Now, of course, I know better. A study conducted by the Center for Research and Policy at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital and published in Injury Prevention in 2007 estimated that bicycle-related injuries among children and adolescents result in nearly $200 million in hospital inpatient charges annually.

One third of the children hospitalized were diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. Importantly, about 30% of the hospitalizations from bicycle-related injuries involved motor vehicles.

My firm gives away free bicycle helmets to any child who needs one. We would rather help a child be safe than to have to represent her because she sustained a traumatic brain injury in a bicycle accident.

If you need to speak to a lawyer because a child has been injured in a bicycle accident, you can call me at 703-260-6070, send me an email at Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com, or contact me through the firm’s website, www.RohrstaffLaw.com.  I’ll be happy to answer your questions – for free.

What are parents scared of when they have an infant or toddler moving around?  Stairs!  Keeping infants and toddlesr away from dangerous areas such as a flight of stairs is hugely important.  Enter the stair gates.  We all use them to prevent our children from reaching these hazardous areas. 

Unfortunately, one of those gates has now become its own hazard.  Safety 1st SmartLight Stair Gates have been recalled because the hinge that holds the gate in place may break, allowing children to fall down stairs.  A child who falls down stairs can suffer very serious injury, including brain damage, broken bones and death. 

Safety 1st Safety Gate

If you purchased this gate between January 2005 and January 2009, please  stop using the gate right now and contact Dorel Juvenile Group for a free repair kit. 

Make sure the product you bought to protect your child is itself safe.    Manufacturers are required to be reasonable in the design of their products.  But, don’t take a chance and rely on a product that may be unsafe.

Although five of the seven injured children were taken to Fairfax Hospital, none was seriously injured.  However, the incident is an early reminder of what every parent fears as they put their child on a school bus.

Although school buses are among the larger vehicles on the road, they carry our most precious cargo – our children.  The fact is that children are not restrained and, even in minor collisions, they can be tossed around inside the large, yellow metal box we call a school bus.  School bus accidents can cause many types of injuries to children, including:

♦    Head trauma, including brain injury or concussion

♦    Broken bones

♦    Spinal injuries

♦    Permanent scarring

♦    Emotional distress, including fear and anxiety

♦    Death

I wrote an article on our website about questions you should ask and things to think about if your child is in a school bus accident.

If your child is injured in a school bus accident, you may want to consult a lawyer who is experienced in helping the parents of children who have been injured.  I have written a book full of information for people who have been injured in accidents.  You can get your free copy at http://www.RohrstaffLaw.com or by calling me at 703-260-6070 or sending me an email to Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com.  I will be happy to answer your questions for free.

Recently, researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, released the results of a study on childhood injuries from furniture tip-over incidents.  The researchers used data from the Consumer Produce Safety Commission to analyze  injuries to children between 1990 and 2007.  Their report, published in Clinical Pediatrics, found that young children between 1 and 3 years old were the most vulnerable, that head and neck injuries were the most common, and that many of the injuries resulted from TVs falling on children.

•  Don’t put your TV on top of a dresser.  Children are clever.  They will use the drawers to climb up to get something off the dresser — or from on top of the TV.

• Pay attention to the security of the TV in every motel or hotel room you are in with your child.  And, complain if it is not securely fastened to either the wall or the furniture.

•  Check to make sure any daycare where you leave your child has its TV securely fastened.

Here are other important tips for keeping your child safe from falling TVs.

It’s never the young child’s fault if she is injured by a TV that has fallen on her.  Unfortunately, when a TV falls, a child may get skull fractures or other brain injuries, many of which are severe and permanent.

If your child was injured in Virginia at daycare or in a hotel room, special rules apply if you want to hold someone responsible for causing the injury.  You may want to consult a lawyer experienced in representing children for injuries to find out how to get your child repaid for her losses.  I have represented many children over the years and would be happy to answer your questions and give you information.  You can email me at Sandra@RohrstaffLaw.com or through our website, www.RohrstaffLaw.com.