NSW: Boy, 2, dead after 6 year old brother starts car

AAP General News (Australia)
08-09-1999
NSW: Boy, 2, dead after 6 year old brother starts car

By Sonia Field

SYDNEY, Aug 9 AAP - A Sydney toddler died after climbing on the bullbar of the family car
which had been started by his six-year-old brother.

Police said the toddler was dragged underneath the car, which hit a tree then crashed into
a house in the south-western Sydney suburb of Campbelltown last night.

A police spokesman said the parents of three children put them in a Toyota Tarago at about
8.20pm and went back inside their home in Waminda Avenue.

"A two-year-old boy has climbed out of the car and climbed onto the bullbar," he said.

The little boy's brother then moved to the driver's seat and started the car, pitching the
toddler forward.

"The Tarago has then moved forward, with the boy trapped underneath," the spokesman said.

As the boy was dragged underneath, the van clipped a tree, before hitting a house, he said.

The tragedy has sparked a warning from a key children's protection authority about how
quickly children can get into trouble.

Deputy director of Kidsafe Ian Scott said he felt "terribly" for the parents of the child
and for the six-year-old.

"The last thing you'd think of is that your six-year-old will start the car when you dash
inside to get something," Mr Scott said.

"This is the sort of story that reinforces for parents the idea of thinking ahead," he
said.

Mr Scott said most fatalities involving cars were caused by parents themselves, children
releasing the hand-brake or dehydration from children locking themselves in cars in hot
weather.

"Children and cars don't mix and it's up to us as parents to manage that for them," he
said.

"These things can happen when parents' attention is diverted as is normal in everyday life
... modern life distracts us, but we need to keep clear that our children need our constant
supervision."

The child was taken to Campbelltown hospital but could not be revived, the police spokesman
said.

AAP pwa/sr/sb/cjh

KEYWORD: BULLBAR NIGHTLEAD

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