Lawnmowers' Dangerous Blades Cut More Than Grass
Each year in Illinois, many children and adults are seriously injured in accidents involving lawnmowers. It is very important that homeowners take care when they are mowing their lawns and that they keep children away from their lawnmowers. Children are frequently injured in lawn mowing accidents while they are playing near or on lawnmowers. The majority of lawn mowing accidents are preventable by exercising caution. When someone is injured in a lawnmower accident while visiting the home of another, an accident lawyer may seek compensation if the incident happened because of the negligence of the homeowner.
Lawnmower Dangers
Lawnmowers are a ubiquitous part of the summer with homeowners and landscaping companies regularly mowing lawns to keep them looking great. It is important to treat lawnmowers as the dangerous tools that they are, however. Lawnmowers by design are dangerous instruments with extremely sharp blades. Riding lawnmowers may easily run over children who are playing near to them. Amputations, permanent disfigurement and deaths may occur in lawn mowing accidents, but these accidents can be prevented.
Prevalence of Lawnmower Accidents
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that around 800 children are run over by riding lawnmowers in the U.S. every year. Of those victims, 600 suffer amputations. Twenty thousand people are injured in lawnmower accidents each year, and 75 are killed. Twenty percent of the deaths from riding lawnmowers are suffered by children. For children who are under the age of 10, the leading cause of amputation injuries is lawnmower accidents.
Precautionary Measures
When homeowners are mowing their lawns, they cannot hear children and others who are near them. Homeowners should take steps to prevent lawnmower accidents involving their own children as well as children who are visiting, including the following:
Make certain that children are not allowed to play around them while they are mowing.
Make certain that their lawnmowers are turned off completely, and children should never be allowed to sit or play on riding lawnmowers.
Homeowners should never let their children ride with them on lawnmowers while they are mowing because children can easily fall off and be injured.
When other children are visiting, they should be kept indoors while the homeowners are mowing, or the homeowners can wait to mow until their visitors have left.
When visitors are injured because of the failure of homeowners to take steps to prevent injury accidents, an accident lawyer may help the victims to recover damages.
