Elderly driver injures children: [1 All-round Country Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 11 Mar 2004: 6.
Abstract
Yesterday’s accident involved two brothers and a sister, who were sitting outside a shop at Carlingford in Sydney’s north when the woman’s Toyota Corolla mounted the kerb and ploughed into them.
The crash occurred at about 4pm at the Carlingford Village shopping centre on North Rocks Road.
Last week, Molly Woods, aged two, went home from the Westmead Children’s Hospital in heavy bandages after being admitted in December with severe burns she suffered when a car driven by a 68- year-old man crashed into the Roundhouse Child Care Centre at Fairlight in Sydney’s north.
Full Text
THREE children were taken to hospital, two of them seriously injured, after an elderly woman lost control of her car outside a suburban shopping centre yesterday afternoon.
It was the second incident in Sydney in four months involving an elderly driver losing control of a vehicle and injuring children.
Yesterday’s accident involved two brothers and a sister, who were sitting outside a shop at Carlingford in Sydney’s north when the woman’s Toyota Corolla mounted the kerb and ploughed into them.
It is believed the woman was trying to leave the carpark when she lost control.
The crash occurred at about 4pm at the Carlingford Village shopping centre on North Rocks Road.
A four-year-old boy suffered serious head injuries while his two- year-old sister suffered lower limb, chest and abdominal injuries.
No details of the injuries to the third child, their brother, were immediately available but a hospital spokesman said he was in a stable condition.
The elderly driver was treated at the scene for emotional distress and was questioned by police.
Mark Harris, a worker at a local cake shop, said he thought the woman had put her car into drive rather than reverse.
“She must have hit it fairly hard because she took up the gutter,” he said.
“She did like a U-turn back into the carpark. She collected the kids on the side and ran into another car. She didn’t hit them that hard, but they weren’t very old.”
The parents of the three children were not speaking to the media last night.
But a spokeswoman for Westmead Children’s Hospital said one child remained in a serious condition.
Last week, Molly Woods, aged two, went home from the Westmead Children’s Hospital in heavy bandages after being admitted in December with severe burns she suffered when a car driven by a 68- year-old man crashed into the Roundhouse Child Care Centre at Fairlight in Sydney’s north.