Which Toys Are the Most Dangerous for Our Kids?
With the holidays in the recent past, many parents now find themselves living in houses and apartments filled with an abundance of new toys. As parents, toys are a fun way to indulge our children, and probably the farthest thing from your mind when you buy a toy for your child is whether the toy you’re buying is dangerous. After all, most toys are marked with a recommended age, and if you make sure to purchase toys that are in the appropriate age range for your child, it’s only natural to assume the toy won’t be dangerous to your child’s health.
As it turns out, though, there are certain toys which may prove more dangerous to children than others. According to a recentstudy published in the medical journal Clinical Pediatrics, toy-related injuries sent children to the emergency room 195,363 times in 2011, compared to 121,249 times in 1990.
The type of toy that caused the most number of injuries? According to the study, ride-on toys, such as foot-powered scooters and tricycles, were responsible for 35 percent of injuries and 43 percent of hospital admissions among children between 1990 and 2011. (Bicycles were not included in the study because they are classified not as toys but rather as vehicles.) The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s latest report notes that foot-powered scooters heads the list of ride-on toys associated most with toy-related injuries.
These statistics are eye-opening, but what if your child really wants to get a scooter, or another type of ride-on toy? According to researcher Gary Smith, parents should invest in a helmet, something also advocated by Kate Carr, president of Safe Kids Worldwide, in an interview with USA Today. Younger children should also be closely supervised, and ride-on toys should never be ridden in traffic.
If you or a loved one have suffered from a personal injury as a result of someone else’s negligence, a competent attorney will help you get the compensation to which you are entitled. Robert Greening is the principal attorney at GreeningLaw, P.C. He has dedicated his 24 years of practice to the litigation of wrongful death and serious injury cases. If you have a question about a recall or injury, contact GreeningLaw, P.C. at 972-934-8900.