ivillage

23 Oct 2013  – My husband reversed over our toddler

On April 16^th 2011 the unthinkable happened.

My husband came home from work, reversed his tool trailer and ute into our garage, and ran over our youngest daughter Georgina. She was 15-months-old.

Georgina had crawled through the internal access door between the house and garage. My husband could not see her at all behind his vehicle. We lost her there and then.

We had designed and built our home with four children and their safety in mind. We fenced the children’s outdoor play area, we had living and playroom areas well away from the garage…we were in the process of teaching our children about car safety. How could this have happened to us?

In the time that followed, our research about these accidents led us to find they happen all too often, so much so that medical and government agencies gave them a name – LSVR’s – Low Speed Vehicle Runovers.

In Australia over the last decade, an average of seven children die and 60 are seriously injured each year. The majority of these accidents happen to children under five years old.

Why does this most often happen to younger children? Because once they learn to crawl or walk they love to be on the go, but developmentally they are unable to understand, ‘Don’t go near that car, it’s dangerous.’ Even older children who have some understanding can still be in danger. For example,  I was walking through the car park with my six year old a few months ago (holding hands), when her hat blew off. Her immediate reaction was to dive and grab it, with no thought of cars or possible dangers.

Our Foundation is in its early stages but we are working closely with local and state government agencies to prevent such accidents.  There is much to do in this area through education and awareness that allow parents to make informed decisions about home safety and vehicles. This type of tragedy can be prevented. If we knew then what we know now, our daughter would very likely be with us still.

Some key messages to consider are:

Supervise – this is key:

• Have a system at home where, when a vehicle is moving on your property who has the kids? Is someone holding them, are they in a safe place?
• Wave goodbye to people from inside the door, or through the window.
• Treat the driveway as a small road – roads are not safe places for children to play.
• If you are the only one at home and you need to move the car, put them in the car with you.
• Teach your children about car safety.

Separate children from vehicle areas around the home:

• Separate the house from the garage.
• Does your house have an attached garage? Is there a door between them for easy access? Our website has options for this and you can access them here.
• Fence driveways and play areas. Is fencing the driveway a possibility? Can you create a safe fenced-off area in the backyard where children can play, without accessing driveway and garage areas easily?
• Do you keep the front door locked, so there is no easy access to the front yard/driveway and road way?

See – Be aware of the blind space behind your vehicle:

• Whenever you go to drive a vehicle, do a ‘Circle of Safety’ check around your vehicle before you get in and start the car.
• Use a rear vision camera like a mirror, to increase visibility at the rear of a vehicle. Many vehicles have sensors or cameras in them, but retro-fit cameras can be installed.
• For more information see our website, which includes a link to the NRMA’s Reversibility Index.

Following the accident, we found that it helped to talk to families who had experienced a similar loss. Although we had the support and love of our families to help us, so did talking to people who could relate to what happened. So we now offer support for families who have been affected by Low Speed Vehicle Runover Accidents, whether children have sustained severe injuries and survived, or have passed away.

If you, or someone you know is interested in receiving support, please contact us .

On our ‘Angel Page’ families have shared their ‘angel’s’ story or you can share your story here.

http://www.ivillage.com.au/we-lost-our-toddler-in-a-driveway-accident/

NRMA Motoring Blog

This week’s guest blogger Kate Pickle was a preschool teacher in a past life (ie before kids). Here, she discovered a passion for understanding small humans, plus a great outlet for her creative streak. Nowadays, she is a stay-at-home Mum with lots of chickens and a start-stop veggie garden. Kate blogs at picklebums.com.

PLAY SAFE: Knowing the dangers associated with children in the driveway and knowing how quickly and easily an accident can occur is a good way to prevent it.

CRUNCH!

I hear the sound from inside the house and come running out to see what has happened. As my husband pulls the car forward the crumpled bike is revealed from under the back bumper.

There’s no damage to the car and it’s just an old bike, but I know what we are both thinking…

“I didn’t see it at all,” he says ashen faced, “…imagine if that was one of the kids.”

It’s one of those stories I hear on the news every now and then. A child has been killed, run over in the driveway by their family car. A tragedy that will affect that family forever. And my heart sinks, because that could easily be our family. It could easily have been a child instead of a bike.

We both drive large cars, we have four kids, we have to drive large cars to fit them all in. Large cars are often high off the ground and the visibility of a small object that is close to you is minimal at best. Often, like with the bike – even when using mirrors and double checking – you can’t see anything at all.

So how do we stop a tragedy happening to our family? How can we make sure our driveway is safe?

Choose a car with better rear visibility

When we looked at updating my husband’s 4WD, high on the list of priorities was a car that had a reversing camera. The bike incident had really rattled him and having a car that had better rear visibility was important.

You can find more information about choosing a car with better rear visibility here.

While the rear camera helps, it is not fool proof. Children move fast and sometimes you may not see a child in your rear camera until it is too late. So a rear camera is just one thing you can do to help keep your kids safe.

Educate your children about driveway safety

We have eight year old twins, a five year old and a two year old. All of them know that it is not safe to be out on our driveway when cars are moving.

We have taught them that the safe place to be is either in the car, or up on our high front veranda. If they are standing on the veranda the car driver can see them all clearly and know they are safe, and they are to stay there until the driver tells them it is okay to move.

We also teach our kids that it is not safe to play around cars. Playing between or behind parked cars is never okay as you just don’t know when a car might move without knowing you are there.

Supervise your kids

Our older kids are very aware of the rules and the danger, but even at 8 years of age, kids can be unpredictable, they can get mixed up, or forget, and the two year old only has a passing interest in any ‘rules’ or ‘dangers’. So no matter how well educated our kids are, there is no substitute for supervision.

Always supervise your children whenever a car is to be moved: hold their hands or hold them close to keep them safe. If there is not another adult to supervise them standing on the veranda, then the best place for them to be is safely restrained in the car.

Educate yourself

Knowing the dangers associated with children in the driveway and knowing how quickly and easily an accident can occur is a good way to prevent it. Being vigilant, taking the extra time to make sure everyone is safe and double checking every time we move the car are things we always do to keep our kids safe.

Terrible accidents happen, even to good people, with good intentions, but if we are educated about the dangers we can do our best to avoid them.

Talk to NRMA experts at the Baby and Toddler Show to find out how you can keep your child safe in and around the car (NRMA Members get 40% off tickets)

You can also find more information on driveway safety here.

What rules do you set for your kids to keep them safe around cars?

You can also join the conversation on Twitter. Just use the #NRMAChildSafe hashtag to share your thoughts.

Driveway Safety

National Road Safety Forum

Daily Telegraph – Strict new safety standards

24 Aug 2012 – Strict new safety standards on cars to eradicate driveway deaths

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/strict-new-safety-standards-on-cars-to-eradicate-driveway-deaths/story-e6freuy9-1226457024052

Young Witness -Take to Parliament House

30 Jul 2012 – The Cockburns take their message to Parliament House

http://www.youngwitness.com.au/news/local/news/general/the-cockburns-take-their-message-to-parliament-house/2638792.aspx

Young Witness – Young’s latest safety approach

27 Jul 2012