Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Wrongful Bicycle Deaths – Children at Risk (Part A)
Children and bicycle accidents don’t mix, yet they are a daily occurrence. Fortunately, most of the time, the injuries sustained are just a few bumps and bruises. Of course, personal injury ranges from those simple little scratches up to and including wrongful death.
Accident Statistics
The Centre for Neuro Skills reports, “Between 1984 and 1988, 557,936 visits to emergency rooms were related to bicycle accidents. About 6% (33,500) of these were serious enough to require hospital admission. In those same years, an average of 962 deaths annually resulted from these injuries. TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) caused 62% of all deaths resulting from bicycle accidents. Forty percent of deaths occurred in children age 15 and younger. Clearly, children are at the greatest risk of sustaining these injuries. Boys age 10 to 14 are at the highest risk.”
ConsumerReports.org echoes the report, “The rate of injury was greatest for boys ages 10 to 13. The study was published in the October issue of Injury Prevention.” In fact, 12 year old DaQuan Sales is one such victim, as he was killed in a bicycle accident on Saturday, June 13, 2009, in Dayton Ohio.
Child Fatalities from Bicycle Accidents
This is a time when children should be enjoying their youth and having the time of their life. They should be able to look back upon their childhood with fond memories of riding their bicycle around the neighborhood or to the corner store. Unfortunately, because of a bicycle accident causing the child injuries, these memories could be dramatically different or gone completely due to a wrongful death.
Should your child be involved in a bicycle accident or worse, death, you should consult with a personal injury lawyer that specializes in child injury cases in Boston, Massachusetts. It is important that the lawyer you choose has successfully handled child accident cases and understands the intricacies of children and bicycle accidents.
Causes for Child Bicycle Accidents
There are many reasons for the accidents, some are listed below:
- Surface Hazards (holes, cracks, other problems with pavement)
- Visual Hazards (sun, glare, fog, darkness, etc.)
- Moving Hazards (vehicles, other cyclists, pedestrians, animals, etc.)
Other causes include problems with clothing, such as pant legs getting caught in the chain. Or for those who wear skirts while riding, the skirt hem could also get caught.
Shoelaces can also be of concern. Riders need to factor in these problem areas when practicing bicycle safety.
Continue to Wrongful Bicycle Deaths – Children at Risk (Part B)>>
