Tips For Staying Safe During Spring Break

Spring break is a huge deal. After months of dashing to class after class, poring over notes, and giving presentations, having hours and hours of free time doing whatever you want is a dream. Unfortunately, this dream can become a nightmare. Personal injury is a prominent problem in the United States during spring break. A study by the University of Miami showed a spike in traffic accident fatalities during spring break. So here are some tips on how you can stay safe during your vacation.

Avoiding Assault

Getting assaulted in a party crowd is extremely common, and it's not just about getting beaten up. The legal definition of assault is the crime or tort of a person's intentional infliction of harm on another or the threat to inflict such.

If someone roughly shoves you to get to the first row of a concert that is a criminal assault. If they threaten to harm you over the last shot of vodka while holding a knife that is an actionable tort.

So:

Go to parties in a group

Don't stray away from your friends once you get there

Call attention to yourself if you think you're in danger

Pick friends who care about you

Drinking Safety

Drinking during spring break is practically inevitable, but there is no reason to get completely wasted. Learn to pace yourself for a variety of safety reasons.

Being heavily intoxicated often means opening yourself up to getting mugged, poisoned, and harassed. It also significantly increases your chances of being in a car accident. Now, there are two ways a car accident can happen. Either it's your fault or the other driver caused the crash.

In both cases, the fact that you were drunk is not going to do you any favors.

In the former scenario, you'll be looking at a strict liability offense. This means that to find you guilty the court doesn't consider whether you caused the accident in a culpable or bad mental state, only if your actions caused the accident. In the latter scenario, while it means that you're entitled to compensation, the fact that you were drunk means the other driver can argue contributory negligence and win.

Contributory negligence is when someone is partially at fault for an incident. The consequence of this is a reduction in the amount of compensation you ultimately get.

Here are some hacks to prevent all this:

Have designated drivers or order an Uber if you’re drunk

Don't drink on an empty stomach

Alternate between drinks- beer vs wine vs mixed drinks

Drink a lot of water

Count your drinks

Drink slowly- no big gulps

Never leave your drink unattended

Slip And Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents are one of the major personal injury claims that people file, and it’s not hard to see why.

A slip and fall accident is when someone is injured as a result of slipping, tripping, and falling on something on someone's property as a result of the property owner's negligence. There are many such hazards to be found during spring break, from floors slick with alcohol at house parties to loose floorboards in restaurants.

While you'll be entitled to sue it's best to take steps to avoid these types of accidents altogether as the health implications include broken bones, head injuries, and spinal injuries.

So:

Watch where you walk and stand

Keep an eye out for signs put up to warn people of potential hazards

Don't go out without your glasses or contacts

Wear the right shoes

Avoid poorly lit areas

Don't run

Water Safety

An alarming number of people die from drowning each year in the U.S., and while this includes lots of non-spring break activities it also includes an unfortunate number of spring break related deaths.

Property managers have a duty of care to guests to close off dysfunctional pool areas, assign lifeguards, post warning signs, etc, but the truth is that some of them neglect their duties.

So:

Only wear life jackets approved by the Coast Guard

Don't swim without a lifeguard present

Don't go into the water if you're intoxicated by either drugs or alcohol

Swim with a partner

Don't play breath-holding games

Don't swim in the dark

Check the weather beforehand. If there's a storm coming, stay away

Test unknown water with your feet first -never head first

Stay away from pool drains

Theft Prevention

Spring break is a time when it's easy to be careless and let your guard down. Yet the opposite of this should be true instead because muggers and pickpockets target places where students will be during spring break.

Sure you can file a police report, but there's a chance your things may be returned to you too late, in ratty condition, or never be found at all.

So while you're out at the beach, concert, malls, theatres, etc. you'll want to:

Not flash large wads of cash around

Keep small amounts of cash in different places on your person

Be on the lookout for overly-friendly strangers and people who ”bump into"

Walk quickly and with purpose

Get a decoy wallet- with expired credit cards and fake money

Stay in direct light

Wear a safety whistle

Food Safety

Eating out will probably be a big part of your spring break. Yes, it's convenient, but it can be dangerous.

Even prepackaged food and sodas are not necessarily the safer option if the lawsuits against manufacturers are any indication.

Here's how to stay safe food-wise:

This goes without saying, don't eat food that has passed its expiration date

If you're at a sit-down restaurant, opt for one where the menu items are cooked to order rather than a buffet bar

Be wary of salads

Don't drink unpasteurized milk products (no matter how much you may want some Rocky Road ice cream)

Fruit and vegetables should be washed before eating

Be wary of seafood

Check inspection scores

Don't eat lukewarm food

While your experience of spring break may be the highlight of your school year and it's a time to cut loose and let yourself go, don't do anything you'll regret. Try new things but practice these safety guidelines; don't party alone, drink responsibly, be aware of your surroundings, follow water safety rules, and be careful what you eat. If you do experience any type of personal injury(because other people's negligence can cause harm no matter what you do) contact an attorney who specializes in personal injury cases.