Our thanks to Safekids Aotearoa for permission to make this video clip available.
Key points to remember about driveway injury prevention
- check for children before driving off
- supervise children around vehicles
- always seperate play areas from driveways
Checklist for keeping kids safe around driveways
- when you leave the house, shut the door securely so that children cannot run outside after you
- before driving off, make sure you know where all children are – check, check and check again
- if there's no other adult around and you need to move a vehicle, it's safer to get the children to ride in the car with you
- remember most accidents happen when cars are reversing – be very sure to check your vehicle's 'blind spots' whenever you are reversing
- hold children firmly by the hand whenever a vehicle is being moved
- if your driveway borders a play area, fence it
- if you need to leave your vehicle make sure the hand brake is activated and vehicle is switched off
Parents be careful!
Tragically in more than a third of cases it is the child's own parent who is driving the vehicle involved. Our children are more likely to be run over in the driveway by their own mum or dad than anyone else. Other drivers who feature in the statistics include relatives, friends and neighbours and commercial drivers.
First aid
If your child has been in a motor vehicle traffic crash (MVTC) they may have a bone fracture or a serious head injury and be in pain.
There are some things you can do straight away to help them.
Check the Safekids website to find out more about first aid in response to MVTC incidents:
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Safekids Aotearoa for permission to reproduce this information, including the video.
References
Murphy, F., S. White and P. Morreau. 2002. Driveway-related motor vehicle injuries in the paediatric population: A preventable tragedy. The New Zealand Medical Journal. 115(1160): U148.
