Washington Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Regan Zambri & Long Law Firm : DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog

Posted by: Salvatore J. Zambri, founding member and partner            

The AP (12/15) reported that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety "named a record 115 vehicles as 'top safety picks' Monday, including the new versions of the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry." This list "includes 18 new recipients on top of the 97 who qualified for the award last year and had it carry over to the 2012 model year."

CNNMoney (12/15, Valdes) noted that in order "to earn a Top Safety Pick Award, a vehicle must earn top marks from the Institute for front and side impact protection, rollover protection and whiplash protection."

When purchasing a vehicle, please do so with safety in mind first.  And remember, never drive distracted. 

Do you have any questions about this post?

About the author:

Mr. Zambri is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Attorney and Past-President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. The association has recently named him the " 2011 Trial Lawyer of the Year".  He has also been acknowledged by Washingtonian magazine as a "Big Gun" and among the "top 1%" of all of the more than 80,000 lawyers in the Washington metropolitan area. The magazine also acknowledged him as "one of Washington's best--most honest and effective lawyers" who specializes in medical malpractice matters, product liability claims, and serious automobile accident claims. Mr. Zambri was recently (2012 edition) acknowledged as one of the "Best Lawyers in America" by Best Lawyers, and has also been repeatedly named a "Super Lawyer" by Law and Politics magazine (2012)--a national publication that honors the top lawyers in the country.

Mr. Zambri is regularly asked to present seminars to lawyers and doctors, as well as both medical and law students concerning defective products, medication errors, medical malpractice litigation, and safety improvements.

If you have any questions about your legal rights, please email Mr. Zambri at szambri@reganfirm.com.  You may also reach him at 202-822-1899.

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Three weeks ago, we wrote about the dangers of children overheating in hot cars. A recent article in the York (PA) Daily Record should serve as a timely reminder to all of us to be extra vigilant about not leaving our children in cars as temperatures begin to soar this summer.

06/28/2010 10:20:33 PM EDT

"A Seven Valleys man was arrested Sunday after leaving a 7-month-old infant alone in a vehicle for about 30 minutes in the heat, according to Southwestern Regional Police.

Charles T. Frey Jr., 36, of Seven Valleys was arrested in connection with endangering the welfare of a child, disorderly conduct and leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle.

A resident of a North Codorus Township apartment complex called police after observing the man drive up in a vehicle and walk into a residence without the baby.

Officers responded and found the child in a Ford Explorer. The vehicle was not running and the windows were left open, police said.

The baby was crying, and his face was bright red, police said. The temperature at the time was 92 degrees with a heat index of 96 degrees.

The boyfriend of the mother of the child was located in a nearby apartment. He could not observe the child in the vehicle and said that he had forgotten about the baby, police said.

The child was left alone for about 30 minutes.

A Seven Valleys ambulance crew found the infant to be conscious, alert and physically well."

[All emphasis above added].

Additional Resources:

• "Kids and Hot Cars: The Danger of Hyperthermia" – our original post
• The National Safety Council – Children In & Around Vehicles
• Safe Kids USA – In and Around Cars Fact Sheet
• Kids and Cars – Hyperthermia Incidents
•  “Heat Stress From Enclosed Vehicles: Moderate Ambient Temperatures Cause Significant Temperature Rise in Enclosed Vehicles” – Pediatrics, 2005.
•  “Heat related deaths to young children in parked cars: an analysis of 171 fatalities in the United States, 1995–2002” – Injury Prevention, 2005.
• “Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?” – Washington Post, 2009.
• “As the Weather Warms, Hyperthermia Deaths Mount” – New York Times, 2010.
• “How to Remind a Parent of the Baby in the Car?” – New York Times, 2010.

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Every summer, dozens of American children overheat and die of hyperthermia in parked cars. Hyperthermia, the opposite of the more familiar term “hypothermia,” is essentially the extreme overheating of the body. While most parents tend to believe that this nightmare could never happen to them, these tragedies still continue to occur, year in and year out.

According to a 2005 study published in Injury Prevention, 27% of these deaths involve unsupervised children gaining access to unlocked cars, while the remaining 73% (averaging 30-40 children per year) result from a child being left behind (generally inadvertently) in a car by an adult.

In a June 1, 2010, blog for the New York Times, writer Paul Stenquist reports that at least seven incidents of the latter variety have already occurred in 2010, even as summer temperatures have yet to hit much of the country. But searing summer temperatures are not necessary in order for the interior of a car to become lethally hot.

Indeed, a study published in the July 2005 edition of Pediatrics found that for a wide range of exterior temperatures, the average heat increase in a car parked in the sun for an hour was 40°F. Importantly, 80% of that temperature change (or roughly 32°F) occurred in just the first 30 minutes.

Even the car tested at the lowest ambient temperature, 72°F, reached 117°F after an hour, which becomes crucially important when you consider that temperatures in excess of 107°F can be deadly to young children. Additionally, children’s bodies heat up 3-5 times faster than those of adults. It bears mentioning that other researchers recorded much more rapid rises in temperature in similar experiments in which the thermometer was placed in direct sunlight inside the car rather than in the shade. In other words, a child seated in direct sunlight in a car will heat up much faster than one seated in the shade in that same car.

So how do kids get left behind in cars? Notably, the adults (often parents) who leave children in the car do not conform to any particular stereotype. They are scattered across the entire socioeconomic spectrum, and they work in a wide range of professions. For the most part, they are not characterized as being routinely neglectful; rather, they experience one forgetful moment that will haunt them forever. A stressful phone call on the way to work, a different parent taking a child to daycare—any small hiccup in the morning routine might be just enough to allow a normally attentive parent to forget about the child sitting quietly in the back seat.

While a number of groups are working toward ways of incorporating automatic reminders into cars (e.g. motion and weight sensors that would detect a child left behind), for the moment there is no substitute for the continued vigilance of parents and caregivers. Paul Stenquist assembled the following list of tips:

• "When transporting an infant or toddler, place a cellphone, purse or briefcase — something you need for the rest of the day — next to the child.
• Never leave a child alone in an automobile. Leaving a window partway open doesn’t prevent the vehicle’s interior from overheating.
• Call 911 immediately if you see a child unattended in a vehicle.
• Be extra-diligent if you change your routine for delivering a child to day care.
• Tell your day care provider to call you if your child doesn’t arrive on time.
• When transporting children, check the vehicle’s interior for any remaining passengers when you arrive at your final destination.
• Set a reminder on your cellphone or PDA regarding day care dropoff or other child transportation needs.
• If you spend your day at a computer, set a reminder that will query you about the whereabouts of your child before you start work."

Sources and Additional Information:

• The National Safety Council – Children In & Around Vehicles
• Safe Kids USA – In and Around Cars Fact Sheet
• Kids and Cars – Hyperthermia Incidents
•  “Heat Stress From Enclosed Vehicles: Moderate Ambient Temperatures Cause Significant Temperature Rise in Enclosed Vehicles” – Pediatrics, 2005.
•  “Heat related deaths to young children in parked cars: an analysis of 171 fatalities in the United States, 1995–2002” – Injury Prevention, 2005.
• “Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?” – Washington Post, 2009.
• “As the Weather Warms, Hyperthermia Deaths Mount” – New York Times, 2010.
• “How to Remind a Parent of the Baby in the Car?” – New York Times, 2010.

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