Not all automotive dangers to your children happen on the roads. Some can occur in your own driveway. "Non-traffic accidents," as they are known, result in hundreds of fatalities and 95,000 injuries a year for children 14 and under. Generally, the risk of injury and death is greater with young children. They often cannot be seen by the driver when they are in front of or behind a vehicle, and they do not fully understand the consequences of th...
Play Hard, but Play Safely If you have kids, it's likely that you spend time sitting on bleachers, watching them play and cheering them on. Sports are undeniably good for kids—for their bodies, their minds, and their overall social development. Athletics are one way to battle our modern society’s increasing tendency to spend time lounging in front of a screen. However, growing children are especially vulnerable to injury, more so than adu...
Streets and roads in Indianapolis are scandalously deteriorated, and it’s our own fault. Years of negligence from cutting public works budgets and putting off needed repairs mean that the chickens have now come home to roost—and we will all pay the price for our neglect, not only in dollars, but also in lives. Nationwide, roughly one-third of our nation’s traffic deaths are linked to poor road conditions. In a Word: “Staggering” An in...
Wrongful death lawsuits are brought when someone’s death is caused by the wrongful actions, or negligence, of another party. Often wrongful death suits are filed directly against the party that caused the harm, such as an employer whose neglect of workplace safety or non-compliance with safety regulations caused an employee to die. In these cases, a lawsuit can be filed on behalf of the family members who are suffering from the loss of company ...
Your life and your safety are literally riding on your tires every time you drive your vehicle. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 11,000 crashes related to tire problems take place each year. In 2015, 719 fatalities were due to tire-related crashes. Ensuring that your tires are fit for the road should be a high priority for every driver. Blowouts: Especially Perilous Of those who own cars, on...
Serious burn injuries are rife with complications—some physical and medical, some psychological, some financial. A severely burned injury victim can end up permanently disabled and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If the burn injury occurred because of someone else’s negligence or recklessness, you may have an actionable lawsuit for lost income and other damages. The number of those burned because of workplace accident...
One of the most heartbreaking things that can happen to a parent is when their child becomes injured. It’s even worse when that injury could have been prevented, but another party caused the injury with their recklessness or negligence. A child’s injury can also mean financial hardship for the family because of medical and related bills. However, a parent or guardian can ask to be compensated for a number of costs related to the child’s inj...
As parents, our highest priority is always to protect our children. They trust that we will take the very best care of them. Defective products break that trust. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), strangulation hazard from the side rope crossbars. These baby gyms were sold for about $50 both online and in stores nationwide by retailers such as Target (Target.com) and Diapers.com during the period of September 2016 through...
Everyone knows that texting while driving is foolish and can be deadly. But many drivers simply cannot resist looking at a message once they know it has arrived. Have you often wished there was a way to avoid temptation by blocking text messages automatically while you drive? Now there is, if you use an Apple iPhone. (You can also do it on an Android phone, sort of, if you are running the right messaging app.) The iPhone screen and many of the...
If you own a Ram Truck, you may already be aware of the recall of 1.3 million of the vehicles due to software problems. The issues can cause side airbags and seatbelts to malfunction in a roll-over crash. Of course, automotive recalls are nothing new, but an increasing number of them, including this Ram Truck recall, are technology related. How could this technology-based Ram Truck recall affect you even if you don't own this vehicle? A Quick Hi...
There’s something unmistakable about fall. The humidity drops off. The nights become chilly. We fall back into patterns that define most of our year - school resumes, our favorite TV shows come back on the air and the nation’s most popular sports begin their seasons. As we wonder where the summer months have gone and say things like, “It’s football weather,” we tend to overlook some of the negative aspects of autumn. Some of the dang...
It doesn’t get much more basic on any vehicle than brakes. The gas pedal and transmission may move a vehicle forward or backward, but only the brakes have the potential to stop you when you really need to do so. Because of a large truck’s size and weight, the braking system is even more critical than it is with a passenger vehicle. It can take a substantial distance to stop a semi, even with brakes that work well. And if the brakes stop worki...
Some dangers on the road aren’t the huge semi on your bumper or the speeding driver weaving around you during a rainstorm. Some dangers can occur when you’re simply driving home, minding your own business. That’s what happened to Maria Federici. She was heading home on I-405 in Washington State when a piece of particleboard flew out of the rented U-Haul in front of her, smashing through her windshield. Federici almost died; she had nearly e...
Summer camp, whether it is a day camp or an overnight camp, can be a rite of passage for a child. Many anticipate it eagerly and never look back. Others get cold feet as the departure day approaches. If you had good camp experiences, it will be easy for you to reassure your child that they will have fun and not miss you one bit. But before you reach the teary goodbye stage, you should check the camp’s credentials in order to ensure your child...
Summertime is fun time. It’s when everyone seems to get that “school’s out” attitude, and when we long to leave work as soon as possible in order to enjoy lazy evenings and weekends. Road trips are a must, but in between, we need to fit in our summer chores: lawn and garden care, home repairs, and perhaps pool maintenance. Those who work in the medical profession know there’s a reason that summer is called “the trauma season.” It b...