Child Shopping Cart Accident Lawyer in New York CFity

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Children Can Sustain Serious Head Injuries from a Fall out of a Shopping Cart

Parents place their children and infants in shopping cart seats in supermarkets, drug stores, and other stores every day. As estimated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there are more than 20,000 children ages five and under who are taken to hospital emergency rooms in the United States due to falls from shopping carts. One of the leading causes of head injuries to young children is when they fall out of a shopping cart. These shopping cart injuries occur when children fall or climb out of shopping carts because the child was not properly restrained in the shopping cart and the restraint was missing or the child unbuckled or wiggled out of the restraint. Most often, a shopping cart injury occurs when a child stands up in the child’s seat or the cart basket.

Shopping cart injuries can range from minor abrasions to serious head injuries such as concussions. Almost two-thirds of those children involved in shopping cart injuries were treated for head injuries. The CPSC concluded from a study of shopping car injuries that the vast majority of accidents were caused by falling out or falling off the cart. As a result, the CPSC focused on warning labels on the carts and the seat belt requirements.

Parents should be aware that the most common causes of shopping cart injuries are falls from the seating area and the cart tipping over from the rear or side. The falls from the rear seat accounted for 4,736 serious head injuries in one year and accounted for more than half the falls from a shopping cart. Rear tip-overs happen as a result of downward force being applied to the cart handle when a child is placed in the seat. An average-sized adult can provide enough force to tip over some shopping carts by simply placing their arms on the handle and leaning on it. A rear tip-over may also occur when a child leans forward while in the seat due to the high center of gravity. Side tip-overs occur when a child reaches out over the side for an item on a shelf.

To avoid falls from shopping carts:

  • Restrain your child in the cart seat with the seat belt.
  • Do not put an infant carrier or car seat in the cart seat or basket.
  • Use only the seat and do not permit your child to stand or ride in the basket.
  • Do not permit your child to climb on the cart.
  • Do not permit one child to push the cart with another child in it.
  • Do not ever leave your child alone.

Legal Help for Victims Injured Due to a Fall out of a Shopping Cart in New York City

If your child or the child of a family member or friend has been injured due to a fall from a shopping cart, please contact a shopping cart injury attorney at Finz & Finz, P.C., today at (855) TOP-FIRM to speak with an experienced New York City accident attorney now or fill out the free shopping cart injury case evaluation form.