Teen Motorist Safety Guide

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

With all the focus on teen motorist safety, it’s the right time for Las Vegas personal injury lawyers to bring to attention the fact that the National Safety Council has a special guide out for teen drivers and their families.

The guidebook is called Teen Driver: A Family Guide to Teen Driver Safety. The guide has been developed by the National Safety Council to:

• Inform families of teenage motorists about the risks that these drivers face while driving, based on scientific evidence
• Offer practical tips and advice to reduce these risks
• Encourage cooperation from both parents and teenagers in the entire process of learning to drive.

The guide is full of statistics that should alert any parent to the dangers that their child will be exposed to as he or she drives. There are charts that lay out the dangers clearly. Approximately 44% of all teen deaths are due to motor vehicle crashes. The guide includes 12 points that every parent of a teen motorist must know. These include:

1. Special risks facing inexperienced teen drivers
2. Risks from lack of seatbelt use, alcohol use and speeding
3. Risks from the use of cell phones and text messaging
4. Role of Graduated Driver Licensing to reduce these risks
5. Benefits of Graduated Driver Licensing passenger restrictions
6. Benefits of GDL nighttime restrictions
7. GDL laws of your state
8. Role of family rules in protecting teen motorists
9. Role of driver education in protecting teen motorists

10. Importance of supervised driving during the learner’s permit stage

11. Working of the Provisional License phase

12. Writing down a strong family plan to be used by both parents and teenagers

There is enough evidence out there alerting both parents and teen motorists to the very real risks that these drivers face on the road. Teen motorists are at the highest risk of being involved in a crash during the first 12 to 22 months of driving. It’s important for teenagers to prepare for driving, and must understand that driving privileges are earned, and not their right.

Parents also must understand that no matter what the laws of the state say, it is you who must ultimately decide whether your child should get a learner’s permit. If you feel your child lacks the maturity to be trusted with a learner’s permit, delay the process by a year.



Swimming Lessons Could Reduce Drowning Deaths among Kids below Four

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

Swimming classes would actually help minimize the risk of drowning deaths in children between the age of one and four. That observation comes via the American Academy of Pediatrics, which, this week, released its updated pool safety guidelines to prevent drowning-related deaths among children.

It is also an important observation because the group has so far refused to endorse swimming classes for children of this age group. The generally held belief has been that kids of this age may not be ready for swimming lessons, and therefore, the American Academy of Pediatrics had not recommended lessons for this age group. However, now the pediatrician group says that swimming lessons for kids between ages one and four could lower the risk of these kids suffering a fatal swimming pool accident.

Drowning is the biggest cause of unintentional death among children below the age of four. most of these deaths occur in residential swimming pools, and backyard and inflatable pools. In this context, the recommendation by the American Academy of Pediatrics takes on special significance. Los Angeles personal injury lawyers believe it is even more important during summer season, when more kids will be around these pools.

However, the pediatricians are also warning that parents must not rely heavily on swimming lessons as a guarantee of their child’s safety in the water. When a child falls into the water, it’s very easy for panic to strike, and the child could simply forget whatever swimming skills he had learned. In order to drown-proof your pool, there are other things that you must do, besides enrolling your 1 to 4-year-old child in swimming classes.

• Fencing around the pool is an absolute must. The fencing must be at least 6 feet high.
• Any Los Angeles personal injury attorney would also stress that lifeguards around a public or commercial pool must know how to perform CPR on a child.
• Even with swimming lessons, there is absolutely no excuse for parents to leave their child alone in the pool for even a few seconds.