When children are out of school, four reoccurring issues tend to arise, said Lee County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jeff Johnson — children left in cars, children injured on all-terrain vehicles, accidents surrounding pools, lakes or other bodies of water, and incidents occurring when children are left at home.“We want everyone to be safe rather than sorry,” Johnson said.
Children left at home by themselves should know to call 911, and their parents or neighbors, in case of an emergency, he said. He added that all chemicals and medicine should be under lock and key, and very little cooking should be done when children are alone.
When children are out at the pool, parents need to keep them within arm’s length and encourage them to wear inflatable’s, Johnson said.
“If you’re boating, children have to wear life vests, and we encourage all parents to take boating courses and CPR classes,” he said.
It’s important to not swim alone regardless of your age, he said.
According to the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics, there were 147 drownings in 2010, with 15 of those occurring in swimming pools. Almost one-third of the reported drowning deaths were residents under the age of 20.
In Lee County, all-terrain vehicle riders are required to wear helmets, and if the rider is born after Jan. 1, 1990, he must also complete a safety course, Johnson said. In the past 20 years, there have been 302 reported deaths on ATVs, and 97 of those have been children under the age of 16.
Parents will also need to be aware of the dangers surrounding their own vehicles and take measures to protect their children, said Janette Fennell, president of Kids and Cars. Kids and Cars is an organization documenting injuries to children caused by non-traffic vehicle accidents.
“These sort of things happen all year round, but you see spikes in April and May throughout the summer,” Fennell said. “The number-one thing that we are dealing with is backovers. And that is when someone puts their car in reverse and hits a child.”
More than 50 children are involved in backover accidents per week, which usually results in 48 emergency room trips and two deaths, she said.
“When kids are at school, you can go about your routine,” Fennell said. “But when they get home and, let’s say, you need to run to the store to get a gallon of milk. You ask if anyone wants to come, and everyone says no. Then, after you are in the car and start to back up, someone runs outside and wants to go with you, and you don’t have a chance at seeing them. This happens so frequently, we’ve called it the bye-bye syndrome.”
And as Americans begin driving larger and larger vehicles, more and more children are also being struck, she said.
“It’s similar to a bus,” Fennell said. “You can’t see over the lid of a bus, but they have all of those special mirrors. Now, we are driving buses, but without the safety equipment.”
To help prevent these sort of accidents, parents need to circle their vehicles before leaving the driveway, Fennell said. They should make sure children are with a supervisor inside and not allowed to play near the driveway, she said. Parents should also keep play things out of the driveway.
Outside of hitting a child with a vehicle, accidentally leaving a child in a car can be deadly, she said. This is most common during the summer but can occur year round, Fennell said. Children left in cars are at risk for dangers like heat stroke.
Most parents falsely believe such an incident can’t happen to them, or it only happens to bad parents, but this is far from the truth, she said.
“In general, parents should put their cell phones or employee badge in the backseat of your vehicle near the car seat,” Fennell said. “We want people to always look in the backseat before they lock their doors to make sure no one was left behind.”
More safety tips for the summer can be found at kidsandcars.org or at the North Carolina Division of Public Health’s website.
No comments:
Post a Comment