Tragic news story and safety discussion

[keista]

Toddler Dies After Grandmother Runs Him Over With A Lawnmower - Miami News - Riptide 2.0

Well, grandma was towing this child in a cart behind the lawnmower, he fell out, and she couldn't stop in time to avoid running him over. In a word, tragic, and my heart aches for the whole family.

What's bugging me is the same thing that always bugs me when I hear of such headlines. The socioeconomic divide the plays a factor in whether or not charges will be filed. This just happened, and an investigation is "pending", but sure enough, I look up the address and it's in a more "affluent" part of town.

Now it's comparing apples and oranges, but about a month ago, a babysitter was arrested ON THE SPOT because she caught a ride in the back of a pickup truck with the toddler in her care. Wrong and technically illegal, but she kept the toddler IN his stroller and sat right there with him.

In both of these stories, the grown ups were being irresponsible, I just get so aggravated as to why some ppl get arrested on the spot and others not so much. And I totally get that the news doesn't always give you ALL the information, but after seeing several drowning stories every year, and being able to identify the socioeconomic status of the parents/caregivers based on whether they are arrested immediately or not, it gets really frustrating. Since I'm poor, I have to be MORE careful with my kids with fewer resources. Like poor ppl need that additional stress?

 

[Signorina]

In this case, I think it's really about the law. The babysitter was breaking more than one law - in most states (if not all) passengers may not travel in pick up beds and toddlers must be secured in car seats. And someone hired to care for a child may be held to a higher standard of performance. Caring for that child was her primary responsibility.

Not to say that I don't sympathize with either of them or the poor children's parents. And I do know the point you are trying to make. I've also seen it work in reverse. Sad thing is that justice is supposed to be blind.

 

[Signorina]

Just read the link - it's under investigation. Charges could be filed - I am guessing in the pick up case - the law breaking was obvious so the arrest was immediate?

 

[DammitJanet]

Kids arent allowed to ride in the backs of pick up trucks anymore? I honestly didnt know that. What about all those hayrides that they do? Then arent they actually illegal? Just musing here...what are parents to do if they only have a pickup and more than 4 people in the family. Could put driver and one kid in the cab and one parent in the back...but you cant leave a kid at home alone. Hmmm.

The whole "running over or backing over" one of the grandchildren is something that has terrified me for years. I wont even put my car in gear until someone has physically assured me they have all of them with them before I take off. Its not so much that I worry that I would be charged but that I know I could never live with myself if I hurt one of them.

 

[Signorina]

Well Janet - I can only speak for my state - but we do have mandatory child seat requirements until age 8 and mandatory seat belt laws for all ages...no seat belts in pick up beds.

I have no idea about hayrides...never mind - check here. Some states exempt farm use...

http://www.iihs.org/laws/cargoareas.aspx

 

[keista]

Yes, I get the legality issues. Guess I should have mentioned that the driver in the babysitter case wasn't even issued a ticket - he was still "being investigated". That should have been #1

Oops more than a month ago.
Sitter charged after taking baby on ride in back of pickup " This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

I guess that's why they are "still investigating" since the lawnmower is off road use. Do I really think grandma should be charged? Uhm, yeah. Couldn't she have waited for naptime to mow the lawn? and brought the baby monitor with her? in my opinion a much safer option to giving the kid a ride on power equipment.

 

[Signorina]

Keista - I totally agree with you.

Just playing Devil's advocate tho (because I am supposed to be filing paperwork and I hate filing!) ...

If grandma left baby in the house unattended and took the baby monitor with her and mowed the lawn...and the baby choked on spit up or fell out of the crib (one of my kids literally could vault himself out of the crib-scared the bejeezus out of me) and grandma didn't get back in the house quickly or WORSE - didn't hear it at all - people would be looking for charges of child neglect.

And AAKKKKKKK - just seeing the picture of the stroller in the back of the pick up gives me the willies.

 

[Hound dog]

I certainly hope that grandmother is under suicide watch. I'm not kidding.

Next thought is, I hope the parents are under watch too so they don't go try to beat the grandmother to death for her utter stupidity. omg!

Criminal negligence.

While I'm sure she had no intention of running her grandchild over, who in their right mind tows a baby in a cart behind a lawn mower? Seriously? Does she have rocks for brains?

I'm a little too majorly furious about this to say whether or not I think she should be charged. Ok, no I'm not. She should be charged with vehicular manslaughter and criminal negligence of a child and anything else they can throw at her.

Remember the rash of toddlers being run over by their parent's and grandparent's mini vans when they became popular? That is an accident. Putting a baby in a cart behind a lawn mower is just plain stupid.

 

[TerryJ2]

I certainly hope that grandmother is under suicide watch. I'm not kidding.

I agree. So tragic.

 

[HaoZi]

Florida outlawed the whole riding in the back of a truck thing after a little girl died near Panama City. They were taking home a kiddie pool, she was sitting in the kiddie pool in the back, wind caught the pool and lifted it with her in it out of the truck.

I'm still trying to figure out how a kid riding behind a mower got run over by it, but the logistics don't mute the tragedy.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Putting a baby in a cart behind a lawn mower is just plain stupid.

Unfortunately, "stupidity" often is not illegal.
There's just no way to craft enough laws to handle all the stupid stuff people do.

The part that isn't fair, is the bias that creeps into the system... favoring or working against, based on income, race, education, or whatever else.

Janet - back when I was a kid, we rode in the back of "old" pickups... the kind that couldn't do faster than 50mph if they tried, and really were not worth being in if going over 35. My parents (as kids) used to ride for hundreds of miles in the back of these old pick-up trucks, on heavily rutted roads and bad tires (war-time)... and nobody got hurt... but between the truck, roads, and tires, they averaged about 20mph. Speed kills. Good roads encourage speed and even excessive speed. Good safety systems make recklessness more likely. <sigh> Because you can't legislate "stupidity", the rest of us have to live with a rats-nest of intrusive laws that try to close the loopholes.

And yes, here at least, if you have a single-bench pickup, and 4 family members, then somebody has to stay home. "Every passenger must wear a seatbelt, and there must be one seatbelt for each passenger."

 

[skeeter]

I never, ever cut grass with anyone (including the dog) in the yard. That's because I grew up cutting grass with a tractor with a 48 in cutting deck that had 3 blades. Any projectile coming out of that thing (side shoot discharge) became a deadly weapon. While I live in the "city" now and we just have a push mower, I still take the same precautions. When the kids got old enough to cut grass, they also were outfitted with heavy duty shoes, and steel toed as soon as I could fit them in them. I've seen way too many missing fingers and toes over my lifetime to take grass cutting for granted and not as a serious procedure. Heck, if I use the same criteria for a mower that we do for equipment at work, most mowers would never be used! (guarding, automatic stop of all stored energy, etc.).

 

[svengandhi]

Times change. I remember when oldest boy was an infant, mother in law got annoyed when I insisted that she use a car seat. I even bought one to leave full time in her car. She said HER kids hadn't ridden in car seats and they were OK. I asked her if she would have used them if they'd existed and she said "OF COURSE!" in an insulted way. So, I said, OK then why aren't you willing to use it now that it does exist. She never complained ever again.

 

[DammitJanet]

We have a tiny two passenger pickup. Well it says it is a three seater but it would have to be three toddlers and the toddler would have to be driving...lol. Its an 89 toyota pickup. bench seat. Tony and I fit in there but no way could anyone else especially not with a car seat. We might be able to fit a booster seat in there between us maybe but it would be really tight and it would only have a lap belt because that middle seat doesnt have a shoulder belt. There is no way that seat would fit the newer large rear facing carseats. I can barely fit the thing in my backseat. Terry can tell you. I bought a new one when the baby was born and I have to slide my front seat all the way forward for it to fit in my car. The dang thing is HUGE. I think they messed up when they said the baby had to sit rear facing for two years. They made the car seat so big that most cars cant fit them. I am going to have to buy a bigger car to fit the car seat!

Now we are considering having two seats welded into the bed of the pickup with lap belts attached to the seats. We can get the seats at any junkyard. rear facing right behind the cab. I would love to find two of those seats that came with the car seats built into them. I had an escort that had the middle seat with the car seat built in and you just pulled it out. Wish I had kept that car.