Child car seats help prevent passenger injuries in car accidents

Being a parent makes us prone to anxieties that, pre-parenthood, we may not have even realised existed. While we cannot eliminate risk altogether from the lives of our offspring, most parents will seek to minimise risk in whatever way possible even if it means we grow weary of hearing the cautionary tone in our own voices.

With car accidents being one of the major causes of death and injury in young people in the UK, it is little wonder that so many parents fret about the thought of their children travelling in another person's vehicle.

Such anxieties about a child suffering passenger injuries in a car accident are perfectly valid. Statistics from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) reveal that each year in the UK around 30 children between the ages of nought and 11 are killed in road accidents, around 400 suffer serious and disabling injury, while more than 7,000 are thought to suffer the not unconsiderable traumas of minor injury.

RoSPA consider that the correct use of child safety seats, booster seats and conventional seatbelts would go someway to lessening these tragic figures.

It has been speculated that parent concern about whether another person will properly belt-and-buckle their child plays a significant part in parental anxieties about child passenger injuries.

Preventing child passenger injuries in car accidents
Short of imposing a blanket curfew on children travelling in cars, the most parents can do to help their children avoid passenger injuries in road accidents is to ensure that they are fitted with a suitable child restraint seat.

In the event that a child is travelling with another person or family, all parents should ensure that, if another suitable seat is not available, they transfer the seat from their vehicle into that of the other family, while offering scrupulous instruction on its correct use.

It is also important that parents are aware of the size and weight restrictions of a particular child seat so that they can closely monitor whether it is still appropriate to the needs of their child.

Unrestrained children are at heightened risk of personal injury, even in collisions which occur at relatively low speeds.

In a 30mph crash, an unrestrained child will be propelled at a force of up to 60 times their own bodyweight. This presents not only a fatal risk to the child, but also to every other occupant of the car.

There is evidence that some parents will let their children travel unrestrained for one off journeys; for anyone tempted to do so it is well worth remembering that all accidents are one-offs and that in event a child suffers personal injury, the fact it was a "one-off" will offer absolutely no consolation.

Making a no win, no fee claim for passenger injuries
If you or your child have suffered personal injury while passenger in another person's car, you should be entitled to claim compensation.

Even if a friend or relative was responsible for the collision, it is always the injured passenger's right to be compensated for their pain and suffering. You should also bear in mind the fact that any compensation awarded to you will be paid by the responsible party's insurers, meaning that no individual person will suffer financial hardship as a result.

YouClaim's no win, no fee lawyers have extensive experience in helping UK claimants receive the passenger injury compensation they deserve and, wherever you are in the country, are happy to bring their expertise to you.

Win or lose, we never charge any costs of fees for our service and guarantee that, in the event of your claim's success, you will receive 100% of the money awarded you.

If you wish to make a car accident claim today, call 0800 10 757 95 or drop us an online claim form so that we can back to you with more details of what we can do to help you.