Watch for Children Playing in Leaf Piles on the Street

A story circulating on the web right now involves the tragic story of a man who accidentally killed his own daughter and seriously injured her friend, when he parked his car on a pile of leaves.  In a more recent case, two teenagers were arrested in a hit and run, after killing two children playing in a pile of leaves on the side of the road.

It is strange the things we don’t think about. When I see piles of leaves on the roadside for leaf pickup day, I don’t think, “wow what a great place to play.” But a child might. And unfortunately, sometimes, when children play in those piles of leaves, terrible accidents happen.

Fortunately these type of tragic car accidents involving child pedestrians are rather rare, but they generally follow the same pattern. A child or children are playing in a large pile of leaves on the roadside, and someone drives or parks over the leaf pile.  Similar accidents have been known to occur when large boxes are left at the road side and children play inside them.

Watch for Children

Please remember to watch for children when you are driving. Young children don’t appreciate the risks involved in playing by the side of the road. Children just see a big pile of leaves or a huge box and think, what a great place to play.

As adults, we must remind our children not to play by the roadside, and to make them understand how dangerous it can be when drivers cannot see them. And also, as adults, we must take the utmost care around areas where children might play.  Please also remind the new drivers in your household about the risks of driving through items on the side of the road. Let them know children could be hidden in such places. This is what happened in the hit and run accident. The driver intentionally drove through the pile of leaves. The charges mainly stem from the fact that she failed to report the accident.

Regardless of whether the driver is responsible for the accident, the emotional pain of killing your own or another person’s child is something from which someone might never recover.