Florida Injury Lawyer Blog
Parents and educators have a brand new website to access resources regarding child safety seats. The new website, “Car Seat Safety for Kids,” recently went live. The informational site is a joint effort between the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) and the Kohl’s Injury Prevention Program.
Parents and child passenger safety educators can view new videos that correspond with the latest car seat recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to learn how to better protect young passengers in the event of a car accident in Fort Myers and elsewhere.
“Supporting this site are the research experts behind the AAP recommendations,” says Suzanne Hill with CIRP.
Our Fort Myers child injury attorneys understand that traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for young ones aged 3- to 14-years old. Child car seats are one way to help turn this statistic around. From 1975 to 2008, statistics reveal that there were approximately 8,960 young lives saved because of child restraints. Parents are urged to visit a child seat inspection location in Florida to ensure that your child’s car seat is properly installed. It is estimated that roughly 70 percent of all child seats are improperly installed by parents and guardians in the United States.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were nearly 1,500 deaths among individuals age 14 and younger as a result of traffic accidents in 2009 in the country. Another 180,000 were injured in these incidents. Experts report that the number could have been much lower had all children been properly buckled into the proper safety seats throughout the year. Studies conclude that nearly 620,000 children under the age of 12 rode in a vehicle without being properly seated in a child’s car seat or a booster seat.
The likelihood of a child restraint use is directly correlated with the use of a seat belt by the parent or the driver. Of the child fatalities in 2009, about 40 percent of children who were not wearing a seat belt were riding with drivers who were not wearing a seat belt.
How Do Child Seats Help?
-Car seats reduce the risk of injury by more than 70 percent for infants and by more than 50 percent for toddlers.
-All types of enforcement campaigns have been proven to increase the child car seat usage.
-Booster seats reduce the risk of injury among children who are age 4- to 7-years-old by nearly 60 percent.
-Airbags increase a child’s risk of death in the event of an accident. Always keep a child’s car seat in the back seat.
Drivers, parents and guardians are asked to take the time to review the current recommendations regarding child car seats and be sure to buckle little ones in during every car ride. Your responsibility can help to save their lives in the event of a car accident in Fort Myers.
Important Dates Regarding Child Safety:
September 16th to the 22nd: Child Passenger Safety Week and National Seat Check Saturday.
-October 14t to the 20th: National Teen Driver Safety Week.
Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured, is a law firm dedicated to representing accident victims in personal injury and wrongful death claims throughout South Florida, including Naples, Cape Coral, Port Charlotte and Sebring. If you or a loved one has been injured, call for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights. 1-800-283-2900.
More Blog Entries:
Proper Car Seats Vital to Protecting Children in Fort Myers Car Accidents, Florida Injury Lawyer Blog, March 26, 2011
Safety seat recall a reminder of child’s risk of defective product injuries in Fort Myers, Florida Injury Lawyer Blog, February 23, 2011
