Being hurt in a car accident in Tampa, Florida, is devastating enough. Watching your child recover from injuries can be almost unbearable. Car seats are one of the best ways to protect your children from getting injured in car accidents, but how do you know if they’re in the right car seat?
Florida child car seat laws are designed to keep your child safe in the event of an accident. Read on to learn more about these laws and how the Tampa Bay personal injury lawyers at Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers can help if your child does get injured. Contact us online or call our law offices today at (813) 223-6200. We will answer all questions you may have.
Contact Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation at (813) 223-6200 with a Tampa, Florida, single-vehicle accident lawyer to get all your questions answered. Feel free to visit our FAQ page.
How Our Tampa Bay Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help
Getting injured in a car accident is terrifying enough when it happens to you. When your child gets injured, it puts your entire life on hold. All your attention and energy is devoted to doing whatever it takes to get them well again. You don’t have time to focus on filing compensation claims or going up against teams of insurance company lawyers.
That’s where we come in. At Winters and Yonker, we will handle your child’s injury case so you can focus on taking care of your family. We will fight every step of the way to get you the justice and compensation you deserve.
When you hire Winters and Yonker, we will
- Launch a full investigation to collect evidence
- Identify the at-fault party and determine the extent of your damages
- Handle all negotiations and file a lawsuit if that’s what it takes to get you a fair settlement
- Protect you from dangerous claims that the accident was your fault
- Keep you in the loop during every step of the legal process
Our lawyers work on contingency, which means you don’t pay us a dime unless we win your case. Schedule a free, no-risk consultation with us today to discuss the details of your case.
Child Injuries in Car Accidents
Unfortunately, one of the leading causes of death for children ages 0 to 14 is unintentional accidents. Each year, about 600 children are killed in car accidents and another 60,000+ are injured, according to statistics.
One of the most important things you can do as a parent to protect your child is to make sure they’re in an appropriate car seat.
Florida Child Car Seat Laws
Florida requires that all children under the age of 5 be in a federally-approved car seat. Experts recommend keeping children in the back seat until age 12, since front seat airbags can be dangerous for smaller children. The state also requires that children under the age of 18 wear a seat belt at all times while in a moving car.
Children under age 3 in Florida have to be in either a separate child restraint device or in a manufacturer-integrated car seat. Children between 4 and 5 can be in either of these car seats or in a separate booster seat. The important thing is that their seat belt fits them appropriately in the booster seat.
Choosing the Right Car Seat
Choosing the right car seat could save your child’s life, but how do you know which one to pick? The choice is personal, and the most important thing is that it meets your particular needs. Your car seat should fit your child, fit your car, and fit your routine such that it gets used every time you go out.
You do want to look for a seatbelt that has been crash-tested and has federal approval. Your child will need to be in a rear-facing car seat until they’ve outgrown the maximum height and weight limits for the seat. Then they’ll need to be in a front-facing car seat or booster seat until they outgrow those size limits.
Most experts recommend that a child reach at least four feet nine inches tall before transitioning out of a booster seat.
Personal Injury Claims for Child Injuries
You might be surprised to learn that your child could be entitled to compensation if they were injured in a car accident. Because children are still growing and developing, the impact of a car accident can be even further-reaching for them. Your child deserves compensation for the suffering they experienced.
Child injury claim compensation packages can cover
- Physical pain
- Emotional suffering
- Long-term trauma
- Permanent impairments
- Medical bills
- Loss of future income
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Reduced quality of life
- And other such damages
You may be able to recover two different types of damages after a car accident: economic and non-economic. You may also be able to recover punitive damages, but these are extremely rare.
The team at Winters and Yonker will work to document every hardship your child experiences. We will make sure the full extent of their damages are recorded, and we will fight to get you every dollar they deserve.
Common Types of Accidents
There are several common types of car accidents that may lead to child injuries in Florida.
- Rear-end collisions – One car runs into the back of another, either because they were following too closely or because the front car used brake checking.
- T-bone collisions – A driver runs into the side of another car. Sometimes, these may also be called side-impact collisions, and they can happen on either side of the car.
- Rollover collisions – A car rolls, sometimes landing upside down, sometimes landing back on its wheels.
Each of these collisions is dangerous and can pose a serious threat to children inside the car. Making sure they’re in the proper car seat can help to reduce injuries and may even save their life.
Schedule a Free Consultation with a Tampa Auto Accident Attorney
Watching your child deal with an injury is a torment no parent should have to endure. If your child was injured in a Tampa Bay car accident, they may be entitled to compensation. Our Tampa Bay personal injury lawyers can help.
Winters and Yonker are known as “the aggressive lawyers” because we won’t stop fighting until you get a fair settlement. We will handle every aspect of your personal injury case so you can focus on what’s important: your family.
Schedule your free consultation with us today and start getting the justice your child deserves. Our team handles all car accidents, such as:
- Distracted Driving
- DUI accidents
- Speeding accidents
- Head-on crashes
- Highway crashes
- Hit & run accidents
- Intersection crashes
- Lane change crashes
- Left-turn accidents
- Multi-vehicle car crashes
- Defective tire crashes
- Parking lot accidents
- Recreational vehicle accidents
- Red and yellow light accidents
- Single-vehicle accidents
Additional Car Accident Resources
- Car color & crash risk
- Florida car inspection laws
- Most Dangerous Roads and Intersections
- Passenger negligence
- Road defects
- Car crash liability
- Do I have to go to court after an auto accident in Florida?
- What to do after a car crash in Tampa
- Can I be reimbursed for lost wages?
- Can I be compensated for pre-existing conditions?
