Child Injury Attorneys in Orlando, FL

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention documents and tracks childhood injuries nationwide. They have determined the following facts about auto accidents involving children.

• Each day, 150 children from infants to age 19 require emergency treatment for crash-related injuries.
• In the age group five to 19 years, more children die from auto accidents than from any other cause.
• Nationally, 3,754 children sustained fatal injuries in car crashes during 2018.
• When an airbag deploys after a crash, they seriously or fatally injure young children riding in the front seat.
• The center rear seat is the safest place for a child to ride.

The NHTSA Fatality Injury and Reporting System Tool (FIRST) provides recent accident statistics. An inquiry shows that 796 children aged 0 to 18 sustained fatal injuries in Florida accidents during one recent year.

Backover accidents occur when a driver strikes a person (often a child) while backing up their vehicle. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration Child Safety Page lists backover accidents as a common cause of childhood vehicle-related injuries. It's often a visibility issue, especially with a larger vehicle. To prevent these accidents, drivers should never assume that the area immediately behind their vehicle is clear. They can only determine if it's safe to back up when they walk around the vehicle before engaging the ignition.

As children are naturally small in stature, they are the most frequent backover victims. When walking or using a cycle that rides low to the pavement, children often become invisible to backing drivers. Accidents and injuries occur when a driver fails to take proper precautions.

The NHTSA and the KidsAndCars.org Backover Fact Sheet offer these insights.

• Backover accidents injure and kill many children each year.
• They occur primarily on driveways and in parking lots.
• Many drivers remain unaware of the significant blind spot to the rear of their vehicle.
• Rear detection devices help, but drivers should still walk around their vehicles before backing.
• SUVs and larger vehicles have rear visibility issues that render drivers more likely to cause backing accidents.
• Young children are often unaware of the danger. They believe that if they can see a vehicle, the driver can see them.

Over the years, adults have replaced children as the most frequent bicycling accident victims. The NHTSA's Traffic Safety Facts report, Bicyclists and Other Cyclists shared these facts and statistics.

They include all cyclists within the category pedalcyclists.

• Florida has the highest number of pedalcyclist injuries compared to all other states.
• Nationally, vehicles fatally injured 37 bicycle riders under age 14.
• NHTSA estimates that 5,000 children under age 14 and 6,000 children ages 15 to 19 sustained injuries while riding pedalcycles.
• 53 bicyclists aged 15 to 19 sustained fatal injuries due to vehicle crashes.
• Children comprised 4 percent of all pedalcyclist fatalities.
• Most pedalcyclist injuries occurred in urban areas.
• Helmets minimize the risk of serious injury.

Children are less likely to sustain injuries as a bus passenger than while walking or riding a bicycle.

The NHTSA's most recent traffic facts report on School Transportation-Related Crashes compiled national facts and statistics during a recent 10-year period.

• Over the period reviewed, the NHTSA documented 124 school-transportation related fatalities per year.
• 261 of the fatally injured victims were children.
• 61 of the injured children were school bus passengers.
• 100 of the fatally injured victims were occupants of other vehicles.
• 97 of the victims were pedestrians, five were pedalcyclists, and one was designated a non-occupant.
• Child pedestrians sustained fatal accident-related injuries most frequently during the hours of 7 a.m. to 7:59 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 3:59 p.m.
• Of the school-age pedestrians fatally injured in school-transportation related accidents, 49 percent were ages 5 to 10.

When chosen correctly and properly installed, car safety seats and booster seats provide protection that helps keep children safe. Seat belts help save older children from serious injuries, as well. The NHTSA's most recent Crash-Stats report provides annual estimates of lives saved based on safety restraint use during one recent year.

National Statistics

• Car seats saved the lives of 325 children under age four.
• Seatbelts saved 14,955 people age 5 and above.
• Frontal airbags saved 2,790 people age 13 and above.

Florida Statistics

• Safety seats saved eight children's lives.
• Seatbelts saved 1,099 lives of people ages five and older.
• Frontal airbags saved 200 lives of people 13 years old and above.

The Florida Safety Belt Law is included in Florida's Motor Vehicle codes. Chapter 316.613 provisions require drivers to secure children under age five in a crash-tested, federally approved child restraint device. Vehicle occupants age six to 18 must wear a seatbelt. Drivers to age 18 and 18-year-olds riding in the front passenger seat must also use a seatbelt.

Florida's restraint laws include exceptions for commercial trucks, school buses, tractors, and other vehicles. The law also includes safety seat waivers for children with physician-verified medical conditions and non-use during emergency medical transport. When an owner registers a vehicle to which the restraint laws apply, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles notifies them of the appropriate statutes and requirements.

When someone causes an accident that injures your child, you have a right to make a liability claim.

Your right is based on traditional negligence guidelines:

• The other driver had a duty to drive safely.
• He or she breached that duty and caused an accident.
• His or her actions injured your child.
• Your child's damages relate directly to the driver's actions.

As Florida is a no-fault state, your child's injuries must meet certain thresholds before you have a right to make a liability claim.

Under Florida's no-fault insurance law, each vehicle owner must have Personal Injury Protection coverage on their auto policy. When your child sustains an injury in an auto accident, you must submit the medical bills to your own insurer.

You have the right to file a claim against a negligent party only when your child's injury meets one of these conditions.

• Significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function.
• Permanent injury
• Significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement.
• Death.

The short answer is to hire a child injury accident lawyer, who can take care of all of the complexities for you.

More specifically, When two vehicles crash, each driver has a duty to report the accident to their own insurer. Both insurance company claim departments investigate the accident to determine who is at fault. If your child's injuries are serious or catastrophic, the other carrier should easily recognize that your child has met a PIP injury threshold. It's still up to you to present your claim to the other carrier for consideration.

It should be a simple process, but it's often complicated. Negligent driver's insurers often require that you prove liability against their policyholder. That's difficult to do if you don't have access to the evidence that proves your case. In most situations, you need legal representation for the best chance of successfully negotiating your child's injury claim. In some instances, a court may appoint a guardian ad litem to represent your child's legal and financial interests.

As parents, Florida grants you natural guardianship over your child. This gives you the legal right to negotiate and settle your child's injury claim. Under certain circumstances, the court intervenes, limits your guardianship rights, and takes steps to protect your child's legal and financial interests.

A judge usually appoints a guardian ad litem under one or more of these circumstances.

• Your child has a serious injury
• The settlement value exceeds $15,000.
• You are legally incapacitated
• A conflict of interest exists between you and your child or your child and his or her legal guardian

A guardian ad litem represents your child only until they resolve your child's injury claim. Whether your child has a guardian or not, a judge must approve a settlement involving the above situations. A judge also approves settlements for cases that are the subject of a pending lawsuit.

In Florida, injured persons have four years in which to file a lawsuit to recover damages from a negligent party. This time period is called the statute of limitations, and it's detailed under Florida Statutes, Limitation of Action… § 95.11(3)(a).

The basic four-year time period becomes a bit more complicated when someone causes an auto accident that injures a child, and one or more of these circumstances apply.

• The child doesn't have a parent, legal guardian, or a guardian ad litem to represent his or her interests
• A court determines that the legal guardian is incapacitated and can't represent the child.
• A conflict of interest exists between the child and his or her guardian.

Any of these circumstances tolls the statute of limitations for a maximum of seven years or until the child's legal representative settles the claim. The statute of limitations also begins running once the injured child reaches adulthood age.

Definitely consult an Orlando child injury attorney to better understand your options and learn how best to protect your legal rights. When a child sustains a serious injury, they often require comprehensive care throughout their recovery period. As a parent, you perform these and many other tasks, often while continuing to earn a living.

Our Orlando child injury attorneys take care of the legal details while their clients take care of their families. They review evidence, analyze liability issues, and evaluate injuries. They ensure compliance with statutes of limitations and court directives. Attorneys intervene with insurance companies on their client's behalf, and they lay the groundwork for productive settlement negotiations. If necessary, they use a lawsuit to protect their clients' interests.

When you consult our Orlando child injury attorneys, your initial appointment is complimentary. You spend time with a legal representative and share your story. You learn more about your options and get the information you need to determine your next move. Attorneys won't pressure you to make a claim or file a lawsuit; they explain your options, and you decide what's best for your injured child and your family.