Sen. Menendez wants beachgoers protected from flying umbrellas

New Jersey's senior U.S. senator wants federal officials to take more aggressive action to protect beachgoers from wind-swept beach umbrellas.

News 12 Staff

Jul 29, 2019, 12:53 PM

Updated 1,960 days ago

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New Jersey's senior U.S. senator wants federal officials to take more aggressive action to protect beachgoers from wind-swept beach umbrellas.
Sen. Bob Menendez held a news conference Monday in Manasquan to once again call on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to improve its regulations and develop an aggressive campaign to educate beachgoers on the dangers the umbrellas can pose if they're not properly staked in the sand.
“Something is wrong when any consumer product can take off and kill someone,” Menendez said.
But the Democratic senator stressed that he wasn't calling for a ban on umbrellas.
“We need awareness, we need guidance and we need the Consumer Product Safety Commission to do its job,” he said.
A woman was speared in the leg by a beach umbrella last summer in Seaside Heights. Another woman was killed by a flying umbrella in Virginia in 2016, and an umbrella nearly impaled toddler last month in South Carolina.
CPSC statistics show that more than 31,000 people were treated at hospitals for umbrella-related injuries from 2008-2017.
Lifeguards at the Manasquan beach tell News 12 New Jersey that they will tell people the proper way to secure umbrellas. But due to liability issues, it is up to the individual to actually put it in the sand.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.