2-yr. old hit by car. Please read as it may save a life!

My husband called me from work on Easter Sunday to tell me a terrible thing that happened that morning. He got a call for a 2 year old that was hit by a car in their neighborhood. Apparently the mother was only a few feet away from her child for only a few seconds in their development and the child got hit by a car that backed out and died. The child received injuries to the head and chest because children at this age are at a higher risk of getting injuries to that area because they are lower to the ground when being hit by a car. My kids wanted to go out on their scooters today but I usually don't allow them to unless hubby is also home so that we can have two people watching for traffic. Hubby called me shortly after I told the kids that they could only ride when daddy's home so we have two people watching. We have a little circle that our kids ride around in and even cars can back up and one lady commented to me that they should trim the bushes down because she couldn't even see my oldest daughter on her bicycle. Fortunately the lady was watching and so was my oldest daughter age 8. If it had been my younger daughter age 5 or my son age 10 they may have not have been as aware. I was on the other side of the circle watching for incoming traffic. One elderly lady rents a car on the weekends and she has been in several accidents and she says she rents because her insurance is so high otherwise she takes a taxi or has a helper to drive her around. I've seen how slow she backs out of her driveway and she still manages to hit the bushes. When she comes home, hubby says that she drives real fast down our street to her house so I have to pay close attention for incoming traffic. Both my son and youngest daughter are not as visual and don't really look out for themselves as much as my oldest daughter.

Hubby said that he will sit down with the kids today (which he already did) and have a talk with them as that call really hit home hard to him and he really tells me to pay attention to the kids when they are in the parking lot etc... I know even at the school where the kids attend we have to watch out for them as there are cars backing out all the time and sometimes my kids want to walk on the grass or want to stay behind me. Now I will forever keep them closer to me. I've always tried to keep them close in my hands when walking in the parking lot (even when they were little I had them on a harness) but there are a few cars that do back out without looking and then we have to tell the kids to stop and go back as there is a car backing out. I've had to literally pull my kids backwards to prevent the car from backing out on us but then the person in the car stops and realizes there are people trying to cross behind them and they tell us to go ahead and cross. Last school year or the year before that, there was an elderly lady who never looked and just backed out and she was a danger to everyone including the adults. I haven't seen her since driving on the school property but was told she is or was a grandmother of one of the students. I remember saying something to one of the moms while she was backing out, "that woman shouldn't even be driving because I've seen her back out so many times and nearly hit kids" and the lady then said to me that she was so and so's grandmother (the kid she was hanging on to). Oops I guess I told the wrong person because that was her mother or mother-in-law that I made the comment about. I guess they took separate vehicles but I guess the daughter got the message and that grandmother isn't driving anymore on the school property. I'm glad to not see her driving there anymore but we do have to watch out for our kids. Even though I have a back-up alarm on our van I do still put it in reverse and wait about five to ten seconds before backing out just in case there are people behind me trying to cross. It's also an alert for the parents that there is a vehicle backing up and I'm so glad that my husband had the alarm put on the van which is the same type of alarms usually used on ambulances and rescue trucks and just as loud. Anyways I just wanted to send out this message even though it's a sad one but to say watch out for your kids. This mom was only away from her child for a little while and it was such a tragedy on Easter Sunday. :-( Maybe this post will help save another child since you have the knowledge that my husband had to endure of watching this family's horror of losing a child just because they were away from their child for a few seconds and maybe not more than a few feet away and the child was hit. Sorry to give you such bad news but I couldn't resist passing this on since a lot of you I'm sending this to have young kids you have to watch out for. Good luck and stay safe. Feel free to forward this information on to others if you wish. If you don't want to include my whole story you can simply just copy and paste the article and the link and just forward that but my husband saw both the mom and people that ran over the child screaming. By the time my husband got to the scene the child was already loaded up in the ambulance because they had to take the child to the hospital and then later on the child would be taken to the funeral home. Someone from a mental health center was already at the scene counseling the elderly couple that ran over the child. It is such a sad tragedy and could have been avoided if the mother kept her child with her and didn't allow her child to roam off to another house or driveway. Apparently this is not the first time a child has been run over in a driveway as it has happened according to the information in the article at the bottom. We tell our kids to watch before crossing the street but we sometimes don't tell them to watch for cars backing up in a neighborhood or parking lot. I've seen a lot of cars back up in the school parking lot and my kids know that when they hear an engine running or see backup lights they know that a car is trying to back up. We all stop and back up ourselves. Hopefully this will save other lives with the knowledge that I have posted.

Please tell others if you know of others with small kids or even older ones. You may think "Oh this will never happen to my child" as I watch them closely but apparently it happens more frequently then you know. You may think oh how terrible this is for this family to have suffered the loss of a child but it really doesn't hit you personally unless you know this child or have been on this call or have had a relationship with someone that you know that has a child that was hit by a car. Please stay safe.

Here is the full article from the newspaper with the link.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...sfla-news-palm

Ooops - full article removed

Thank you for sending this....It is horribly sad, but does happen all too often. My DS when he was 3, took off away from me, right in front of a car that a teenager was driving. Thank God for that teenager driving slowly, and my son actually listening for once.

A few tips for anyone who drives to avoid or at least be as safe as possible.

Always back in to your driveway, parking spot, etc. Very seldom will there be someone behind you and if they are they are generally very visible.

Always do a spot check around your car, as kids can find a good playspot anywhere on earth.

When in a neighborhood where kids are known to live, drive 10-20km slower, or even 10-20 km/hr....

Kids have magical powers and can appear where they werent 2 seconds before. I know this from experience. I stopped at a stop sign, busy road, no one coming, and I swear that to this day. I pulled out and some kid on a bike managed to get pop out from behind the parked car and I hit her. Yes, she was fine, very shaken....But I still remember the look on her face, when she also realized I was right there!! Horrendous feeling.....

Drive safe all.
Hugs
kat