Editorial: Precious lives so nearly lost

There's nothing worse than judgmental parents who criticise the way other parents do things.

Be warned - I'm about to be one of those parents. And with good reason.

The other day, I was heading into town when I had to slam on my brakes to avoid running over a little girl along a main road outside a school.

The wee tot was all of about 4 as she ran out from a house and across the road.

Thank goodness I saw her. So too, luckily, did another driver coming the other way.

Only about two seconds later, another child ran out from the same house after her. This time, the child was all of 2. He could barely walk but managed to waddle across the road after the girl, who I assume was his sister.

It transpired the little girl had run into the grounds of the school looking for her older brother.

We motorists got out of our cars stunned - with hearts still thumping.

I spotted a teacher in the school grounds who had seen the young children and was clearly confused where they had come from.

I was on my way over to the house where I saw the children running from when a man and a woman emerged looking like they'd just woken up. The man stormed across the road and scooped up his children one at a time while swearing at them and calling them "f****** little ****".

I had to say something and remind him who the adults were, while also pointing out both his kids were nearly wiped out.

Sure, little children dart off from you when you take a moment to do something else. But there were two adults in the house.

Every day when I drive past that house, I hope they have put in place measures to keep those children safe. In recent months, we have reported two children suffering serious injuries as result of being hit by vehicles - a young girl on Sala St and a young boy outside the skate park in the central city.

Please, let's not have another tragedy.

What do you think?

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