Staying off busy roads is not enough. More than half the 135 children who die in bike-related car accidents are killed on minor roads or in residential areas. They don’t have to – bike helmets reduce the risk of severe brain injury by 88 percent.

Make sure you set a good example for your child. You are a role model whether you like it or not. Your approach cannot be “do as I say, not as I do.” Children are always watching you for what is acceptable behavior.

Use hand signals in traffic and always ride responsibly. Ride on the right side of the road with traffic. Don’t let your child be one of the 75 to 85 percent of children who ride bikes without helmets. Show them that using a helmet is the only way to bicycle.

Even though you may be riding responsibly, sometimes injuries occur due to the fault of others. Helmets significantly reduce your risk of needing a Daytona Beach personal injury lawyer.

It is difficult to do everything well, and this is another example of that reality. These convertible seats purport to “grow with your child” but in the end may do more harm than good. That said, not all convertible seats are dangerous. Parents should consult the Institute’s test results to identify their particular model before discarding it for a new one.

The booster seats that turned out to be dangerous did a poor job of properly placing the shoulder and lap belts in the appropriate places relative to a child’s body. No recalls have been announced yet, but the results were announced only yesterday. If you cannot afford a new seat, remember that even a substandard seat is better than using an adult seatbelt on a child.

The Best Child Booster Seats

• Britax Frontier: model: #E9B54H6

• Clek Oobr: model: #OBM1U

• Combi Dakota backless with clip:  model: #882066

• Cosco Juvenile Pronto, models #22491/#22255/#22275

• Eddie Bauer Auto Booster, models #22888/#22829

• Evenflo Big Kid Amp backless with clip, models #3401913/#340XXXX

• Cosco Juvenile Pronto: models #22491/22255/22275

• Eddie Bauer Auto Booster models #22888/22829

• Evenflo Big Kid Amp backless with clip models: #3401913/340XXXX

• Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR, model #22223-CIP

• Recaro Vivo, model #351.00.MM14

• Recaro Young Sport, model #340.00.MM14

• Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR model #22223-CIP

• Recaro Vivo model #351.00.MM14

• Recaro Young Sport model #340.00.MM14

The Worst Child Booster Seats

• Alpha Omega model: #22469

• Alpha Omega Elite models #22149/22148

• Alpha Omega Luxe Echelon model: #22799

• Combi Kobuk, model #8970

• Eddie Bauer Deluxe, models #22800/#22862/#22865

• Eddie Bauer Deluxe 3-in-1, model #22790/#22795

• Combi Kobuk model #8970

• Eddie Bauer Deluxe models #22800/22862/22865

• Eddie Bauer Deluxe 3-in-1 models #22790/22795

• Evenflo Express, models #3292198/#329XXX

• Evenflo Sightseer, models #2692198/#269XXX

• Harmony Secure Comfort Deluxe backless with clip, model #0304001DRM

• Evenflo Express models #3292198/329XXX

• Evenflo Sightseer models #2692198/269XXX

• Harmony Secure Comfort Deluxe backless with clip models #0304001DRM/22178/#22177

• Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite, models #22465/#22456/#22195/#22187

• Safety 1st All-in-One models #22178/22177

• Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite models #22465/22456/22195/22187

Stocking hangers have become popular as a way to hang those well-loved holiday stockings without drilling holes or using other hardware in you home. These heavily weighted ornaments come in all shapes and sizes: stars, penguins, reindeer, you name it.

However, the stockings that hang from them are very attractive to children, with their bright colors, bells and bows. Within one hour of a Florida mother hanging a stocking on a star shaped hanger, her 18-month-old son pulled on the stocking causing the heavy hanger to fall off the mantel and strike him right between the eyes. Luckily his father was a plastic surgeon with some surgical supplies at home. He patched the boy up on the spot.

Not every child has been so lucky. Another suffered a deep puncture wound to the forehead and another child’s toe was crushed from these heavy stocking hangers. No deaths have been reported yet, but one child began vomiting (a symptom of brain trauma) after a stocking hanger fell on his head. He suffered no permanent injury.

Most of the injuries children suffer from falling stocking hangers probably hurt the parents more than the children. The vomiting boy’s mother said she was sick to her stomach with worry as she rushed her boy to the emergency room. For that reason alone, I’d keep my hangers packed and save them for later years.

Dads have to be careful too during the holidays. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 13,000 Americans suffer holiday decoration related injuries that require emergency room treatment. Whether it’s falling from a ladder or a staple gun accident, the holidays are not a time to throw caution to the wind.

When you’re cutting through packaging, slow down. Also Make sure your candles are in safe places. Both these situations have caused injuries in holidays past. Make your holiday a merry one. Play it safe.

ANSWER: Under Florida law, there is no specific age at which children become old enough to be held negligent. The rule is that children behavior is tested by what is reasonable under the circumstances, including age, experience and state of mental development of the child.

That is unless the child is doing something that usually only adults do like driving a car or boat or flying an airplane. Then the child is held to a higher standard of behavior – they are required to do the activity with the skill and care of an adult.

If the child is engaged in normal behavior for children, then the question is whether or not the child has the experience, intelligence, maturity, training or capacity to act with the care the situation requires. If so, then the child can be held liable for negligence. If not, then they can’t. That question is one that only a jury can answer. It is not for lawyers or judges to say. The specific facts of each circumstance and each child must be weighed by the jury. Every case is almost always very different.

As for the instructor or facility, the question of whether or not they can be liable for your daughter’s injuries is also a very fact intensive question. If either had a duty to protect your child from injury and breached that duty, they may be held liable. Answering those questions requires further information.

A jury would have to consider it reasonably foreseeable that injury could result from leaving the two girls without supervision. If a jury did decide it was reasonably foreseeable, that jury could find negligence if the instructor told the kids to stretch and then left the room to make a phone call.

However, if the instructor taught the children proper stretching form and watched them while they performed all their stretches, then it’s unlikely a jury would hold the instructor liable for your daughter’s injuries.

The specifics of each case are most often discovered during interviews called depositions where lawyers have an opportunity to question witnesses under oath. One important issue in a case like this is whether or not you as a parent signed a liability waiver. If you waived your right to sue the instructor and facility, then that document is binding.

When using and sharing our roadways, whether it be by school bus, car, bicycle, foot, or whether it be in Orlando, Daytona Beach or Jacksonville, a few simple precautions will go a long way toward making this school year a safe one.

By Bus
Research shows that school bus travel is significantly safer than traveling by car or motorcycle. In fact, it is 16 times safer. Although school buses are quite a bit safer than autos, accidents do happen. More often than not, school bus related child injuries occur outside the bus, not while riding in the bus.

Parents and children should be more concerned with behaving safely when boarding or leaving the bus than with the possibility of a bus crash. At the time children are entering and exiting the bus, they can be hit by the bus itself or other vehicles.

Ideally parents should supervise their children as they send them off to school. If that is not possible for you, teach your kids just a few simple precautions:

• Look to the left, then to the right, and then to the left once more if you have to cross the street.
• Never stick your arms or head out of the window.
• Do not get off the bus before it stops moving completely
• When exiting the bus: take two large steps away from it. Then, if you have to walk in front of it, walk ahead at least three meters (10 giant steps). The driver must be able to see you.
• If you drop something that rolls near or under the bus, never attempt to retrieve it without the driver’s permission.

By Car
Rules for dropping off and picking up your children at school exist for safety and orderliness. While traffic congestion may be frustrating, do not get “creative” in the school zone. Respect speed limits, and drop-off and pick-up areas.

By Bicycle
Don’t ride your bike to school until you’re at least 9 years old and have enough experience to be able to look ahead and behind you without swerving.

• Note that when you look behind you while riding a bike, you will likely swerve to the direction in which you turned your head. Learn how to compensate for this tendency in places where there is no traffic before riding in traffic.
• Signal when you intend to turn by pointing to the direction you intend to turn.
• Always wear a helmet.

By Foot
If you’re walking to school, walk with a parent or friend.

• Never accept rides from strangers.
• Be aware of your surroundings. If you’re talking to a friend or parent on the way, look around occasionally to see what’s going on around you. At the least, it will keep you from walking into a pole, bumping your head and looking silly.
• Use sidewalks when available and cross with the light at crosswalks. Remember to look to the left, the right and then left again before crossing the street.
• Make sure drivers see you before you cross.

Researchers report that tobacco exposure, unintentional injury, obesity and mental health are the four greatest problems facing our nation’s youngest. If we can check these problems in children younger than five, they will lead significantly healthier lives and burden the nation’s health care system much less. Preschool-age children suffering from problems in these four categories are at a higher risk for health problems as they mature and age.

About one-third to one-half of American children are adversely affected by one of these four health problems. However, tobacco exposure and unintentional injuries were found to be the largest threat to child health while obesity has just been officially labeled as a major health problems for American preschool children.

About 25 percent of American children are victims of tobacco exposure and 500,000 babies are born every year in America whose mothers smoked while pregnant. Reducing tobacco exposure in children younger than five would save the U.S. $500 million.

The largest child health problem in financial terms is unintentional injuries. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death, disability and medical bills for Americans under the age of 19. Unintentional injuries suffered in the first four years of life cause $4.7 billion in lifetime medical expense and $14 billion in lost productivity. For more information on protecting your child from unintentional injuries read this Florida Child Injury Lawyer blog on water safety, this Florida Child Injury Lawyer blog on car seat safety, this Florida Child Injury Lawyer blog on furniture safety, this Florida Child Injury Lawyer blog on childproofing your home, and this Florida Child Injury Lawyer blog on age appropriate child safety tips.

The Florida Child Injury Lawyer Blog urges you to take simple steps to ensure your safety and the safety of your child in traffic. Driving on Florida’s roads is almost always the most dangerous thing we do each day by a long measure. In the United States alone, car accidents are responsible for one death every 13 minutes.

One simple step can go a long way in reducing traffic fatalities: use proper restraints for you and your child. Using proper child-safety equipment in your car or vehicle can decrease your child’s risk of suffering injury by 80 percent. That bears repeating … 80 percent. Just putting your child into a car seat reduces their risk of injury by 80 percent.

Let’s review the different types of child safety equipment available today for cars, trucks and other vehicles. Different types of safety restraints are appropriate for children of different ages.

For infants younger than one year, their weight determines the appropriate safety seat. If they weigh less than 20 pounds, you should use a rear-facing infant seat. If your child is larger however, in the range of 20-35 pounds, you should use a rear-facing convertible seat instead of a rear-facing infant seat. In either case, be sure to fasten the car seat to your vehicle’s back seat.

If your child is between 35-40 pounds, you can turn them around into a front-facing convertible car seat. Remember though to always fasten this car seat in your back seat, not the front.

Once your child weighs more than 40 pounds, it’s time for a booster seat. Booster seats are typically appropriate from the age of four to eight and should be used until your child is at least 57 inches tall. Once they have grown to that height, they can safely use regular seat belts as adults.

For each of these child safety devices, make sure the seat top is at least one inch above your child’s head. If it is not, head, neck or back injury can result.

Now that you know which type of seat is appropriate for your child, let’s look at proper installation and other common questions:

Proper installation for rear-facing seats

• Strap everything down tightly and securely. Be sure the car seat is strapped to your back seat tightly and that the harness fits your child snugly. If the seat moves more than one inch in any direction, you haven’t installed it securely enough.

• Improperly installed car seats can be just as dangerous as not using one. Never put a rear-facing car seat in your front seat if your front passenger air bag is active. In that position, the air bag will hit the back of the seat where your baby’s head is. Serious injuries and death have resulted from such impacts.

• Check that the car seat does not allow your baby’s head to fall forward. If your car seat did not come with an angle adjustment mechanism, you can change the angle yourself safely by simply inserting a rolled-up towel or something similar under your child’s car seat at the place where your vehicle’s back and bottom meet.

• Still having trouble? There may be a certified Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technician in your area who can help. Just Google CPS Technician.

Troubleshooting

1) If your baby slides to the side or down in his or her car seat, never pad under your child. Always apply padding around him or her. Don’t use safety inserts unless they are manufacturer approved for that specific car seat.

2) Premature babies should not ride in car seats unless they have been tested to see if they are able.

Proper installation for forward-facing seats

• Again, check that the car seat is strapped into your vehicle tightly and that the harness fits your child snugly. If the car seat can move one inch in any direction, you haven’t secured it well enough.

• Make sure the shoulder straps are at or above your child’s shoulders.

• Check the instructions to be sure you have run the seat belt through the correct path for the seat to face forward. It can be easy to run the seat belt through the path meant for the rear-facing position.

• All vehicles newer than September 2000 have tether straps that run from the top of the car seat to anchor it to your vehicle. Tethers protect you child’s head from moving too far forward in the even of an accident or abrupt stop. If you have an older car, buy a tether kit and install it. Do not use a tether kit meant for a different seat.

Troubleshooting

1) All children younger than 13 should ride in the back seat. If you absolutely must transport more children than can fit (safely) in the back seat, the next best option is to have a child who is in a forward-facing seat ride in the front. If you must do this, move your vehicle seat as far backwards as you can. The goal is to move the seat and the child as far away from the dashboard and air bag as you can.

2) Remember, these safety precautions are simple and should be followed by everyone who drives your child. If your child is driven by someone else (child care or school, etc), they are in the right seat for their age and weight and the seat is installed properly. Ask your day care center to read their written protocol for driving children. Check to see if it includes provisions for driver’s licenses, staff-to-child ratios, and supervision by someone other than the driver.

Proper installation for booster seats

There are only three things you need to do to properly install a booster seat:

• Booster seats require both the lap belt and shoulder belt portions of the seat belt. Never allow a child in a booster seat to wear just the lap belt portion. That exposes him or her to severe head and neck injuries in the event of an accident as there is no restraint to secure the upper body from moving.

• The shoulder belt must cross the center of your child’s chest and shoulder. If the shoulder belt is not in the middle of the chest and shoulder, it can cause internal injuries in a crash.

• The lap belt must be placed across your child’s upper thighs, not his or her belly. Again, if the lap belt is placed across the belly, internal injuries can occur.

Troubleshooting

1) If your car’s back seat has only lap belts and no shoulder belts, you should not use a booster seat. Instead, find a forward-facing car seat that is built for older and larger children. In addition, some travel vests are compatible with lap belts. In some types of vehicles, you can install aftermarket shoulder belts.

2) Manufacturers sell two different types of booster seats: high-back and backless. Use the high-back models if your car does not have a head rest or if your car has low seats. The backless variety are more convenient because they are easier to move from car to car. In addition they are almost always cheaper.

Adult seat belts

Once your children are about 4′ 9″ tall, they can wear adult seat belts. Just be sure the fit as described in the booster seat section above and that children do not put the shoulder belt behind their back. Also, never let children share seat belts.

Every year in places like Daytona Beach, Orlando and Jacksonville, the number of drownings increases during the summer. Drowning is one of the most common causes of death among children so following a few simple safety precautions can go a long way in keeping your summer an enjoyable one.

Follow these safety tips to keep our children safe:

• Respect the water. The ocean, lakes and pools can be dangerous places. Treat them as such
• Most child drownings happen when an adult is not present. Always supervise your children around water of any kind. It is possible to drown in just a few inches of water.
• To ensure you can always be present when your children are near your pool, keep a phone near you at your poolside so phone calls don’t take you away from supervising your children and so, if an emergency does arise, you can call 911 immediately.
• Even strong swimmers drown. Do not assume that your child is immune from drowning because he or she has taken swim lessons. In addition, flotation devices can fail or may be discarded, don’t let them lull you into a false sense of security.
• If you have a pool at home, use a device to alert you when doors to your pool area are opened. That way you’ll never be caught off guard and you’ll always know if your children are near your pool and require your supervision.
• Long hair can get sucked into pool drains and vacuum hoses. If your child has long hair, secure it to the head, braid it, or stuff it into a hat.
• Get swim lessons and CPR lessons for everyone in your family, especially if you own a pool. Make sure everyone knows what to do if they see someone in trouble in the water.
• Install pool fencing.
Here’s the corresponding video blog:

New studies show that cerebral palsy Botox treatments have serious side effects even up to three weeks after the treatment. If your child is experiencing difficulty breathing, difficulty swallowing, muscular weakness, drooping eyelids, constipation, aspiration pneumonia, speech disorder, facial drooping, or double vision, seek immediate emergency medical attention.

This new warning is an update to a 2008 safety review of cerebral palsy Botox treatments and will be included on the label and patient information packet going forward.

Although the FDA never approved Botox for cerebral palsy pediatric patients, it is a very commonly used and widely accepted treatment  across the country. Cerebral palsy Botox treatments involve the injection of large amounts of Botox deep into spastic muscles for the purpose of relaxing them.

The problem noted in the new study is that the Botox spreads well beyond the spastic muscles and has drastic side effects. The most serious side effects include hospitalizations involving ventilatory support and death.

The FDA also requests that all side effects be reported through MedWatch Every report helps the next child.

The details of this bill were discussed in this previous Florida Child Injury Lawyer Blog post. The Florida Legislature was considering a bill that overturn a Florida Supreme Court decision and allow parents to waive their children’s right to sue businesses if the children are injured.

The legislative session ended on May 1 and the bill was not passed.