Most children love cars. Unfortunately, when they see a parked car, they don’t realize the potential for getting hurt or seriously injured. With school starting back, children are often waiting for carpool or the bus in an area that is fraught with hazards. In fact, every year over 9,000 children are treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries that occurred while they were unattended in a driveway or a parking lot and are struck by a motor vehicle. Sadly, when a child is injured in this way, the driver is often a family member or friend of the injured child. Sadder still: most of these injuries are 100% preventable.
Here are a few simple tips to help protect children from being injured by a car:
- It’s easy to get in a hurry, but before you drive away, take a few seconds to walk all the way around your parked car to check for children.
- Designate a safe spot for children to wait when nearby vehicles are about to move and make sure the drivers can see them.
- Accompany little kids when they get in and out of a vehicle. Hold their hands while walking near moving vehicles or in driveways and parking lots or on sidewalks.
For more tips about how to keep children safe in and around your car, visit www.safekids.org.
Cunningham Bounds takes great pride in representing children who have been injured or wronged through the carelessness or negligence of others. Our firm has represented children in cases involving car wrecks, defective products, unsafe premises, daycare negligence, medical negligence, and numerous other areas. To learn more about our firm, please visit www.cunninghambounds.com.