Car Seat / Child Abandonment

Motor vehicle injuries lead all other factors in causing deaths among America’s children. The fact is, though, that many serious injuries and deaths can be avoided by the use of proper safety measures, careful attention to driving on the part of motorists, and diligent care by parents and other responsible parties. Every day, an average of 4 children under 14 lose their lives and more than 500 suffer injuries in motor vehicle-related accidents. Car seats save the lives of an estimated 425 children … if the devices are properly used. When they aren’t or when seats are defective, children are hurt.

Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured, are staunch advocates for our state’s youngsters. Fort Myers and Naples child injury attorneys in our firm follow the example set by Mr. Scheiner through our 40-year history and offer their active support of community and law enforcement initiatives designed to improve safety on our roads and in other situations. When children are hurt because of problems with car seats, our personal injury and wrongful death lawyers know how to represent their interests effectively.

When it comes to car seats, our Fort Myers and Naples car seat injury attorneys know that issues continue to arise with product defects and misuse. Our firm’s personal injury and wrongful death attorneys know that there have been a number of car seat recalls by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, indicating that seats may fail to protect children because the seats aren’t properly designed or manufactured. Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that more than 7 out of 10 car and booster seats are misused. When a caregiver, daycare center or other third party misuses a car seat, serious or fatal injuries to toddlers may occur.

Another issue related to injuries and deaths of young children in cars is the issue of accidental abandonment. Fort Myers and Naples child injury lawyers at Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner know that, particularly in our Southwest Florida area, temperatures inside cars can climb quickly when air conditioners aren’t running and windows are closed. Heartbreaking stories of children losing their lives because they’ve been left in cars point to the severity of this problem. Our personal injury and wrongful death attorneys understand that even when the outside weather seems cool, temperatures in vehicles can rise as much as 20 degrees in just a few minutes’ time.

While some kids are hurt or lose their lives in hot cars because parents or other caregivers left them inside during shopping trips or while running errands, tragedies happen, too, because unsupervised children climb into unlocked vehicles. A young child may not understand how to open a car door or may not have the strength to get out of the vehicle. Child injury lawyers at our firm know that kids can overheat more easily than adults. Those younger than 4 are at greatest risk.

In the past decade, Florida and Texas reported more deaths related to vehicle hyperthermia accidents than anywhere else in the nation. Between 1998 and 2010, 56 deaths were reported in Florida, according to the Department of Geosciences at San Francisco State University.

If your child has been hurt or lost his or her life because of abandonment in a motor vehicle or because the child gained access to a vehicle and became trapped, talk with the experienced Fort Myers and Naples child injury attorneys at Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Attorneys for the Injured. A vehicle owner, caregiver or other party may be liable for your child’s injuries or for the tragic loss of your child.

When problems with car seats cause your youngster to suffer injuries or death in a motor vehicle crash, a consultation with our skilled car seat injury lawyers can satisfy questions about the circumstances involved and whether you or your child might be entitled to compensation. Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner’s personal injury and wrongful death attorneys will meet with you free of charge at any of our convenient office locations in Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral, Port Charlotte or Sebring. If you aren’t able to come in, we will come to your home or your child’s hospital room to discuss your rights. You pay no fees unless we win.

800-646-1210 – Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner – Focused on Justice

When Children are Left in Cars

• Temperatures inside cars can rise as much as 20 degrees in the first 10 minutes after the engine is shut off.
• Temperatures inside cars can exceed 110 degrees even though outside temperatures are in the 60s.
• Children are less able than adults to lower their body temperatures by sweating.
• Children – especially those younger than 4 – overheat much more easily than adults.
• When children are left in hot cars, their body temperatures may rise as much as 5 times faster than an adult’s.
• Children left in hot cars are at risk for serious injury and death.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration