child injury attorney Jim Dodson endorses this program and encourages readers to support its goals to make his vision of child safety a reality.

One of the most difficult things to report on is the preventable death of a young child. But if our reporting these tragic accidents can alert families, relatives, and caregivers to the dangers and increase everyone’s vigilance when children are present, we will have performed a useful service.

A release from Associated Press reports that a toddler, 2-year-old Mark Andrew Van Cott, drowned Thursday evening in a lake bordering the backyard of his grandparents’ home in a St. Petersburg’s Brighton Bay area.

The toddler was playing inside the house while his grandparents were preparing dinner. They suddenly noticed he was no longer around and began searching the house for him.

The child’s grandfather then went to search the back yard and saw him lying face down in the lake near the shore. He pulled the little boy from the water and began CPR, which was continued until paramedics arrived.

The young child had apparently gotten out of the house through an open sliding glass door leading to a screened in back porch, and then got out through a screen door that was not secured. The lake is about 60 feet from the house.

The family said that he was not out of sight for more the five minutes before being found in the lake.

Drowning is the number one cause of death in children under 5 in Florida. These tragic child deaths can be prevented by making certain that all doors that could give a child access to water are properly secured, and ensuring that an adult is assigned to keep a watchful eye on a child who is playing anywhere in the vicinity of water.

This week across Florida and the nation it is National School Bus Safety Week, October 17-21. Florida’s departments of Education, Transportation, and Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles have teamed up to develop a safety campaign entitled Stop on Red, Kids Ahead to impress Florida’s drivers with the importance of stopping from both directions for a school bus that is loading or unloading children with lights flashing and signs extended. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reports that Florida drivers illegally pass school buses nearly two million times every year!

Clearwater child injury accident attorney Jim Dodson successfully represented a local thirteen-year-old child recently, who suffered broken bones to a leg and foot when  hit by a car while getting off  the school bus at a regular stop. The driver who struck the child was attempting to pass the stopped school bus. These accidents are becoming all too common. In Central Florida, nearly a dozen students have been injured in school bus accidents since the beginning of the school year.

We encourage drivers in Florida and around the nation to be mindful of the law and of the safety and well-being of our children during National School Bus Safety Week and throughout the year.

Kissimmee parents have expressed serious concerns for their children’s safety after a 13-year-old Neptune Middle School student was hit by a car while walking to get on her school bus on Tuesday. Florida law requires that traffic stop in both directions when a school bus is stopped with signs extended. The girl is expected to be okay, but parents complain that cars passing stopped school buses is a common occurrence. We have reported before on the number of children seriously injured or killed in school bus stop accidents because  drivers show such blatant disrespect for the law and the safety of children.

This accident happened at the intersection of Wellington Woods Circle and Hoagland Boulevard, an area that does not appear on Kissimmee’s list of areas where cars passing stopped school buses has been a problem. The road is patrolled, however, and police have been monitoring the area since the start of the school year. The Kissimmee Traffic Enforcement Unit has issued 98 citations to drivers for passing stopped school buses, but the problem persists.

Kissimmee and Orlando have been designated the nation’s most dangerous region for pedestrians by advocacy group Transportation for America’s Dangerous by Design study. Children should not have to be fearful when they walk to their school buses.

Jim Dodson Law recently obtained a settlement for a Pinellas County student who was seriously injured under almost identical circumstances to the Kissimmee school bus accident. While crossing the road in front of her stopped school bus, the child was hit by a car that was passing the bus from behind. The driver of the car was simply too impatient to wait. Irresponsible drivers who injure children must be held accountable!

 Joining students around the world, Pinellas County school children are participating in the 13^th Annual International Walk to School Day Wednesday, October 6. The entire month of October is International Walk to School Month, during which events will be held in many parts of the world to encourage children to walk or ride bikes to school.

 In Pinellas County, the event is sponsored by the Suncoast SAFE KIDS Coalition and All Children’s Hospital. Its focus is to promote pedestrian safety, fitness, and community involvement, according to Cecilia Barreda with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department. Crossing guards, community police officers, firefighters, parents, and teachers accompany students walking and biking to school, helping them learn safe habits.

  The goal of the international event is to make the world more pedestrian friendly and to

• Encourage physical activity by teaching children the skills to walk safely, how to identify safe routes to school, and the benefits of walking 
• Raise awareness of how walkable a community is and where improvements can be made
• Reduce traffic congestion, pollution, and speed near schools

 Organizers of the event hope to raise awareness of the many benefits of walking and to make the world a safer place in which to do it.

  The National Center for Safe Routes to School of the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center maintains a website with information about International Walk to School Day and International Walk to School Month at http://www.walktoschool.org.

 Florida has the worst record in the nation when it comes to pedestrian safety, according to the oft-quoted Transportation for America Dangerous by Design study. Jim Dodson Law is deeply committed to pedestrian, bicyclist, and child safety.  We encourage family members to get out and participate in this event during the month of October and beyond!