All too often, we see news reports of crashes and worse that involve children. Many children don’t make it through these accidents, often being the result of a pedestrian crash. After your crash, you may worry about your child, their injuries, or what to do after the loss. These crashes are avoidable. You can work to do your part to help reduce the volume of child fatalities in car accidents. While every driver should do their part, there’s no guarantee that everyone else will. All you can do is follow the notes here and hope to come through a crash with their children safely. In fatalities, children make up about 16% of all vehicle fatalities.
If you lost a child in a car wreck, call an automobile accident attorney in Henderson for help.
The Number of Child Fatalities in Car Accidents
In 2017 there were nearly 700 child deaths in car accidents nationwide. An additional 116,000 injuries come with those reports. Some of those injuries are only a few sore joints or a minor case of whiplash. But other injuries include paralysis, brain damage, and more.
The 684 children that died were all either 12-years-old or younger. Of those, about 35% of the children were not secured in the appropriate seat or with a seatbelt. That means that over a third of children that die in car wrecks, die without any protection to help them survive. We all know that car seats, boosters, and seat belts serve to protect us when the unexpected happens.
During a crash, our bodies are lunged, continuing in the direction of the vehicle, and thrown into a new direction. The crash could include crumpled metal, flying glass shards, and more. There’s nothing to prevent every single crash. But, you can help avoid the damage. That means that you need to properly restrain your child at all times. It doesn’t matter if you’re only going around the corner. Always use the car seat, booster seat, or safety belt.
Are These Deaths Avoidable?
On the large part, many of these deaths are avoidable. As mentioned earlier, a substantial portion of these deaths come from not using the proper safety equipment. Then you have to handle the other deaths. What about those, are they avoidable? Yes.
Drunk drivers make up about 20% of all child fatalities in car accidents. The connection here is that the victim is almost always in the vehicle of the drunk driver. About one in five children that die in a car accident will be in a crash involving alcohol. Of those, 65% of those children will be in the vehicle of a drunk driver.
Other accidents involve distraction. Either the driver of that vehicle, or another driver, will be on their phone, eating, or applying makeup and then cause a crash. The thing with distracted drivers includes the same conditions of drunk driving. There is no attempt to brake, stop, or avoid the crash. That means that the accident happens at full force.
How Can You Be Sure That Your Car Seat is Safe?
The best option available is to plan a trip to a hospital, firehouse, or police department. These authorities will help you check to ensure that the seat was installed properly. If you move the seat from one car to another frequently, then you should ask them for help on checking it yourself.
When you have your child in the seat to ensure that they fit properly. Their head should not come over the top . Their shoulders should fit comfortably and more. Perhaps the most important check though, is that you need to keep the shoulder clip at the height of the child’s armpits. Keeping this too low can cause internal injuries.
Taking Your Case To a Car Accident Attorney in Henderson
When you are in a wreck as a parent, your immediate fear is that something happened to your child. Seeing an injured child, or worse, your child a fatality from the crash, then you may not know where to turn. Legal counsel is often the last thing on people’s minds when they have to clear up a crash. When you’re ready to pursue financial compensation for your crash, you will want to turn to an attorney.
A car accident law firm in Henderson can help you open your claim, take control of the compensation you seek, and more. Now only are you looking to move forward with action against the at-fault driver, but to ensure that you’re protecting your family. When you go through and manage your case closely, you can fight for fair compensation. Call your local attorney at Christian Morris Trial Attorneys in Henderson to handle your crash claim.
