Children in Auto Accidents

Published on: October 11, 2024

Child Passengers: Car Seats Can Protect Against Car Accident Personal Injuries

Children are some of the most vulnerable victims of car accidents. Georgia transportation safety agencies recently commemorated National Child Passenger Safety Week which this year fell between September 15 and 21.

The Georgia Governors Office of Highway Safety and the Department of Public Health were out in full force during National Child Passenger Safety Week. Certified child safety car seat technicians went around the state, checking car seats and educating parents about the need to make sure that their children are restrained in appropriate car seats whenever they are travelling in a car. Proper restraints are the best way to prevent children from suffering severe personal injuries in car accidents.

Georgia’s laws for car seat use are extremely clear. Under the law, children below the age of 8 must be safely restrained in a booster seat or a car seat depending on their height and weight. Many parents, however, fail to ensure their children are restrained appropriately for their age, height and weight with disastrous consequences. While most parents are aware of the need to make sure their children are restrained correctly, they may have their car seats installed incorrectly or they may be restraining their children in car safety seats or booster seats that are not appropriate for their child. Georgia parents can check the safety of their child car seat at www.gahighway.org, and get information about how to get their car seat checked by a certified technician.

Published on: February 17, 2023

Stronger Seat Belt Reminder Systems Could Prevent Minivan Car Accident Injuries

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

More lives could potentially be saved in auto accidents involving minivans every year if these vehicles came with stronger and more efficient seat belt warning systems.

A new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety highlights the fact that far too many minivan models simply do not have effective and efficient seatbelt reminder systems in place. This is even more alarming when you consider that these vehicles are mainly purchased by families with young children.

The minivan is the ubiquitous symbol of the young American family. For decades, Americans with young families have been buying minivans for their very specific travel needs. However, failure to use proper restraint systems has disastrous consequences for America’s children. In 2020, more than one-third of children below the age of 12 killed in car accidents were not properly restrained at the time.

Published on: August 15, 2018

50 Percent of Parents Text While Driving With Children

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Georgia recently passed the Hands-Free Law that prohibits all motorists from driving with a handheld electronic device. However, most would be surprised to know that an astonishing number of parents admit to setting poor driving examples for their children by using cell phones and communication devices while driving.

According to the results of a study which was published in the journal Pediatrics recently, about 50 percent of parents admitted to regularly talking on their cell phones while driving with their children. About 1 in 3 admitted to texting while driving, and 1 in 7 admitted to using social media while driving. The children in these cases were between 10 and 14 years of age – impressionable minds that absorb their parents’ examples and behavior.

What’s worse, but not too surprising, is that these parents were also likely to engage in other equally harmful driving practices, whether their children were in the car or not, such as failure to wear seatbelts or driving under the influence of alcohol. About 14.5 percent of the parents included in the study failed to place their child in child safety systems while driving. The study also found a direct link between the rates of driving under the influence of alcohol and irresponsible cell phone practices at the wheel.