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This is quite an old incident and I also do not remember where it was, seeing that I am 11 years old now and it was somewhere around 6 to 7 years ago. We had a blue Vento then. My father was driving and minding his own business on the highway when out of nowhere a public bus comes and smashes the right rear view mirror. Thankfully the driver was sort of amiable and apologised to my father.

Bengaluru:- Father accidently reverses car killing his one and a half year old toddler!

They family was back after attending a relative's marriage ceremony. It happened at HSR Layout, Bengaluru at 11.30 pm. They had unloaded the luggage from the car. The father was at the wheel while the toddler was near the car. The father drove the car unaware of her presence crushing her. Locals rushed the toddler to a hospital where she breathed her last. The father was arrested and released on bail by the police.

It was most criminal and unpardonable on the part of the father to drive his car ( looks like a Creta) fatally crushing the little girl child (seen in photo below), aged one and a half year.



News 18 photo

The news:-
https://www.news18.com/amp/india/tod...ource=inshorts

Times of India newslink( above quoted news)

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/.../109513172.cms

RIP little kid.

Hail Journalism, when headline say, "Father accidently reverses car over" and content says "Father accidentally drove the car over".

From the pictures, it does't look like the case of "reversing the car" gone wrong. Hence reverse cameras/sensors wouldn't have changed the outcome.

Looks like she was in the blind spot near the front door. But Indian cars are RHD, sad that he wan't able to notice her from the drivers window.

:Shockked: the shivers by just reading it!!

Even today when my 2nd child is 4.5 years old, I ensure I see her face after she gets down with her elder brother (my 12 yr son) or her mum before I move the car in any direction. Check mirrors, I do, but somehow I have this paranoia of ensuring I see the alighted passengers in full view before I move the car.

I have been practicing this habit for a very very long time. It vaguely started after I accidently moved the car by an inch when my mother had not yet closed the door after getting in the car, some 15+ years ago IIRC. Blame it on my early and inexperienced driving days.

Since then have made sure to have proper situational awareness at all times.

This sentence just seems wrong, it sounds like the person knowingly and willfully drove the car over.
No person/father can do such a thing knowingly and I think he would never recover for the rest of his life knowing he was the cause of his kid's death.

Unfortunately this is a statistically significant source of deaths world over and has always been my biggest fear when in the driving seat. It is probably made worse due to the every increasing craze for SUVs where children can easily go unnoticed.

Children are a bundle of energy and are often in a very excited state particularly when going on road trips. It makes sense to make sure that they are all visible. When they are not, always assume the worst and dont move the car an inch.

I beg to disagree with your view. The very fact that the police have registered a case under Sec 304A of the Indian Penal Code which is due to the criminal act committed by the toddler's father reads :-

Though he has got bail now, the case will continue before a Judicial Magistrate, once police files the chargesheet. The father will have to appear at every hearing ( else the Magistrate has powers to ask the police to arrest him and produce him in his court) as is the law for all criminal cases.

His fault was that he drove the SUV crushing the child and then driving away without his knowledge, that he had committed such an act. As a driver, one is fully responsible while driving to foresee a full clearance for his car's pathway. He needed to have assured himself that the toddler is secure before bulldozing his SUV over the little one. He has committed a criminal act for which a criminal case has been filed.

There has been a death and therefore the police has to register a case and investigate. Registration of a case does not automatically mean that there has been a criminal act - the courts will decide if there has been a criminal act.

Where are you getting this driving away part from?

No opinion on legal aspects, but how does one 'not notice' running over someone/something?

Poor driver training, specifically lack of spatial awareness on the driver's part, has cost the pood kid her life, and left her family scarred for theirs.

Terrible, and avoidable, tragedy.

I want to tell two stories.

1. Two boys returning from school engage in a friendly chase and push each other. One of the boy pushes his friend to the road infront of an on coming scooter. Thanks to the reflex of the rider's and may be anticipation saved the boy from the almost certain accident (may be not fatal)

2. A car driver in his SUV had just stopped to give way to an on coming pickup at a road fork. After the pick up moves out he is ready to move out when he notices some one on the right side of the road calling out and senses motion on the left of the road through the peripheral vision. Thankfully did not press the A pedal as a small boy crossed the road right in front of the car (barely visible from the driver seat).

These are real incidents that I have experienced first hand. I was the boy who fell in front of the scooter. I was the driver of the car in the second story. Anticipation and defensive driving saved the day but don't you think luck had a big role too. Things could have gone very bad on both these occasion. People do stupid things not fully understanding the consequences but I think one needs to make a distinction between chapri riders asking for trouble vs a father making that one mistake that will be very difficult to get over. I cannot imagine my self in his shoes even if there was no criminal case that was filed.

Mod Note: Please watch video at your discretion.

Video of the aforementioned news.

https://youtu.be/Qp9-_CNCpNQ

A similar incident in Kerala in 2023.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/vide...382-2023-11-13

This reminds me of a very similar incident that happened with me many decades ago. It must be sometime during 1979 and I was in my 12th standard pre University school.

I learnt driving from my grandfather at a very young age (probably 12 years or so) and we had an Ambassador Mark II car that I was fond of driving. My daily routine included washing the car, checking the engine oil level, reversing the car from the garage and getting it to the porch (sort of valet) and stuff like that.

I was a short kid, just managing to reach the brake/clutch/accl pads. As usual, one day, early morning, I went in the garage, opened the door, cleaned the dashboard and started the car. My grandfather had mandated a set of driving instructions to me and idling the car for a few minutes was one of them.

I let the car run idle for a couple of minutes and then slowly started to reverse it out of the garage. My grandfather was doing some gardening work about 20 feet away from the garage. In about a few seconds, he let out a loud desperate call -something like STOP..It was an instant reaction from me and I hit the brake.

There was a lot of commotion as my grandfather rushed to the car. I got down and was shocked to see my maternal uncle's daughter about 2-3 years old had fallen and the rear tyre was touching her head.

I had just stopped in the nick of time as even a delay of 1 second meant the car would have run over my niece. She was taken to hospital immediately and had some minor dressing for head abrasion and was fine. I went in a shock at the turn of events but my good uncle played it down.

I believe it was providence that my grandfather was there at that moment and his shout and my prompt action stopped something that could have horribly gone wrong.

I later found that my young niece had just loitered around and was right behind the car when I started reversing it and my grandfather kept an eye on her as he did some gardening work.

It's been 45 years since that incident. My niece is now happily married and settled in a comfortable life with her family. Even today, I shudder when I recollect the incident that could have left and indelible mark and change the trajectory of my life altogether.

Since that day, 45 years ago, I became extremely careful, keeping situational & spatial awareness and made it a habit of check the vehicle (car/bike) 360 deg before starting it. Even today, every time I drive, first I go around the vehicle checking for any unusual thing, see below the car, check tyres and mudguards etc. This is my pre-drive ritual.

I also have blind spot mirrors on all my vehicles. (I have written a post on blind spot mirrors in this thread earlier. Please check it out if you haven't) I haven't had an accident since many decades and I intend to keep it that way. I feel extremely sad and sorry for the father who drove over his child and that's a heavy burden to carry for the rest of his life.

+100 Always spot and account for all children before starting. Always start and backup slowly very carefully.

I always follow these simple rules while starting off a car from a standstill, while reversing and parking.

1. Windows rolled all the way down for driver and co-driver seats
2. No music/mute it.
3. No calls/phone usage.
4. And if I had spotted any kids/pets near the car before I got in, then I should still be able to see them from inside the car or be sure they are no where around, before moving.

Such simple rules if followed religiously, can surely mitigate nasty accidents involving kids getting run over etc.

The car driver in that accident posted here, has lost kid, peace of mind forever and will live with guilt for the rest of his life.:unhappy

I always make sure everyone who has got down has moved to one side where I can see them. Then I ask one of them to act as a lookout till I finish parking. And I never allow anyone, even adults, to come in the direct path of the car however slowly I am moving. It will take but one little slip of the foot to cause serious damage.

No person will do it knowingly. But it becomes a police matter when a life is lost. If it is intentional the word is murder. If unitentional then it is manslaughter. Still the court has to decide.

I am sorry to say, it was gross negligence on the part of your grandfather to allow a twelve year old to drive the car, even if it was strictly inside your compund. And he almost paid for it.