Vigilance on driveways urged

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A Taupo child safety advocate is urging motorists to check for children when backing cars following a spate of driveway deaths involving young kids.

Last week, a 5-year-old boy was run over by a trailer in a driveway in Pokeno, south of Auckland, marking the second fatal driveway accident in Counties Manukau this month. Just two weeks earlier, 2-year-old Te Manawa Whetuki Renata suffered critical injuries when he was hit by a vehicle reversing up his Papatoetoe driveway. And 18-month-old Mila Tamihana died on March 28 after being run over in the driveway of her West Auckland home. Doctors tried to revive the toddler, but her condition deteriorated and she died in Waitakere Hospital.

According to Safekids Aotearoa, 56 children have died in driveway-related accidents since 2000, with three children killed in the Lakes district.

Safekids coalition member and Taupo District Council road safety co-ordinator Christine Hutchison said driveways were sometimes the only areas where Kiwi kids could play.

So vigilance was crucial.

"The key message is 'check, supervise, separate'. It's about checking before you even get in the car ... It's that moment when it's in the morning, or later on at night and you're backing out of the driveway. That is the moment that it's just crucial that you must check where the children are."

A Safekids interactive kit that uses life-size child dolls to highlight blind spots was "well used" in the district among community groups, she said.

People were often "very surprised" at how easily small children could slip out of sight.

New Zealand has the highest rate of child and adolescent deaths from injuries in the OECD. Fatalities in Counties Manukau far outweigh other areas, with 14 children killed in driveways in the last 14 years.

Waitemata was next with eight deaths, followed by Hawke's Bay with seven.

Housing New Zealand is working on improving driveway safety for state homes around the country. Upgrades include adding fencing to create safe play areas separate from the driveway, and self-closing gates.

More than 170 state houses in the Bay of Plenty, including Rotorua, have already been upgraded, with a further 41 either under way or about to start.