Two families are coming to terms with their immense loss after they both lost a baby after being hit by a car in separate tragedies this week.
Yesterday, a devastated family from Deception Bay, north of Brisbane, is reeling from the loss of their little boy who was just shy of his first birthday. The baby was run over by a car reversing out of the driveway. The little boy was struck around 10:15 am on Monday, allegedly by a male relative.
‘Can’t believe it happened to us’
Queensland Ambulance arrived shortly after and the mother and father of the boy rode in the ambulance with their young son. Tragically, the injured boy died upon arrival due to severe head injuries.
Tributes have already started for the little boy with a stuffed bear and flowers left in the driveway of the home in the aftermath of the incident.
Police are now investigating what exactly happened while the heartbroken family comes to terms with his tragic loss.
The little boy’s paternal grandfather, Carolyn Glenn spoke to The Courier Mail, stating she was “just numb”.
“You see this stuff happen to other families. I can’t believe it’s happened to us,” Ms Glenn said.
Happy and smiley baby hit by car while being lifted into pram
This tragic driveway accident comes just after another baby girl lost her life after being struck outside a busy hospital in Wales.
Mabli’s father was placing eight-month-old Mabli into a stroller when she was hit by a vehicle. She suffered severe head injuries in the tragic accident and was airlifted to another hospital for treatment after the horror crash. Tragically, she died in her parents’ arms a few days later.
Described as the ‘most beautiful, smiley and happy baby girl’, Mabli was the youngest of six children. On a GoFundMe page, the family’s friend, Sinead wrote,
“As parents, this is their worst nightmare, and the pain they are experiencing right now is indescribable.”
We send our condolences to both families after these heartbreaking losses.
According to KidSafe Victoria, on average, every year 7 children aged 0-14 years are killed and 60 are seriously injured due to driveway run-over incidents in Australia.
Most of these incidents occur in the driveway of the child’s own home and the driver is usually a parent, relative or family friend.
Tips from Kidsafe to prevent driveway accidents
Supervise:
- Know where your kids are at all times when around moving vehicles.
- Physically hold them close to you or put them in the car with you.
- Teach kids to wave bye-bye from a safe place – never the driveway.
- Never leave children unattended in cars.
Separate:
- Use fences and self-closing gates to keep garages and driveways separate from play areas.
- Always keep car doors locked.
- Prevent toddlers gaining access to garages by installing doors that open inward to the house, self-close and have highset handles.
- Treat the driveway like a road – never a play area.
See:
- Walk around your car and keep children in mind when using your reversing mirrors, sensors or cameras.
- Cameras are designed to prevent damage to cars, not children, and sometimes a child may not be visible until it’s too late.
- Understand how little you can see behind your car – vehicle size is not always a good indicator.
- Some family sedans have a blind spot of more than 15 metres – it’s possible to fit more than 60 pre-schoolers behind a vehicle and not see them from the driver’s seat.
