Washington Injury Attorney Blog

Safe Kids USA, an organization whose aim it is to prevent accidental injury and death among children, issued a report on their anniversary entitled Report to the Nation: Trends in Unintentional Childhood Injury Mortality and Parental Views on Child Safety. The good news in the report is that accidental deaths due to injury are down in children ages 14 and under by 45% in the past 22 years.

Accidental injuries are the number one cause of death in children. Many accidental deaths are especially tragic because they could have been prevented.

According to the report statistics, in 2005, accidental injuries caused the deaths of 5,162 children ages 14 and under. In 2006, 6.2 million children were seen in hospital Emergency Rooms because of accidental injuries.

Causes of Injury Death

The four leading causes of accidental injury death are:

1. suffocation -- 19%
   
2. motor vehicle accident -- 16%
   
3. drowning -- 16%
   
4. pedestrian accident -- 11%

Report Findings

The report found that parents and caregivers could still be doing more in preventing accidental injury.

• 58% of parents are concerned about their children getting involved in a serious accident.
  
• Many parents still don't take precautions which could prevent accidental death including requiring their children to wear bike helmets and having fire extinguishers at home.
  
• 31% of parents do not consistently require their children to sit in the rear seat of the car
  
• 24% of parents do not consistently supervise their children around water
  
• 18% of parents do not require children 10 and under to only cross streets with an adult present

Accidental death rates have decreased in every area except for suffocation accidents which have actually increased 21%.

Children that survive any accident such as suffocation, near-drowning or car accidents may have permanent and severe disabilities that affects them for the rest of their life. Providing for their medical and educational needs is paramount.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent accident victims and their families. With our help, you may recover compensation for your child's injuries which can provide them the medical, educational and financial support they deserve if their injury is due to the negligence of a 3rd party.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or e-mail attorney@hgfarber.com. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.