Are You Doing Everything To Keep Your Child Safe In Your Car?
Michael Babboni
Car Accidents
For any loving parent that cares about the welfare of their children, there is a sense of enormous responsibility around the idea of keeping those children safe. Some of this is down to raising children with the right sensibility, such as not talking to strangers or agreeing to go along with them when they offer gifts. Other forms of protection are a direct matter of action for the parents to take, and one of those area is vehicular safety.Sadly, this isn’t a responsibility that every parent always considers, as seen earlier in February in West Palm Beach. Two cars collided and rolled over at the intersection of Congress Avenue and Ware Drive, with eight people injured. Tragically, four of those injuries were children.
The most shocking thing about this particular accident was that one of the children was crushed under a car. The reason this was even able to happen was simple; the parents had failed to put a seatbelt on the child, resulting in ejection from the vehicle and being crushed underneath. This is probably one of the worst feelings in the world; seeing a child subjected to a traumatic injury that could have easily been prevented by taking the 5-10 seconds of time to put on the seatbelt.
Take The Time
This sad example is just one more illustration of the importance in taking the time to properly restrain children for a trip in a car. Just like distracted driving with a quick look at a phone, all it takes for an accident to occur is mere seconds. A child that isn’t wearing a seat belt, or who has not been properly seated in a car because he or she still requires a booster seat will need some extra time to make sure they are secure in the vehicle.
In many instances, they may seem like a few seconds or minutes that are lost in a pointless exercise, since you usually arrive at your destination safe and sound, with no need for the seatbelts. But of course, if you’ve ever been in an accident, you know that those extra seconds can prevent serious injury, or even save lives.
Still Not Enough
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about being a parent and taking all the precautions in the world to protect your child is that it still isn’t a guarantee of absolute safety. While you can safely take into account all your own actions, and even natural events like road conditions because of the weather, you still can’t account for other people. A single, careless driver can upend all the careful work you’ve done to make sure your children reach their destination safely.
But even if tragedy strikes, you’re not helpless. If your children are injured due to the negligence of another driver, you can—and should—have your day in court. Talk to an auto accident lawyer and present your case. If someone else has caused your children harm, they should be held responsible for it, and an experienced accident lawyer can be the one that brings justice back into your lives and helps to make things right again for something that never should have happened in the first place.