Car accidents are consistently a top cause of fatalities for young people year-in-and-year out. Kids are more susceptible to accidents for a lot of reasons including the fact that children may not always look both ways or understand how to avoid being hit by a car. Children are also small and more difficult to see by drivers, thus increasing the chances of a pedestrian accident. Finally, kids may not have bones that are as fully developed or bodies that are able to protect them from the force of a car accident impact. All of this can significantly increase the chances of children dying in the wake of a traffic collision.

Unfortunately, kids are not at risk only out on the roads or when passengers on vehicles. Our Columbia accident lawyers know that each year, kids are involved in back-over accidents and/or are run over while at their own homes. Unfortunately, this type of crash recently resulted in the death of one young South Carolina boy.

Car Accident Leads to Fatal Injuries for Toddler

According to WBTW News 13, a two-year-old child was outside of his home on the afternoon of July Fourth. The boy was run over by his father while outside and he sustained serious injuries. The child was transported by helicopter to a nearby hospital after the accident occurred but doctors were unable to save his life. Tragically, he was pronounced dead at Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina at around 4:18 p.m. on the Fourth of July.

The news reports that law enforcement is looking into the circumstances of the tragic accident and indicates that an investigation has been launched. However, the coroner who responded to the accident scene has reported that it does not appear there were suspicious circumstances and that foul play is not suspected.

Of course, it seems very likely that this crash was an accident and not an intentional act on the part of the driver. Kids are involved in fatal car accidents all the time, sadly, and some of those crashes occur when a young child is backed over or run over by a vehicle in his own her own home. Driveways are dangerous — parking lots are also among the most dangerous locations for these types of collisions.

Even slow moving cars that are entering or exiting a driveway or traveling in a parking lot can cause serious injury to a young toddler and parents may simply not see their kids in the driveway or outside in the path of the car.

Protecting Kids from Car Accidents

While car accident injuries involving kids are typically accidental, parents and drivers can still take steps to prevent these types of tragic incidents from occurring. First and foremost, it is important to always know where your kids are when either pulling into or backing out of your driveway. Backing out or reversing the car can be the most dangerous time for kids because they may fall within the vehicles blind spot and because young toddlers may be hard to see when the car is in reverse. Some cars have rear view cameras to try to prevent these types of devastating accidents by making it easier for drivers to see when a child is behind them.

In addition to checking your blind spots to try to reduce the chances of a crash, drivers should also travel at slower speeds in driveways and residential areas, avoid driving while tired or distracted or impaired in any way, and should teach their kids as soon as possible about safe behavior when cars are present.

While these safety suggestions will not prevent all tragic car accident deaths involving young kids in their homes, hopefully these safety tips will help to significantly reduce the number of children who lose their lives in car wrecks each year.

If you were hurt in a car accident, contact the Columbia, South Carolina injury attorneys at Matthews & Megna today at 877-253-7705.