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For children, summer means freedom and fun, but for parents, summer can be a time of worry and concern as children head out of the home to take part in a range of activities. Parents have a reason to worry: each summer Miami personal injuries cause serious injury and even fatalities to teens and children across the city. Luckily, there are several things you can do to help prevent this:

1) Walk through your home. Take a walk through your home, with a critical eye for any possible dangers. Are all dangerous chemicals stowed safely and locked? Are sharp tools safely stowed? Are outdoor play areas clean and checked for safety? If you notice any potential hazards, tidy them up now, before the children are home for the holidays.

2) Get your children involved in fire safety at your home. Getting children serious about fire safety is important in teaching them the skills they need to help avoid Miami burn injuries. Check your fire alarms and practice your fire escape route with the whole family. Many fire departments have activity books and other educations resources that help teach children about fire safety. These are good tools for teaching your children safety rules while ensuring that your kids stay entertained.

3) Check your child’s summer activities. If your children will be playing sports, do they have the sports equipment and safety equipment to help prevent Miami brain injuries and other common sports injuries? If your children will be spending lots of time on their bicycles, do they have a good, proper-fitting helmet? Review your children’s plans for the summer and determine whether your family has everything in place to make summer both fun and safe.

4) Have a talk with your new teen driver. If you have a new driver in your home, your teen is likely excited about their first summer as a licensed driver. Before they drive off on adventures, however, you may wish to set some ground rules. Some studies have shown that teens with little driving experience have a higher accident rate than more experienced drivers. Multiple passengers and distracted driving can also increase the risk for your teen driver. Set some ground rules for safe driving to ensure that your teen has a low risk of being in a Miami car accident. Also consider signing up your teen for additional driver training or defensive driving courses so he or she can hone their driving skills during the summer.

5) Consider who will be supervising your children this summer. Whether you are relying on caregivers, camp, or others to keep your children entertained, check the references and safety record of anyone who will be responsible for your children this summer.

6) Take steps to prevent Miami pool injuries. If you have a pool, check the safety of your pool at the same time as you clean your pool to get it ready for summer. Ensure that your pool has a self-locking gate and a full isolation fence that prevents anyone from wandering into the pool area. If your pool does not already have one, consider an alarm that will alert you if anyone wanders into the pool area.

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Driving directly behind a car or truck is very dangerous. If the vehicle in front of you needs to stop suddenly, you will simply not have enough time to break and you will likely be in an accident. Many Florida car accidents and truck accidents are caused by tailgating, and many drivers do not realize that they are tailgating.

If you are following behind a passenger vehicle traveling on good roads, with little traffic and good visibility, you need to have at least three seconds of space between you. This means that when the car in front of you passes a landmark, you should be able to count “one elephant, two elephant, three elephant” slowly before your car passes the same point. In bad weather, poor visibility, bad traffic, or at high speeds, you will want to leave more room.

If you are driving behind a truck, you should leave even more space to avoid a Florida truck accident. This is because large trucks have large blind spots behind them. If you are following directly behind a truck, chances are that the driver cannot see you. You should make certain that you can see the truck driver in the driver’s side mirrors. If you cannot, the driver likely cannot see you, either.

The second reason you want keep well behind trucks is that trucks take much longer than passenger vehicles to come to a complete stop. The stopping distance for a passenger vehicle is an average of 133 feet in ideal conditions at 55mph; for a commercial tractor-trailer, it’s 196 feet. In good weather conditions, give yourself at least five seconds of space behind a truck. In most conditions, leave more room than that. .

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If you have been in a truck accident in Miami, Hollywood, Homestead, or another Florida community, you may think that you do not need an attorney. In many cases, the insurance agent for the truck company involved in the crash with approach you with an offer. In addition, your own car insurance company may cover some of the cost of the accident. You may think that you do not need an attorney, but there are many costs to not working with a good Florida personal injury attorney:

1) A lower settlement offer. Many victims of Florida car accidents and truck accidents are surprised to find just how expensive their accident really is. In addition to lost income, patients may face high medical bills, rehabilitation costs, and other expenses. Without an attorney to accurately determine the total costs of your injuries, you may not be offered the claim amount you deserve. Many permanent Florida brain injuries, for example, can cost a patient millions of dollars over a lifetime as the patient will need to pay for care, medication, lost income, medical treatment, rehabilitation and more. Victims are very unlikely to get this amount without the help of a very skilled Florida attorney.

2) Paying for costs out of pocket. If you do not receive a fair settlement offer or claims amount you will be forced to pay for additional medical costs and related costs out of pocket. Some Florida car accident victims find themselves paying tens of thousands of dollars in medical costs and even facing bankruptcy because their initial settlement offer is not adequate for the real costs of their injury. Worse, without consulting an attorney you may sign some of your rights away so that you cannot pursue a fair settlement amount down the road.

Did you know….

*In 2006, 4,732 large trucks were in fatal accidents, costing 5,000 lives

*In 2006, large trucks resulted in 85, 984 personal injuries across the nation in 135,741 non-fatal accidents

Studies between 2003 and 2007 revealed that licensing fraud exists in at least 24 states. When federal investigators learn of licensing fraud, they move to retest and reexamine all drivers who have received their licenses under suspicious circumstances. However, experts estimate that there may be thousands of unqualified drivers who have received their trucking licenses from suspect sources.

In many cases, licensing fraud involves third-party examiners who are hired by states. These examiners are responsible for driver testing but unscrupulous examiners, investigators claim, take cash in exchange for a passing grade. This system allows some drivers to literally buy licenses, even if they are unqualified to operate a truck. Worse, some states have very lax attitudes about licensing, and some are unable to help federal investigators by providing lists of licensed drivers.

According to the U.S. Transportation Department, incorrectly licensed truck drivers are a major danger on the roads. These drivers are operating huge machines which can cause multiple fatalities and serious personal injuries in car collisions, rollovers, and other types of accidents. Unlicensed drivers who have not had adequate testing and training may make more mistakes than correctly prepared drivers, increasing the risk of accidents.