Driveway Killings
I cannot imagine what the parents of yet another toddler run over in his driveway must be feeling. I have always though that these sorts of accidents are amongst the most tragic and most horrible. I once had to attempt to resuscitate a toddler in the middle of a car park. The distraught mother had backed over her own child, unaware that he had slipped out of the car while she was trying to straighten it up in the parking space. She had unbuckled him from his car seat and turned to grab her purse before deciding to straighten the car. The 2-year-old did not survive ( not through lack of trying – I had a full resuscitation kit in the back of my car at the time.)
The real tragedy, however, is that the vast majority of these accidents could be avoided with a fairly cheap sensor installed into the rear of all vehicles. The sidebar in the HoS article cited puts the cost of retrofitting such as sensor as $400. That is a reasonably steep sum of money for most people. However, the cost of making these a standard feature of new vehicles is of the order of $50/car. Even the cheapest car should have one. There is no excuse for any manufacturer to skimp on such a device and no new car should be allowed to come to market without one.
On average four kids are killed on driveways every year. One is too many.
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Mar 8 09 5:00 pm
Dick Smith’s sell the kits for $150
Mar 8 09 5:36 pm
MacDoctor,
I think some personal responsibility is needed here. Look in reverse mirror, count kids in car, put car in reverse.
Do you think new technology will solve the problem? I have parking sensors in my car, and they have been very helpful. My neighbour also has them, it did not stop him reversing into a pole.
Regards
Mar 8 09 6:15 pm
When we were children our parents had cars with far less technology and rearwards vision. What our parents did have is responsibilty. All this talk about fencing driveways and all the other claptrap will not solve a thing. Count the kids, check where they are and if necessary get someone to hold on to them while reversing. If in doubt get out and check.
Mar 8 09 8:53 pm
I also have doubts about about the effectiveness of the sensors. Let us suppose that the sensors save one child a year. There would over a million cars in NZ. Assuming the sensors could be standard a $50. That means it would cost $50 to same one child. Would that be value for money. Yes, if it was my grandchild.
What also needs to be looked at is how many children’s live could be saved for $50 million. The money could be spent on health care, monitoring at risk children or school swimming pools and swimming instructors.
I realise your personal involvement. However, others who have lost a child some other way might look at things differently. It might seem calous but value for money must be considered.
Mar 8 09 9:32 pm
Chuck: Adding sensors to new cars is a very different to retrofitting these sensors to every car in New Zealand. The calculation is much more like the calculation for airbags – although these are admittedly more useful, they are also a great deal more expensive to fit.
The sensors are not 100% reliable – they tend not to pick up poles as workingman’s friend found out. But they are certainly better than nothing.
Pique: The vast majority of these fatalities are caused by a relative and, typically, the driveway is long and either on a slope or has a bend in it. While I agree that toddlers should be retrained around moving vehicles, it is easy to loose track of exactly where a toddler is at any one moment.
Mar 9 09 8:31 am
Given that we don’t actually manufacture cars in NZ introducing a requirement to have these sensors fitted inevitably will involve a lot of retrofitting, unless the Japanese introduce it as a requirement in new cars.
I agree with Chuck, it costs money to save lives in all sorts of things, and probably this would be one of the more expensive options in those terms.
Mar 9 09 11:24 am
This is a tragedy and I can understand the knee jerk solution proposed. However, more regulation simply lessens personal responsibility and accountability. This has created the brain dead seething masses that continually look to others to solve their problems. Haven’t we learnt that Nanny State merely exacerbates the problem…
Mar 9 09 2:18 pm
Motella: Mandatory Sensors in New Car is hardly “Knee-jerk” or “Nanny State”. Compulsory rearwards TV would certainly be, as would compulsory retrofitted sensors.
All I am suggesting is that New car must be fitted with rear sensors, just like they are now fitted with seat belts.
And, Andrew, I can’t see that manufacturers would need to retrofit to accommodate us. They already make specific cars for specific markets. In Japan, catalytic convertors were mandatory long before they were standard issue elsewhere. It is not as if it was an expensive add-on.
Nov 2 09 8:01 pm
I agree with what MacDoctor is suggesting. It is not just dead children, but many more seriously injured. What value do we put on them? Yesterday another dead toddler in the Waikato. Cars are dangerous to kids, why not spend a few dollars to make them safer? That is taking responsability!