Kids returning to school can face risks

By Noreve Gay O. Belarmino - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on September 18, 2024.

Herald photo by Noreve Gay O. Belarmino Personal Injury Team Lead Loretta Bergo of the Stringam Law LLP Lethbridge branch and Stringam Law LLP Partner Travis Bissett.

With children going back to school, false traffic assumptions pose a real risk to these young pedestrians.

According to Travis Bissett, a partner and chair of the Personal Injury Practice Group at Stringam Law LLP, children are more likely to be pedestrians than adults as they cannot drive, and they can easily become the most vulnerable person in a serious or fatal accident.

Bissett has been advocating for the proper care and compensation of innocent victims of serious and fatal accidents for 17 years across Alberta. According to him, there are many different mechanisms of injury, but its risks to children would be worthwhile to pay attention to, especially with kids going back to school.

Bissett emphasized the importance for drivers to maintain a high level of awareness even if they have the right of way. As children are younger and smaller, they can be hidden from view, which makes them susceptible to risks from over speeding vehicles.

“We are already required to yield or stop for police officers, construction sites, and school buses who may be concealing pedestrians. It makes no sense why especially intersections around schools and neighborhoods with children should not have similar precautions such as four-way yields, a yield required if stopped vehicle, or asking stopped vehicles to put their hazard lights on.

Children are our most precious commodity, and we as adults all have the responsibility to protect them. We need to be proactive and rational in these situations, otherwise, we may have a death to contend with that will haunt us for the remainder of our lives,” said Bissett.

According to the most recent data by Our World in Data on Burden of Disease (2024), road accidents are the leading cause of death worldwide in children aged 5 to 14. In Canada, and even during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, there were 37 times more children, aged 5 to 14, who died from road accidents than either COVID-19, or HIV/AIDS, diarrheal diseases, or hot or cold exposure.

Giving emphasis and understanding that these risks exist is the reason why Bissett continues to advocate for this cause.

According to Loretta Bergo, Team Lead of Personal Injury, this type of accident can also be seen all over the news and there is a need to have representation by somebody who cares and has knowledge about the issues.

“Our job is to help these families because they don’t understand why it happened when their child did the right thing. So, I think it’s just a matter of making everybody understand, and we’re here to help them navigate that process, because how do you navigate it otherwise?” Said Bergo.

Both Bissett and Bergo continue to strive to give a voice to the victims and to the families involved, as this happens frequently worldwide and not just in Alberta.