Maori, PI kids more likely to be run over in driveways

Children are more likely to be run over by a vehicle in a driveway if they are from a poor, Maori or Pacific Islands family.

The Starship children's hospital yesterday provided figures from its study of driveway run-over accidents between December 2001 and November last year and has suggested measures to protect children, such as better fencing.

Eighty-eight children younger than 15 were admitted to Auckland hospitals after being reversed over in a home driveway. Seven children died. The survivors' injuries were often severe, and some led to long-term complications such as brain injury.

Auckland has the highest incidence of the accidents and 73 per cent of the children injured in the study were pre-schoolers, 25 per cent were of Maori descent and 43 per cent Pacific.

Starship's Safekids service is producing a home safety checklist for Auckland families and national educational resources aimed at preventing driveway accidents. Both recommend that parents supervise children around vehicles at all times, check where children are before reversing and, where possible, separate children's play areas from driveways.

"This may mean having a stairgate at the front door, fencing off the play area or having children play at the back of the property well away from the driveway," said Safekids director Ann Weaver.

Child Poverty Action Group member Dr Nikki Turner, a GP, said poor areas were at greater risk of road and driveway injuries for a range of reasons, such as having busier roads and insufficient public play areas, and sometimes young children were supervised by siblings or elderly grandparents while parents were at work.

"It's not that poorer people don't care for their kids."

Fencing play areas from driveways was not feasible on many properties, she said.

"You can't just ban children from driveways. What have they got in the way of facilities? Poorer areas in general have less facilities. You can't just put barriers up. You have to replace them with something for the children."

Housing New Zealand, which manages around 64,500 state rental properties, said its design criteria for new properties built for it included guidelines for driveway safety.

They required that driveways had sight lines and clear visibility, a spokeswoman said.

"Also, where possible, there should be secure play areas for children, for example fenced back yards and safe pedestrian access to properties."