The family of a six-year-old boy from Hemet, who was seriously injured after he fell into a fire pit, has filed a claim against the City of Huntington Beach. The accident occurred on April 17, when the boy had visited the Huntington City Beach. The boy had been flying a kite when he fell backwards into a deteriorating fire pit. The pit was located near Tower 1 and had a smoldering fire.

The boy suffered second and third degree burn injuries on his chest and arm. He had to spend weeks in surgical intensive care. According to his parents, his treatment is still ongoing, and he is required to see doctors every two weeks.

His parents allege that his injuries would never have occurred if the fire pit had been properly maintained. When officers arrived at the scene, they found that one side of the pit had collapsed down to sand level.

There are 167 fire pits in Huntington Beach. According to city officials, all of these pits are checked and cleaned every night. However, they claim it is not possible to check all the fire pits during the day, because of a shortage of staff.

This is the third fire pit-related lawsuit filed against Huntington Beach in the past few years. Two children, including a toddler suffered serious burn injuries in a similar accident in August 2009. The trial in that case is set for September.

Most fire pit accidents occur on government-owned property. Authorities need to make sure that fire pits are properly maintained, clean fire pits regularly, and install proper warning signs. Also, authorities must eliminate fall hazards from around fire pits. California fire pit injury lawyers often find that it is failure to take precautionary steps that cause fire pit injuries.

A slight increase in pedestrian accident fatalities in the first half of 2010 is puzzling to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but not to many California accident lawyers. This week, the NHTSA reported that there had been an increase of .4% in pedestrian fatalities in the first half of last year. While the increase is small, the agency is puzzled because it comes after four straight years of declining pedestrian fatalities across the country.

The NHTSA believes this could be a sign that the overall traffic fatality decline of the past few years could be nearing its end. In fact, during the third quarter of 2010, there was an increase of 2.5% in traffic accident deaths. This is the first such increase after 17 consecutive quarters of declining traffic accident fatalities. The NHTSA is also focusing on undesirable pedestrian behaviors, including pedestrians walking while talking on the phone or texting. The agency also cites intoxicated pedestrians, as well as more pedestrians as the movement toward walkable communities gathers steam.

Transportation for America is a group that studies pedestrian safety, and in the past has published groundbreaking reports on pedestrian safety in America. According to the group, one of the biggest factors in this spike in accident fatalities is the dependence on high-speed arterial roads in neighborhoods. According to estimates, more than half of all fatalities occur on such high-speed arterial roads. Unfortunately, urban planning and design in the US has been auto-centric to a large extent, and this has contributed to designs that spell trouble for pedestrians.

Los Angeles personal injury lawyers would stress on greater motorist awareness about pedestrian safety, use of sting campaigns and crackdowns to emphasize pedestrian rights, in order to prevent these injuries.