Understanding the factors that influence the severity of a child’s injuries can help you prevent your child from becoming injured in a car accident. It may not completely prevent injury, but it can lessen the severity of an injury to your child.
Roll Over Accidents
Roll overs are the most dangerous type of accidents, and typically cause the most dangerous type of injury, even to adults in the car. That means you can only imagine—and should only want to imagine—the injuries a child would sustain from this type of accident. Roll overs are rare, but if and when they occur, 10-15% of children that wind up in this situation sustain injuries that incapacitate them.
Lack of Child Restraint
Not focusing heavily on rollovers, let’s move on to lack of appropriate child restraint. If your child is not in the appropriate seat for their size, weight and age, they are at a higher risk of suffering incapacitating physical injuries in a car accident. It’s estimated that nearly 30% of children who are not in the proper seats suffer injuries that could have been avoided. These safety measures are important and should not be ignored.
The Front Seat
When a child is under the appropriate age for the front seat, it can cause fatal injuries. Children who are under one year of age are less likely to be put in the front row, but usually parents become lenient once a child is four years or higher. This seating position gives a child twice the risk of suffering physical trauma in a head-on collision.
Side Impact Accidents
Side impact accidents often cause less severe injuries and have a lower incident rate of trauma to a child if they’re appropriately restrained. About 1% of child passengers suffer injuries if they’re wearing the correct seat belt, but that rate is eight times more likely if they’re unrestrained during a side impact accident.
Rear-End Crashes
Rear-end crashes have the lowest injury rate, but regardless of the seating position and restraints, this type of accident can cause neck injuries, damage to soft tissue, and concussions in children. This type of trauma is hard to diagnose and may not cause visible discomfort, at least at first. A child may not express discomfort until there’s serious damage to their body.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Accidents
Last but not least, bicycle and pedestrian accidents—these cannot be stopped by proper restraints! Imagine the above injuries, but your child doesn’t have a ton of metal around them to protect them. Nationally it’s thought that 10% of unintentional deaths involving children are pedestrian injuries, while another 2% are thought to be bicyclist injuries.
Contact an Attorney
If your child is injured in a car accident, reach out to a car accident lawyer such as the ones available with Hickey & Turim S.C. A good lawyer that has experience in car accidents, even if they involve children, can change how your case goes. Your stress levels will be lower with a law office that cares and has a deep understanding of the legal system in regards to accidents.