Menendez, Booker Push for Tests to Prevent Flying Beach Umbrellas

TRENTON – The United States senators from New Jersey and Virginia are pushing product safety regulators to include beach umbrellas in their standards testing.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has been pushing for action to protect beachgoers from wind-swept flying beach umbrellas since a tourist was speared in the leg in Seaside Heights in 2018. The Virginia senators, Tim Kaine, and Mark Warner, are involved because a woman was killed in 2016 in Virginia Beach, impaled in the chest by a beach umbrella.

Those three senators, joined by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., wrote a letter today to ASTM International, a nonprofit that often partners with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is currently testing the safety of patio and weighted-base umbrellas in various wind conditions – but not beach ones.

“Given the grave danger posed by beach umbrellas we feel it is imperative that ASTM include beach umbrellas in any new test methods,” the wrote. “Summer is in full swing, and as millions of newly vaccinated Americans emerge from their homes to spend time at the shore, we must do all we can to ensure the safety of beach umbrellas.”

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The CPSC wrote to ASTM in March urging it to expand the standard to include beach umbrellas, after repeated pushes from Menendez dating back more than two years.

The CPSC said in 2019 that around 2,800 people had been treated in emergency rooms over the previous nine years for injuries related to beach umbrellas, most of them wind-blown. It knew the details about 15 incidents, including the fatality in Virginia, a person whose shin was pierced and a person whose thumb was severely cut when an umbrella broke.

The CPSC also said its technical staff doesn’t believe a safety standard would have a substantial effect on beach-umbrella injuries because the majority of incidents result from improper or insufficient staking in the ground – and in fact could make ‘blow away’ incidents more dangerous if umbrellas are heavier.

Point Pleasant Beach NJ: 11 most popular spots

The oceanside location of Point Pleasant Beach has been a source of enjoyment for centuries.

The first permanent boardwalk was built in 1915 and in the late 1920’s, Orlo Jenkinson built Jenkinson’s Pavilion and Swimming Pool.

Over the past 100 years or so, the community has grown into a vibrant resort destination for state residents and tourists, alike.

Point Pleasant Beach NJ: 11 most popular spots

The oceanside location of Point Pleasant Beach has been a source of enjoyment for centuries.

The first permanent boardwalk was built in 1915 and in the late 1920’s, Orlo Jenkinson built Jenkinson’s Pavilion and Swimming Pool.

Over the past 100 years or so, the community has grown into a vibrant resort destination for state residents and tourists, alike.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.