4WD & Driveways

Tragic, yes.

One child a week (52 per year) is run over by the family car - it's only the 4wd's the public hears about and that skews public perception and strengthens the anti 4wd debate based on mistruths.

What a tragedy, I couldn't even begin to imagine how the father must feel.
We often have the grandkids stay with us, ages 3 to 9 and I always, repeat always, make sure grandma or one of their parents are with them when I back the car out. If there is no other adult at home they are all in the car with me, even if it's just to back out of the carport.


Pop

A tragedy for all concerned.

Just wondering though when I grew up back in the 50's and 60's if this sort of accident was common......I really don't remember. Or did kid's back then have a sort of "self preservation" instinct instilled into them by a very early age.

Yes, these are incredibly tragic - parents have live with that thought for the rest of their lives. Add the injured and the near misses to the equation, and its a common occurance.

Rearward visibility of all passenger cars these days is poor as well. In a study of this a few years back, commodore ranked 3rd worst behind two 4wds.

Reverse parking in your own driveway and in public parking areas would be a safer option. Vehicles moving forward from a parked position have a lot better view in that direction.

Yes And I am sympathetic. But not for the parents.

Personally the father should be up on manslaughter charges. Its so simple. As one post said "Where are the kids". We had three and never, I repeat, never even got in the car without checking.

Manslaughter and be done with him. Maybe the wife as well as we are BOTH jointly supposed to be responsible for the kids.

Phil

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that as far as I know it is illegal in some

places to reverse out of your drive onto a public road.

I could be wrong but I am sure I've read that in delving through traffic regs.

That is so sad. I feel for the family involved. We have 1 child, and got reversing cameras installed in both of our cars. Even so, we do not rely on these cameras. If our daughter is not in the car with us, we make sure we can see her.
It is a tragic accident, kids can get out of sight so quickly.

A terrible tragedy ... easily avoided for the most part by ensuring that the driveway is clear before moving the vehicle .....

The most important aspect of moving a vehicle is not jumping in and turing the key/tuning the radio ...... its knowing there are no obstacles in the path of the vehicle.

As for the comment above about someone being "Mr Perfect" for not running over his three kids at any time during their life ..... Pffttttttttttt

Sounds more like "Mr Perfect" was just using common sense and good driving skills to ensure nothing untoward occurred.

If everybody always carries on about "stay away from the winch rope" ...... Some carrying on about "stay away from the vehicle with a running engine" might also be a good thing.

.... and crawling kids/littlies shouldnt be free to roam front yards driveways anyway.

As far Im concerned its a lack of parental care .... same as its not pool owners fault a kid drowns .... its the parent that didnt keep the kid at home.

We have a 3 year old, we have the garage and a carport, the carport is extremey tight so I can't put our daughter in her child seat till I move the vehicle out, BUT if my wife is not home I put her in the cargo area (prado) not a boot, I then move the 4wd back about 6m then get out and put her in the child seat, I also find the garage is only just big enough so I always park over to the left so I can get out drivers side with ease and generally wife will get out before I drive in, unless bleep ing down rain. If its only me going out I always without fail tell my wife to watch her till I have gone (as she can reach the back screen door latch) If we are all going out and I have to move the prado out of garage before we can all get in I tell my daughter to hold mums hand till I move the car AND they are in front of me so I can see them both. I also have window down and radio turned off till we are all safely strapped in. The big trees on the right hand side of my drive way I removed as I couldnt see when reversing from the carport untill I got passed them, we have 33 kids in our street so I am scanning everywhere before I move the car. Kids will be kids and have no idea of the danger, as much as we tell them untill there at an age they understand it is up to us to watch for them without fail, its our job. I feel extremely sad for their loss and for the dad as he thought grandma had the little one, what a tragedy and he will live with this for the rest of his life. And yes as above mentioned by some one else, how many times have I seen in our local carpark, adults walking with there kids and go behind the vehicle as its reversing out, can they not wait 1 minute for the driver to finish reversing ?? (I normally give these types of clowns a moughfull if they do it to me, especially with young kids, or you see them, smoke in one hand, mobile in the other, 3 year old just wondering beside them then the mother has them standing at the rear of the car while their putting shopping in the boot, at least put them at the side of the car or better off, stick them in the car for 2 minutes then go and load the boot up, no wonder some kids have no road sense....Regards Steve M

From what I viewed on the TV news last night the vehicle was not being reversed. It was being driven forward out of the garage and the child was hit by the front LH wheel.

The following is lifted from the Kidsafe Site in Qld. If you are interested in knowing more, then Google "Kidsafe driveway runovers":

The Facts*
? Low speed run-over is the third most common
cause of death by injury in the toddler age group in
Queensland (1-4 years).
? Children aged one to two years are the most likely
to be killed or injured in home driveways.
? The vehicle is usually only moving slowly and is
often being driven by a parent, relative or friend.
? 60% of vehicles were reversing at the time.
? 41% of vehicles were 4WDs. As 4WDs make up
only 6% of passenger vehicles in Queensland, there
is an increased risk with this type of vehicle. Other
large vehicles such as utes, vans and trucks are
also involved more often than sedan type cars
? The highest proportion of driveway fatal accidents
occur on weekdays in the early morning between
8:00am and 10:00am and in the late afternoon
between 4:00pm and 6:00pm.
We don’t think of children as being in danger in such a
familiar environment, but they are.

The report I read said the Grandmother was supposed to be watching them while the car was moved.

Perhaps the blame should rest with her as if I was the driver I would expect her to do what she was supposed to and keep the kids away from the car.

Easy to blame the driver when it wasnt necessarily all his fault.

Stop Speculating.

ReadTHIS PLEASE

The Father was REVERSING !!!!!!!!

Fred

I’m sure that every member of the Exploroz community feels for the family involved in this tragic event and extends every sympathy to those who have suffered such a tragic loss. The content seems to be moving in a circle it would be inappropriate for such a tragic incident to deteriorate in a negative manner. To prevent this, the thread has been locked.