St. Louis Injury Lawyer Blog

Chuggington is here to teach your kids some important pedestrian, school bus, bicycling and vehicle safety tips to help prevent child injury in Missouri and elsewhere.

Chuggington is an animated series that has partnered up with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to teach children to always be safe around cars.

The campaign is geared towards children under the age of 7. The series also comes with a number of downloadable safety tips, a kid-focused safety pledge and a number of games and activities that parents and guardians can do with their children to help promote the safe traveling habits.

"This exciting partnership with Chuggington will help us bring our traffic safety message to young children and parents alike," said Ray LaHood, the Secretary for the U.S. Transportation.

Our St. Louis injury attorneys understand that this kind of campaign is an extremely effective way to teach children safe habits, including buckling up in a vehicle, how to safely cross the street and to always wear a bicycle helmet. Parents are urged to sit down and enjoy the animated series to teach children about these safe habits. Educating children at an early age may be one of the best ways to help to ensure their safety.

Currently, car accidents are the leading cause of death for children who are 14-years-old and younger. In 2009, these types of accidents took the lives of approximately 1,300 children and injured another 179,000. Child pedestrians are also at a high risk for injury on our roadways. In 2007, there were about 260 child pedestrian fatalities and another 115,000 injuries to children of the same age group.

The partnership between the NHTSA and the Chuggington series is being used to help to teach children about important lessons that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. During each of the episodes, the characters on the series will be rewarded for good behavior with "The 'Think Safe, Ride Safe, Be Safe!' badges. They will also be encouraged to join the traffic safety pledge. Parents are encouraged to teach children this message and make sure that they remember it. It's a quick little saying that will help to keep them safe.

The campaign was released just in time to coincide with National Child Passenger Safety Week. This is a week that was created by the NHTSA that urges parents to visit a child seat inspection location in Missouri to ensure that their child's car seat is properly installed into their vehicle.

It is estimated that approximated 75 percent of all child car seats are installed improperly in the U.S. At these inspection stations, experts will be on hand to look over your car seat and to provide you with instruction and tips to ensure that your seat will be properly installed during each and every car ride.

It's a known fact that car seats save children's lives, but it is up to the parent and other adults who may be transporting children to know how to properly install them and to make sure that children are buckled in every time.

Parents are urged to check out the fun, new series and to enjoy it with you child. Teach your kid safe traveling habits at a young age so that they're better protected near our busy roadways.

Continue reading "NHTSA Recruits Chuggington to Help Prevent Child Injury in St. Louis" »

Missouri State Patrol recently conducted a number of school bus inspections to help prevent child injury in St. Louis and elsewhere throughout the state this school year. The results conclude that nearly 90 percent of the school buses in St. Louis have passed the rigorous inspection. Cpl. Jeff Wilson says that he and his force have looked over roughly 12,000 buses. The ones that didn't pass the test were taken off the road immediately, according to CBS St. Louis.

"We give [school districts] a little time to make those corrections on those buses," said Wilson. "Even though they got put out of service at the time those inspections were done, we re-inspected those buses and got them up to standards."

Our St. Louis personal injury attorneys understand that equipping our schools with safe buses is only half the battle. The other half is in the hands of motorists. We ask that all drivers be extra cautious on our roadways during this time of year to help prevent accidents with children who may be waiting for the bus to pick them up or those who have been dropped off and are heading home.

Wilson says that they will be conducting spot checks throughout the course of the year as well to make sure that these safe conditions are maintained.

The mechanics that lead these inspections have all been certifies through State Patrol. Each safety inspection is done within the two months of the first day of school.

The National Safety Council reports that approximately 25 million students ride the big, yellow bus to and from school every year. In 2005 alone, there were 134 people killed because of traffic accidents that involved a school bus. Another 11,000 people were injured in these accidents.

The St. Louis County Police would like to focus on the safety of our students as well. There are some safety tips that parents are urged to discuss with their children to help ensure that their trips to and from school are safe.

Tips for walking to school or walking to the bus stop:

-Be aware of the routes that your child takes to school or the bus.

-Require them to walk with a group. Never let them walk alone.

-Tell your child to keep away from and never talk to strangers.

-Go over these rules periodically with your child.

-Instruct them to walk on a sidewalk.

-If there are no sidewalks available on their trip, make sure they know to walk in a single-file line on the far-right side of the road.

-Children are to only cross the street at an intersection.

-Make sure that your child knows to follow the directions of the school crossing guard.

-Never walk within 10 feet of the bus unless you're entering or exiting it.

Continue reading "Missouri State Patrol Examines 12,000 School Buses to Help Prevent Child Injury in St. Louis" »

Macy's Inc. recently agreed to pay a civil penalty of $750,000 after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) accused the company of failing to report they been selling children's sweatshirts, sweaters and jackets with drawstrings at the neck between 2006 and 2010. The CPSC reports that Macy's knowingly kept the items up for sale after the warning had been issued.

Children's upper outerwear that comes with drawstrings poses a strangulation hazard to children that can result in death serious injury to children in Missouri and elsewhere. Items that have these drawstrings include sweatshirts, sweaters and jackets.

Our St. Louis personal injury attorneys understand that federal law requires manufacturers, distributors and retailers to report back to CPSC within 24 hours after receiving information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product contains a defect. Most times these defects can create a substantial product hazard, can create an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death or if they fail to comply with any consumer product safety rule or any other rule, regulation, standard or ban.

These sweatshirts, sweaters and jackets that were the subject of the penalty agreement were sold by Macy's and Macy's-owned stores, including Bloomingdale's, and Robinsons-May between 2006 and 2010.

It's not all bad news, though. Last week marked the first week that consumers would start seeing a whole new generation of safer cribs for sale at local and national retail stores. Back in December of 2010, the CPSC voted to approve new mandatory crib standards, establishing the strictest crib safety standards in the world.

Starting last week, all importers, distributors, manufacturers and retailers are required to offer only child cribs that meet the CPSC's new full-size and non-full-size crib standards.

Some of the new mandatory rules for cribs include:

• Stopping the manufacture and sale of dangerous, traditional drop-side cribs.


• Strengthening mattress supports and crib slats.


• Requiring crib hardware to be more durable.


• Making safety testing more rigorous.

"A safe crib is the safest place for a baby to sleep. It is for this reason that I am so pleased that parents, grandparents and caregivers now can shop with confidence and purchase cribs that meet the most stringent crib standards in the world," said CPSC Chairwomen Inez Tenenbaum. "From the start, our goal has been to prevent deaths and injuries to babies in cribs, and now the day has come where only stronger and safer cribs are available for consumers to purchase."

Since 2007, the CPSC has recalled more than 11 million dangerous cribs. Drop-side cribs with detaching side rails were reportedly associated with more than 30 infant suffocation and strangulation deaths since 2000. A number of deaths have also occurred because of faulty or defective crib hardware. These new standards were put into effect in an attempt to prevent these tragedies and keep children safer in their cribs.

Starting in December of 2012, all child care facilities will be required to use only cribs that comply with the new crib standards. This includes family child care homes and infant Head Start centers and places of public accommodation, including hotels and motels, and rental companies.

Continue reading "CPSC Cracks Down on Faulty Products to Prevent Child Injury in Missouri and Elsewhere" »