Thread: Driveway tragedies

Originally Posted by trog

At the time I was a learner the driving instructor drummed into our heads before getting into a car and reversing do a circle check , you never know what is there. later when getting a truck licence ,as a council employee, the same and council rules required that if you had an offsider that they always had to get out and guide you back. this never went over well with bosses here. as a result now wherever possible I will drive by then reverse into a spot. on the mundane side this has saved a fair number of shopping trolley's over the years. a camera is helpful but an actual physical inspection of the vehicle surrounds is better in my opinion

All of which is an excellent habit to get into, but doesn't help the fact that kids are quick movers.

Originally Posted by Reads90

So I still find it hard to understand why there is so many problems with this. It is not rocket science just to know where your kids are when you are backing cars in driveways. Or to tell your partner what you are doing and look after the kids for 5 seconds

It's the kids you don't know about, neighbours, random walking by, that you have no control over, that worry about. Bob

But I am sorry but can't understand why when you are reversing your car " and everyone knows the danger with young kids " you don't make sure you know where you kids are.
If I am moving my cars or just moving the cars around the drive. Like when you wash them or whatever and the kids are about I put them in the car. My kids love it when I back the car out of the garage and they are sat on the center console for the 50 yard trip , or standing in the passenger seat.

+1

My son got a kick in the chest from one of our ponies. He was too young to know the danger, the responsibility for that lay on us as the adult in charge. You can take as many precautions as you want, but there is always some risk. Relying on the precautions to prevent an accident is not always foolproof. Knowing where the kids are before you move is safer than a camera. Kids have been run over beside vehicles too.

I have been caught out twice in car parks with hybred cars you cannot hear them running when they are batteries

Of course everyone should take great care, but I'm not prepared to accept that you can be 100% sure that a tragic accident won't happen. Certainly it should not happen as often as it does, but I am not quite ready to condemn every driver who has to live with the knowledge of what they have done. I don't believe that they were necessarily stupid or careless.

Is the following scenario possible? Even though the result might have been different if someone had done something different, would you automatically condemn the people involved as criminally negligent?

Imagine you are about to leave for work in the morning. Your partner is standing at the front door holding the hand of your three year old, waving you off.

Just as you approach the car, the phone rings, so she takes the child inside with her and closes the door securely behind her.

Meanwhile as part of your routine check, you have noticed the child's tricycle dangerously close to the edge of the driveway, so you take a few moments to move it out of the way.

Inside the house, your partner is talking on the phone, hears the neighbour's car start and drive off and assumes it is your car, so she thinks you have left. The child has recently discovered that if she climbs onto her toy box, she can reach the door handle.

So you are in your car thinking the child is safe inside the house. Your partner is inside the house believing that you are already out on the road and on your way and that the child is still behind a closed door.

You can probably imagine where the story goes from there. At what point has someone been stupid or criminally negligent?

Or if you want a simpler scenario, can you be sure that a neighbour's child has not run onto your driveway, as Bob suggested might happen?

I have no doubt that most of the accidents are the result of carelessness and could easily have been avoided, but I think that people who think they can be 100% sure that they will never be involved in such a tragic incident are kidding themselves.

Hello from Brisbane.

My neighbour ran over his toddler a year or so ago backing out of his drive in a Prado. Seriously injured and touch and go in IC but survived and is now right as rain. He says he checked before getting into the car and thought the child was inside with his mother. She thought he must have gone with his Dad at the last minute. So it was a mix up and happened fast. I don't judge them badly and it was a wake up call for everyone - we all take a lot of care backing out of our driveways now - kids, pets and cyclists are everywhere.

It doesn't stop there I suppose. I am pretty vigilant in built up areas and schools in particular regardless of the time of day. I suspect that working in Asia and Africa for years has a bearing on that with animals, kids and anything capable of jumping out in front of you unexpectedly at any time day or night. However, the real clincher for me was in the early 80s driving on the road between the Midlands Highway and Richmond in Tasmania and the old farmer with me pointed to a house beside the road on a corner near Campania. He told me that a few years before he came around the corner just after someone had run over and killed a little girl and she was still lying on the road. Saddest thing he had ever seen despite war service etc. I decided pretty much then and there that I didn't want to bear witness to or be the instrument of anything similar - so I try to drive accordingly. No hero, just a citizen of a crowded planet.

We just need to treat motor vehicles with caution on or off the road.

Cheers,

In years gone by,like 30+ all children had it drummed into them by parents and grandparents that when around cars and roads "Stop,Look,and Listen" it was taught in schools from grade 1 up,and if the parents caught their children transgressing,a swift smack reminded them,BUT in this cotten wool society everybody is looking for somebody else to do the educating,all children are taught the world revolves around them and it is their right.

One has only to observe the difference in behavior in children born overseas particularly those from Asian countries as to the child's respect for their parents and teachers.