Panania: Three-year-old boy seriously injured after being hit by a car
By Zak Wheeler For Daily Mail Australia[1]
Published: 08:23, 13 January 2024 | Updated: 08:23, 13 January 2024
A three-year-old is in a serious condition in hospital after he was hit by a car in Sydney[2].
The boy, three, was struck by a 56-year-old woman driving a yellow MG on Wilson Street at Panania in the Canterbury-Bankstown area at 11:30am on Saturday.
The toddler was rushed to the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick and the woman driver was taken to Liverpool Bankstown police station for mandatory testing.
Just hours earlier on Friday night, a one-year-old girl was tragically killed in a similar incident in western Sydney.
Rishwika Salibindla died [3]when her father Joseph Reddy Salibindla, 41, unknowingly backed into her at their property in Edna Avenue in Toongabbie just before 5.30pm on Friday.
The toddler, three, was rushed to the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick and the woman taken to Liverpool Bankstown police station for mandatory testing (pictured Wilson St)
Rishwika was hit by her father as he backed the family's Audi four-wheel drive out of the driveway and despite paramedics rushing to the scene the child died.
Her father was taken to Westmead Hospital for mandatory testing, and police are investigating.
The situation prompted a spokesperson from the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts to urge parents to always stay vigilant while driving.
They said that the federal government would introduce mandated reversing technologies for all new vehicles from November 2025.
'Reversing technologies, which include reversing cameras and motion sensors, increase driver awareness of vulnerable road users such as children behind a vehicle,' the spokesperson told Sydney Morning Herald[5].
The executive officer from child accident prevention organisation Kidsafe, Christine Erskine, said the mandate could not be wholly relied on to prevent further tragedies.
'Because of the unpredictability of children, their speed, and because they're so close to the ground they're still very hard to see, no matter what technology you have,' Ms Erskine told the publication.
Ms Erskine said the best strategy was to make sure kids could not sneak behind cars in the first place.
She advised parents to keep children buckled in their car seats, locked in the house or behind closed gates.
Rishwika Salibindla (pictured) died after her father accidently reversed his SUV over her on Friday afternoon at a property in Sydney's north-west
On average, seven children under 14 are killed each year in driveway accidents and another 60 are seriously injured.
In 85 per cent of these incidents, the driver is unaware that a child is close to their vehicle at all.
NSW Roads Minister John Graham chimed in on the matter and extended his sympathies to Rishwika's family.
'I want to extend my deepest condolences to the family, friends and neighbours of this beautiful little girl so tragically lost.
I know all of the Toongabbie community will be feeling her loss immensely and the thoughts of the entire NSW government are with them,' he said.
'NSW Police are investigating the circumstances of Friday's incident but in general I would like to remind all drivers wherever they are to be vigilant about child safety, whether it is inside the car or out.'
Last weekend another one-year-old was killed after being run over by a ute in Dubbo.
References
- ^ Zak Wheeler For Daily Mail Australia (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Sydney (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Rishwika Salibindla died (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Father-of-two killed one kilmoetre from home (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ told Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au)