My worst nightmare: Lawmaker Drives Over Granddaughter

[Horse with no Name]

I have horrible dreams of this happening...to the point that I check and recheck several times when leaving the house. I cannot for the life of me imagine how this man feels. My heart goes out to their family.:cry:

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/lawmaker-drives-over-granddaughter/20070714012709990001

>>>snip
The accident happened at Hansen's home in Green Bay at about 8:40 a.m. The toddler was sitting on a sofa when her grandmother left the room to get a blanket so the two could snuggle after the senator left for his meeting, said Jay Wadd, the senator 's chief of staff.

The girl then ran outside.

"It happened that fast," Wadd said. "I think Ellie wanted to be with grandpa. She just loved him."

Green Bay Police Lt. Mike Graham issued a statement calling the girl's death a "tragic, unfortunate accident. There are no pending criminal charges."

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. Very sad. That family will never be the same again. That poor baby.

:cry:

[aquart]

3. They will blame themselves forever.

It's horrible.

[Horse with no Name]

4. I read an article in Readers Digest on this subject

Which I think is what made me so aware. It was horrible...tragic story after tragic story and the devastated families left behind.

[CoffeeCat]

5. Is this happening more...

...because of big SUVs?

[Horse with no Name]

6. Nobody has said that...

It's possible that is a factor--but I think it is more likely people don't take the time to look behind them before they back up in their driveway.

[CoffeeCat]

7. I might be wrong.....

...but I rarely, if ever, heard about this happening in the 70's and 80's.

It seems like you hear about this happening all of the time now.

[seriousstan]

8. You are wrong.

[CoffeeCat]

20. I am not asserting that anything is true...

...either way.

I'm wondering what the cause is and asking questions.

I have no idea why this is happening more...or why we're hearing about it more

I don't have the answers, but I'm here asking questions and being part of the discussion.

[pnwmom]

11. And in parking lots, stupid parents don't always hold their kids' hands.

I almost hit a toddler once when she darted out from behind the van next to mine just as I was about to back out. She must have still been inside her car when I got into mine, and when she got out she was too short for me to see over the tops of the vehicles between us. Then her father let her loose, she ran . . . and I missed hitting her by a second's hesitation or two.

It was years ago and I still shudder to think about it.

Sometime after that happened, I measured the height of the back windows of our different vehicles. Even the regular sedan had a window much too high to be able to see a 3 year old, if that child was right behind the car.

The government should require that all vehicles come standard with sensors to avert this problem.

[shanti]

14. absolutely!

i'd pay extra for this feature...

[Horse with no Name]

16. Actually the RD article I read had this mentioned

Here is a side story.
http://www.alecsplayground.com/aboutus.html

[pnwmom]

18. I think one of the worst parts for me was the sick feeling

that no matter how careful I was being -- it was out of my control. I hadn't seen the child but for some reason I was delaying, just slightly, putting my foot on the gas. And then she darted out and I realized she had gotten just behind me!

So you can be as careful as humanly possible and still kill a child, and ruin many people's lives.

Thanks for the link. I'm going to lobby for that regulation, too.

[DesertRat]

2. It's so horrible

I've had them in my thoughts since I heard about it yesterday. This is a horrible nightmare that they will never wake from.

[riderinthestorm]

9. This almost happened to me.

I had a brand new Honda CRV after my Honda Accord.

A (new) high sight-line vs. an (old) low sight-line.

My daughters got out of the car at the house and I was going to head back out to the store. My youngest daughter stopped dead behind the car to tie a shoelace. My oldest daughter knelt down to help her (they were 4 and 13 years old at the time). I was fiddling with the car's sound system (trying to learn the new controls) and I wasn't paying attention to them. I just figured they were long gone into the house. Instead they were (5 minutes later), still tying shoelaces, behind my car, below my sightline.

I backed up and hit both of them (knocked them both flat). Thank god I was going veeerrryyy slowly. Thank god my windows were open (it was summer) so I heard them shout, and thank god my older girl managed to yell a warning shout as they went down which caused me to brake immediately or I would have run over both of them. As it was, they were a good two feet under the back bumper - not under the wheels yet! but I was just about to crank the car around to turn and back out so who knows if my front wheels would have squashed them.

I still - 9 years later - get chills, nausea and anxiety thinking about what might have been.

[Horse with no Name]

10. I bet

I'm glad it turned out okay, but knowing what could have happened has to be the stuff nightmares are made of.:hug:

[pnwmom]

12. What a story.

Thank goodness, riderinthestorm, for the happy ending! I am so glad for you.

I, too, once almost hit a child. In my case, it was in a parking lot and I was paying complete attention. There was absolutely nothing I could have or would have done differently, but it was only sheer blind luck (or fate) that kept me from running over a toddler (whose father was letting her run loose.)

And it still makes me sick to think of how two families lives could have been ruined, so, so easily . . .

[Sanctified]

13. This is terrible but how does a 2 year old run outside and no one notice?

I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old and I can sure as shit tell you where they are, at any given moment. Neither of my children have ever exited my home without being in the company of an adult. I am having a hard time seeing how a 2 year old was able to accomplish this without some negligence on the grandparents part like leaving the front door open or not monitoring the child.

[Horse with no Name]

15. A 2-year old can open the door

The news report said the Grandmother stepped out of the room to get a blanket.

[EFerrari]

17. My little brother was so smart he could find the *one* door

I had to use to leave for school. It wasn't that no one was looking out for him, it was that he was looking for a way to leave the house and go for a walk. Nothing could have stopped that kind of curiosity unless Mom had tied him up and stared at him until his nap. (And, btw, I had two boys that were just like him. And no, I didn't sleep well until they grew up.)

I'm so sorry for this family.

[Skittles]

19. I always check behind my car before I get in

I live in an apt complex and am concerned about the kids living there - but if one was to just run behind me and I did not see them - it is a tragedy