Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Posts Tagged ‘child hit by a car’

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.

 Studies have shown buses are the safest way for children to get to school. But due to funding cuts, some Florida school districts are limiting the number of students who will be able to rely on bus transportation this year.

Nearly 400 of Lake Minneola High School’s 1400 students will be ineligible for bus service because they live within two miles of the school.

More than 70,000 students In Orange and Seminole counties and 7,000 in Lake County are ineligible for bus transportation because of a two-mile limit.

Orange County Public Schools has cut about $9 million from its transportation budget over the past two years and is reducing about 15 of its routes.

In Seminole County, the district is combining routes for budgetary reasons, forcing some students to walk farther to get to bus stops.

Volusia County will no longer transport about 800 students taking advanced or specialized classes to campuses outside their school zones, saving the district about $300,000.

With more students walking longer distances, having to cross more busy roads, and walking on shoulders without sidewalks, more pedestrian accidents involving a child are inevitable.  Other students who once relied on school bus transportation will be arriving at school by car, increasing traffic and creating further risk of injuries from car accidents as well as pedestrian accidents.

Parents are understandably concerned.  With financial resources severely strained, school districts need to make cuts somewhere. But is saving money worth the risk of having a school child hit by a car and suffering serious injuries?

If your child has been hit by a car or injured in an accident, it is important to contact a pedestrian accident attorney as soon as possible to assess the case, as the child may have a claim for damages.  Clearwater pedestrian injury attorney Jim Dodson has been representing accident victims for 25 years and offers a unique No Fee for Kids program. Read more at http://www.jwdodsonlaw.com/library/no-fee-for-kids-jim-dodson-law.cfm .

In a Clearwater accident, a 2-year-old  child was injured when he was hit by a car Friday night. 

Reports say the boy had been standing with his mother at the corner of Cleveland Street and Frederica Avenue when he suddenly left the sidewalk and ran into the path of the oncoming vehicle.

Paramedics treated the child and he was then airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center due to serious injuries.  The driver of the vehicle has not been charged but the accident is under investigation.

Children, especially toddlers, are too often seriously or fatally injured as pedestrians. Toddlers (age 1 to 2) sustain the highest number of pedestrian injuries,  primarily due to their small size and limited traffic experience. Dangers for young children on the move include: darting out into traffic, playing in or near the street and riding a tricycle or bicycle in a parking lot, driveway or street. The news report states the child had been standing on the sidewalk with his mother prior to darting out into the street.

Young children are particularly vulnerable to injury around traffic because they can not judge distance or how fast a car is speeding toward them. They move quickly and run into the street without warning and are difficult  for drivers to see because of their small size.

Take these steps to safety:

Supervise, supervise, supervise!

Talk to them about street safety.

Set a safe example for children.

Find safe places for them to play.

 Florida Child Injury Attorney, working to make safety every child’s  reality.