Florida Child Injury Law Blog

Posts Tagged ‘dangerous’

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!

As of June 2011, cribs will be  required to have fixed sides rather than the familiar drop-side crib models. The drop-side models are dangerous because their design places infants and toddlers at risk of serious and even fatal injuries.

 The ban on drop-side cribs was announced recently by the government after millions of recalls and the tragic deaths of more than 30 infants and toddlers over the past 10 years. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) voted unanimously to forbid the manufacture, sale and resale of the cribs which feature a side rail that moves up and down.

 Businesses, like hotels and childcare centers who use drop-side cribs, are prohibited to continue using the cribs and will be given a year to buy new ones. During the last 5 years, there has been a recall of 9 million drop-side cribs in the U.S. The cribs pose serious safety issues because of assembly problems and hardware that malfunctions causing the drop side rail to partially detach from the crib. When this occurs, a gap between the side rail and mattress is created in which a child can become trapped and suffocate or strangle.

The CPSC has ordered tougher safety testing for cribs and improved labeling on crib pieces to reduce assembly mistakes that can put children at risk.

This new crib standard is one of the strongest in the world and will greatly reduce crib-related hazards.

Clearwater Child Injury Lawyer Jim Dodson, author of the free consumer guide, “When Kids Suffer Big Injuries,” and your online resource for consumer health and safety tips, product recalls, and legal information related to child accident and injury prevention.

-Working to make safety, every child’s reality.

Summer is here.  Generally that means more families are traveling by car on day trips, long weekends and vacations.   Our daughter was in town recently with our young grandchildren. Her first priority was finding a car seat safety inspection station! Although our infant grandaughter’s new car seat appeared to be secured properly;  our daughter wanted to be sure. Did you know research shows 7 out of 10 car seats are NOT correctly installed?

 The American Automobile Association conducted a survey and found  76% of parents said safety is their main concern when buying a child safety seat but  the  majority of parents polled didn’t know the specifics in regard to placement, age and height recommendations. In a recent study of 3500 car safety and booster seat installations,  72%  of the safety seats were secured in a way that it could be expected a child would suffer injuries if  in a crash.

With all this in mind, here are some safe practices concerning child seat safety and a website to check the locations of child safety seat inspection stations in this area.

 Safety Checklist

•  Parents should ensure that children up to eight years old or four feet, nine inches tall should sit in a safety seat or booster.
•  All children 12 and younger should ride in the back seat of a vehicle.
•  The safest position for a single car seat is the center of the rear seat.

Florida law regarding safety requirements  for child car and booster seats  is more fully discussed in Chapter 1 of my free consumer guide, “When Kids Suffer Big Injuries: A Parent’s Guide to Child Injury in Florida”  available  on our Florida Child Injury Lawyer website.

Attorney James W. Dodson, working to make safety every child’s reality.

Household injuries are one of the top reasons kids under age 3 visit the ER, and nearly 70% of the children who die from unintentional injuries at home are 4 years old and under. Young kids have the highest risk of being injured at home because that’s where they spend most of their time.

Supervision is the best way to prevent injuries, in the home and out, but even the most watchful parents can’t keep kids completely out of harm’s way every second of the day.

We’d like to share additional information with you on making your home safer.  We went over some tips in part 1, but here are a  few more.

 1) Child monitoring system.  These systems offer peace of mind and protection.  They come in audio and video configurations.  Monitoring your child when they are out of sight in another room provides a safe environment.

 2) Carbon Monoxide Detector.  Reduce the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning by installing these detectors outside a child’s bedroom or other sleeping areas in your home.

 3) Safety Gates.  Children need to be diverted from dangerous areas, including   stairwells and places you consider off-limits.  Safety gates that can be attached to a wall offer more protection than pressure gates.

4.) Always keep guns, toxic items and choking hazards safely stored and locked up  and out of the reach of children.

5.) Keep a list of emergency contact phone numbers near your phones in the event of an emergency.

 Protect your child from unintentional injury.  Implementing safety devices and keeping a watchful eye will benefit your child.  An ounce of prevention goes a long way!

Over 2 million cribs were recalled recently by Stork Craft, a manufacturer of drop-side cribs. 

 The recall was in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.  The CPSC issued a statement urging parents and caregivers to immediately stop using the recalled cribs.  The drop-side can be installed upside-down, which can result in broken or disengaged plastic parts.  The defect in the cribs can create a dangerous space between the drop-side and the crib mattress.  As a result, infants and toddlers can become entrapped in the space which can then lead to suffocation.

 A free repair kit can be ordered by calling Stork Craft anytime, toll-free at (877) 274-0277.  For helpful tips on Crib Safety, please visit CPSC’s Crib Information Center.

For additional safety information resources related to Florida child injuries, visit our website @ http://www.jwdodsonlaw.com/practice_areas/child-injuries1.cfm