If you have toys on your holiday shopping list this year, don’t buy anything until you’ve done your research. Every three minutes a child is treated for a toy-related injury, and most can be prevented just by choosing safe and reliable products.

2018’s Most Dangerous Toys

Toys are made specifically for babies and children, but that doesn’t mean they are safe. The non-profit organization World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH) is dedicated to exposing negligent manufactures who put dangerous toys on the market known to cause serious injuries, illnesses, or even death to unsuspecting kids. This week, WATCH released their new ’10 Worst Toys’ list for 2018 to spread awareness to holiday shoppers of which products to avoid while browsing the shelves this weekend:

  1. CHIEN À PROMENER PULL ALONG DOG: This infant toy has a pull string that measures at 19-inches long, violating the industry standard by exceeding 12-inches in length and posing a strangulation risk to children.
  2. CUTTING FRUIT: This toddler play cutting set includes a knife that is hard enough to cause blunt trauma injuries and puncture wounds. It’s marketed to children as young as two-years-old.
  3. STOMP ROCKET ULTRA ROCKET: The stomp action on this rocket can launch the toy up to 200 feet in the air. However, if the rocket is not aimed away from the child stomping or others surfing the toy, the force of the rocket could cause serious injuries to the eyes and face.
  4. NICA WONDERLAND DOLL- MINICLARA THE BALLERINA: This doll made for toddlers is not harmful itself, but it comes with a detachable, plush pet friend named ‘little kitten’ that is a choking hazard for young children.
  5. ZOO JAMX XYLOPHONE: This musical instrument includes an attached drumstick measuring at 9-inches long. Marketed towards 1-1/2 to 4-year-olds, the drumstick is long and slender enough to choke a child if they attempt to swallow it.
  6. CABBAGE PATCH KID DANCE TIME DOLL: This doll marketed to toddlers comes with a headband that comes off easily and poses a choking hazard if a child were to ingest the accessory.
  7. POWER RANGERS SUPER NINJA STEEL SUPERSTAR BLADE: This plastic blade is hard and spring-loaded, yet made for kids as young as 4-years-old. It could cause serious impact injuries to the head and face.
  8. MARVEL BLACK PANTHER SLASH CLAW: Modeled after a popular superhero, these plastic claws are rigid, hard, and geared towards kids as young as 5-years-old. In addition to the possibility of facial and eye lacerations from impact, small pieces of these claws are known to break off which could be choking hazards.
  9. NERF VORTEX VTX PRAXIS BLASTER: This gun shoots 10 discs in a row forcefully and is marketed towards kids as young as 8-years-old. The discs could cause facial and eye injuries if shot at others, which most kids plan to do when using NERF guns.
  10. NICKELODEON NELLA PRINCESS KNIGHT PILLOW PETS SLEEPTIME LITES: This nightlight is made for infants but has warnings that battery-related injuries are possible due to acid leaks. There are also small felt flower and heart decorations that could cause harm if ingested.

 

How To Avoid Harmful Toys

You don’t have to skip the toy aisles completely to avoid purchasing harmful toys. Using these helpful buying tips can allow you to find fun and safe products this weekend, as well as avoid unnecessary injuries to your child that could put a damper on your holiday spirit:

One of the biggest holiday  shopping tips for toys is to stick to stores and websites you know. There is an endless number of scammers and manufacturers who are out to make as much money as possible this holiday season, without considering your children’s safety a priority. Toys purchased from these manufacturers may be knock-offs of popular items and made from cheap and harmful materials. If the deal seems too good to be true, you can bet it probably is.

 

Shop Smart for CT Kids

The law firm of Jacobs & Wallace wishes everyone a safe and happy shopping holiday! Keep an eye out for both savings and safety this weekend to help protect your kids from preventable toy-related injuries this season.

If your child has sustained a serious injury caused by a toy-related accident, our aggressive team of personal injury attorneys is here to seek justice for you. Contact us today to explore your options for fighting back against toy manufactures who put children in harm’s way.

In January of last year, two people were killed in a Waterbury car accident as a result of a sideswipe accident. An SUV livery service car and another vehicle were both traveling southbound on Route 69 in a spot where two lanes become one. The SUV attempted to take over the lane, sideswiped the other vehicle, and veered off into the northbound lane where it struck another car. The livery driver was killed instantly, his passenger died after arriving at the hospital, and several others were injured as a result of the horrifying accident.

Defining Sideswipe Accidents

Sideswipes are one of the most deadly types of traffic accidents on the road, causing over 2,500 fatalities and an estimated 27,000 injuries every year according to the National Safety Council (NSC). A sideswipe is defined as an accident that occurs when two cars driving parallel to each other on the road meet, but they can also occur when two cars are driving in opposite directions in parallel lanes. When cars collide from the side, both drivers can experience an instant loss of control, creating a highly dangerous situation on busy roads and at fast speeds.

There are a number of ways a sideswipe accident can transpire:

Accidents caused by sideswipes are deadly for vehicles of any size and can lead to secondary accidents such as head-on collisions, rear-end collisions, and rollovers.

Most Common Causes of Sideswipes

Several factors can contribute to the occurrence of a fatal sideswipe accident. While popular accidents in the media are caused by drivers fleeing the scene of a crime, most are the result of the following:

Driver Fatigue: Tired drivers can nod off and unknowingly drift into other lanes where vehicles are directly next to them.

Drunk Driving: Drunk drivers are visually and mentally impaired, and may swerve around in their lane or fall asleep, veering off into other vehicles.

Distracted Driving: Drivers who are on their phones or reaching back/down for items may neglect to look while changing lanes or accidentally turn the wheel causing their car to drift.

Blind Lane Changes: Drivers who change lanes without looking may not see cars directly next to them or coming up next to them at a faster speed.

Blind Merging: Drivers can easily sideswipe cars when merging onto the highway or exit/entrance ramps if they aren’t paying attention to their mirrors.

Neglecting Blind Spots: Motorists who check their mirrors but neglect to check their blind spot may miss a car in the next lane.

Overreactive Driving: Drivers who instantly swerve or panic when they see a road hazard may collide with cars in parallel lanes who aren’t expecting that reaction.

Most Common Sideswipe Injuries

It doesn’t take much to sustain an injury when a vehicle is struck from the side. Serious injuries can occur even at low speeds to several different parts of the body in the case of a side impact collision, including:

These types of injuries are a result of your body’s impact with the side door panel, windows, armrests, and other parts of the car in the area of the accident. While some of these injuries are minor lacerations or fractures, other side impact injuries can be life-threatening to the brain, muscles, bones, and internal organs resulting in years of recovery or even permanent disabilities.Who’s Liable for Sideswipes

Connecticut is an ‘at fault’ state when it comes to car insurance, meaning the driver who caused the accident is financially responsible for the damages caused. However, proving who is at fault in a sideswipe accident is not always easily determined. If one driver was clearly impaired or fleeing police, fault can be easily placed. But in other cases, liability is often determined based on the vehicles after the fact: where did the vehicles end up on the road, where is the impact damage on each vehicle, which direction where the vehicles traveling, where does it appear they were traveling based on the road marks.

Witnesses and other motorists on the road are often called in to determine fault in sideswipe accidents where liability is up in the air. If other motorists near the vehicles that crashed or pedestrians on the street saw one driver on the phone or witnessed a car do a lane change without a turn signal, these statements will be used to ultimately decide who is at fault and who was the victim in the accident.

Proving Negligence

Motorists who sustain injuries in a sideswipe accident due to someone else’s negligence will need to prove the other party failed to act with reasonable care on the road. Victims of unnecessary sideswipe accidents can help their case by gathering evidence directly after an accident in the case that the negligent driver disputes fault for the incident.  Some preparation steps you can take for your case include:

No Connecticut driver should be forced to pay for medical treatment and vehicle maintenance when someone else is at fault for their damages and injuries. If you or a loved one has sustained a serious injury due to a vehicle accident, contact our winning team for a free consultation. Our experienced personal injury attorneys at the law firm of Jacobs & Wallace have over 40 years of experience fighting back against negligent drivers- we are here to fight for you.

There is no doubt that home monitoring systems and smart speakers are the waves of the future. Yet, as helpful and convenient as these devices are, they are also far from impenetrable to thieves and hackers looking to cause harm.

Is Your Home Safe From Hackers?

From wireless speakers to baby monitors to home alarms, hackers pose a serious threat to your home’s security without actually setting foot inside your door. As technology continues to advance, hackers are finding new and more clever ways to access your financial and personal information, stooping as low as spying on people through video and audio surveillance. While some of these individuals are electronic thieves only looking to steal your money, other hackers are predators watching innocent families who believe they are in the privacy of their own homes.

Vulnerable Smart Speakers

You may think that only Alexa is listening when you shout out your musical requests, but unfortunately, that may not be the case. Approximately 47.3 million American adults have access to a smart speaker according to TechCrunch, and all of these could be vulnerable to hacking attacks of various proportions.

Smart speakers have become the perfect bugging device for hackers that homeowners are installing all on their own. Depending on what type of smart speaker you purchase and what it is programmed to do, hackers could…

A family in Portland, Oregon received a phone call this Spring that their Amazon Echo device had been hacked. Apparently, the device had been listening and recording their conversations in the home, and silently sent voice recordings to a caller without the family’s permission or command. It was later discovered that this flaw is common with the Amazon Echo and similar devices mean to respond to voice commands.

WiFi Home Security System Scares

Over the last few years, the demand for wireless alarms and home security systems has skyrocketed. Homeowners want the ability to lock their doors from their phone wherever they are, but these conveniences may also give hackers the ability to open your door from wherever they are. An article published by ProtectAmerica revealed there are approximately 73,000 home security cameras in the IP camera domain that are unsecured and waiting for hackers to control the devices.

Cell phone security apps are another easy way for hackers to access your home security system. Apps that allow users to control functions in their home via wireless connection can lack security protections. Most of the security companies allow third-party developers to make and sell compatible apps for their systems, but these apps are often unencrypted and leave wide open doors for security breaches.

Wireless alarm systems are also at risk of hacking. According to an article published in WIRED, security researchers admit that even the top-selling wireless home alarms can be easily manipulated. Their research found that because most of the systems fail to encrypt the signals between the sensors and the control panel that trigger the alarm to activate, a hacker can easily intercept the data and manipulate it in a way that allows them to enter your home without the alarm company ever being alerted to the intrusion.

Baby and Pet Monitors Spies

New research published by Israel’s Ben-Gurion University and released in March of this year showed that baby monitors, which some people also use for their pets, are terrifyingly easy to hack. Predators are not only taking the opportunity to hack into cameras to watch people in their homes, some even go as far as interacting with your children through audio capabilities!

Just this October, a New York family’s feeling of security was shattered when their son’s video monitor was hacked. Their 5-year-old boy was frightened when the voice of a stranger began to speak to him through the Nest monitor in his playroom, a system that can be accessed via cell phone with the ability to talk back and forth. The system was set up around the family’s home to keep an eye on their son- they never thought a stranger would be watching them and have no idea how long he had been spying.

How To Prevent Device Hacking

You don’t have to stop using Alexa or throw out your baby monitor to avoid hackers in your home. There are a number of ways to prevent your devices from being hacked that will still allow you to enjoy these technological advances to the fullest. Tom’s Guide suggests using these tips to protect your smart-home from being hacked:

Lastly, always buy your smart-home devices direct. With Black Friday rounding the corner, it may be tempting to buy a knock-off device or discounted brand-name device from an unknown seller at a low price. However, knock-off smart-home devices or even brand-name devices can be easily tampered with, allowing hackers instant access to your home the moment you turn them on.

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