Went to pick up an item at an auction house yesterday. Its a big massive clearing house that is about 4 footballs fields in size. Its pretty chaotic with a parking lot full of people going in and out like an ant hill.

I go in around 4 o'clock which is the start of the rush hour time, find my item, stand in line, check out and leave.

There was a van next to my car with a woman and 4 of her kids loading items into one of those large ford cargo vans. As I am putting my item into my car I hear her say "<whatever the kid's name is> get out of your car seat and come back here, I need to change you". I don't think much about it , get in my car and get ready to leave.

As I put my car into reverse, I look into my side mirror and I just happen to see this 2 year old squatted down behind my rear wheel. His head was sticking out past the bumper.

If I hadn't have seen that kid, I don't even want to think what would have happened, I have a shiver down my spine just typing this. I put my car back in park, opened my door and stepped out, When I made eye contact with him he ran back over to his momma, still loading the van up. I was so unnerved I couldn't even get angry. I just had to sit in my car for a few minutes. I didn't say a word. I waited until she put that kid back into the car, checked my surroundings like 5 or 6 times and then inched out of the parking spot.

I wasn't right for awhile after that.

Yikes.

Good on you for looking in the rear view.

That would give me the heeby-jeebies as well.

Not your fault but it would have bothered you forever. Glad it didn't happen. Ed k

yeah had something similar happen., was doing a job and the lady there was letting her toddler run around the front yard. i came out of the house to see the little girl running into the street between two parked cars with another coming down the street probly going 40 in the 30 mph zone. i ran after her but knew i couldn't get her in time, scared me. she by the grace of god stopped and the car missed her by about 4 inches.

A while back on here someone had bitched about people who back into a parking space or pull thru one into another so they don't have to back out of a parking space.
You have just given another reason why I am one of those people who does not like to back out of spaces.
Glad you didn't run the kid over.

When I was in high school one of the bus drivers ran over & killed a kid that had dropped a book, which went under the bus, & she went under to get it.

The driver was mentally askew from that point forward. She was in her 50's at the time & did nothing but sit in her house every day until she died.

Reversing cameras on our cars are used and appreciated every day in my household.

Nothing like aloof parents.
Free Range toddlers.
And public settings.
Kids have hands.
Hold on to em or make sure they are safe.

That would screw up any right thinking person.

I've read the riot act to my son for months about driving slow in residential neighborhoods.

Our neighborhood is packed with kids walking to school and playing in the street. Its easy to drive 40mph and not think about it. I think I've finally got thru to him.

Drive fast on the interstate, slow where kids play.

Tragedy avoided. Thank goodness.



Unless I know where all three kids are when I get ready to leave, I make a lap around what ever I am driving.

Backup cameras are invaluable sometimes. I read that all new cars have to have them now. They aren't infallible but they're a big help. I put an aftermarket one on our van last year. It removed about 90% of the spots where the mirrors couldn't see.

I am one of them. I can't even see a small car behind my pickup. Do you notice how a lot of service vans and trucks put out cones they have to pick up when leaving? Makes them look.

When I was active in the fire department I had more calls of older people backing into people than driving forward into them in parking lots. Of course that isn’t counting the ones who drove into buildings while parking. I pull thru or back in as well.

My wife and I experienced an almost identical situation about a year ago at a farmer's market in Plummer, Idaho.
When I said something to the child (4 years old or so) about safety the aloof mother walked up and looked indignant. I reminded her about safety as well.

A person who knows how to use mirrors can back into a tighter space than he can drive into frontwards. You can see better.

^^^^I definitely agree with the above.^^^^
I have an F250 extended cab 8foot bed. Only way I can park.

in the oilfield this is how you park.

My wife's uncle plowed over kid on a bicycle. He was on a main road doing about 45 mph, bottom of the hill there was a cross road for which that incoming traffic has to stop. Kids don't obey stop signs so this Lil Ray-Ray comes barrelling across the roadway on his bike.

I was a bad, bad scene. Talkin like kid/bicycle wrapped around driveshaft bad.

Happened in a flash.


Wife's uncle ain't been right either. Aunt drives anywhere they need to go. He's sort of become a recluse as well.

insurance companies are already calling this a best practice and "strongly suggesting " it for businesses, along with placing a cone on the vehicle hood. look for it to be an Osha rule in a few years, maybe less


for the guy who said "it wouldnt have been the drivers fault. thats correct in this instance but had he been in a commercial vehicle it damned sure would have been had the comoany had a "360" rule


its sad that we as a society allow ins. companies to dictate so much of our lives.

I worry every time I back out of my drive way. I check all my mirrors and back up cameras. Apparently kids aren't taught anything about watching out for cars. They appear to be plenty old enough to know to look out for cars, but they don't appear to. Wish they would just play in their own yards. I usually drive <20 mph through the neighborhood, because you never know when one might run out in the street.

A guy I know use to work for UPS years ago. One day while making deliveries, he had to drive through a neighborhood looking for an address. He noticed a lady and a young child walking down the sidewalk headed in the same direction he was. He noticed the lady kept looking back at him and thought it was strange. When he got closer to her, she switched sides with the child. This really set off an alarm with him and he was pretty sure something was up. Sure enough when he got close to them, she suddenly pushed the kid out into the street in his path. Luckily he was on high alert and was able to stop before hitting the child. He immediately called the police but she took off with the child in tow. Don't know if they ever caught her or not. I know it shook him up pretty good.

Someone bitched about that? We should pitch in and buy him a crying towel.



KFWA - good on you for having your head screwed on. A lot of people would not have caught that.

Wow.. A close call for sure.. Makes one appreciate the newer vehicles with rear sensors and/or cameras..




Yep.. With my truck I nearly HAVE to back into a space or I'll never get out - especially because many spaces now have lines closer together for them itty-bitty cars. My dually's nearly wall-to-wall on those..

I worked for a company that required you to back in when parking if possible. I got into the habit after 25 yrs and still do it. I have seen a lot of accidents that could have been prevented by doing this. Yes it's a pain and takes a little more time but I don't mind the extra minuet. I an glad KFWA did not have a tragedy to deal with. Some people I would back up to see what the bump was, but a kid would haunt me.

It would unnerve me for sure, a man I worked with ran over his own kid. The child survived, I look real close if there are kids about.

Old friends of ours lost a toddler son when a neighbor friend who didn't see their child near his vehicle accidentally ran over him as he was leaving. Needless to say both families were beyond devastated.

I was hit by a car back when I was around 4 or 5 years old. Myself along with some more little kids were crossing the street to get to an ice cream truck parked at a corner waiting on us. The driver of the car that hit me was a teenage boy with a carload of buddies. Showing off, he tried to 'peel-out' as he was leaving a stop sign at the same corner where the ice cream truck was parked. Luckily he hadn't gained enough forward acceleration yet to hit me with enough force to do serious injury but it was still enough though to knock me unconscious into the roadside ditch. Knocked my new white buck shoes off both feet still tied. When I regained consciousness I was crying thinking my little Boston Terrier that followed me everywhere had got run over. Parents rushed me to a doctor, no broken bones but sore for a few days from bruises, scrapes and scratches.

Several weeks later we were at a local drive-in restaurant and I remember my parents pointing out a teenage boy car hop working there. saying he was the one driving the car that hit me and that he had quit driving altogether by choice.

Last 8 years before I retired I was usually driving a company car in my semi-retirement job. We had to go through a driver safety course to do that. In parking lots we were required to get a pull through space and never back out, if at all possible. In the course I learned that the vast majority of parking lot accidents involve backing up. Forgot what the percentage is but it's high.

This. Glad it wasn't otherwise for you and them.

when i worked for oilstates it was required.

Local ordinance here where I live, 45 degree reverse angle parking in main street. I like it as it allows one to see when driving out.

That is such an obviously great idea that it's rather embarrassing it hasn't caught on here.

Most towns here don't have it, and every time some lout tries to change it to nose in the town gets up in arms as we like it as it is.

Always thought those backup camera's were a good idea. This post just pushed me a little further toward getting one.

Gives me the willies just reading this.

I'll never bitch about the perimeter parking beepers on my Tundra ever again. Thank God you saw the kid in time.

A few years back, I was sitting still at a light, when a group of young kids ran behind my truck and into moving traffic on the other side. They assumed the traffic was ALL stopped. One kid was hit, and it sounded like someone hit a bag of trash. Left him in an unmoving pile on the roadway. I called for an ambulance and the cops got there fast, but there was never a word on the news about it.

In the '60s, as a teen (I lied about my age.), I drove a Good Humor ice cream truck (remember them?) for a couple of summers. In our driver's room there was a wall-to-wall sign in two or three foot letters: "NEVER BACK UP!"

I had a very close call with a kid on a bike. I was driving slowly (fast idle) through a neighborhood ringing my bells when three young (10 or 11-ish) boys came flying past me on their bicycles. The first one cut real close in front of me and slapped my fender as he went by. The second one cut real close in front of me and slapped my fender as he went by. The third little klutz cut real close in front of me, tried to hit my fender, missed, and wound up throwing himself off of his bicycle directly in front of me - I mean right there at my front bumper! I nailed my brakes so hard the rear wheels came up and the refrigerated box slid on the frame.

I was so shook I could barely stand. I shut off the truck and left it right there in the middle of the street and walked about a block to a chili joint. I bought a pack of Camels (I was not yet a committed smoker until that day) and sat there for a good hour looking at my truck down the street,chain smoking and eating a bowl of chili. (I had never had a taste for chili before - I grew up with bland tastes.)

That boy owes his life to some incredible brakes on that old Ford chassis.

a little more light hearted story

my BIL and I were coming back from the lumber company one day in his little Ford Courier pickup truck. A neighborhood boy was zipping around on his dirt bike, not being a nuisance but also not paying attention to traffic, you know, being a cocky kid who thought his skills with a dirt bike exceeded his mortality.

He was zipping in and out around up front of us and then let us pass, then proceeded to immediately cut right behind the truck as we passed. Unfortunately he didn't realize we had a 12' board sticking out the back. Knocked him right on his ass in the middle of the street. I wasn't paying too much attention but my BIL busted up laughing and told me what happened.

I asked him if we should stop and see if he's OK but we both saw the kid get up, shake it off and pick up his dirt bike, so we kept going.

Probably taught that kid a valuable lesson that day about traffic and motorcycles.

the one thing i still have nightmares about is when i took my 3 yr old son to the shop bub and i had to build hot rods, he was running around it all day. my wife picked him up and i walked back into the shop and bumped a slant 6 motor on a engine stand and it fell over. would of killed him, i barely bumped it.

the amount of people [parents] who say after a tragedy ...'I thought my kid was'..??...until they feel
that speed bump in the drive that wasn't there before...

Even if one did see them clear of a vehicle, ..little ones can still dash out in an instant away from moms side.

Well fate was looking out for both of you.

ANYTIME you are driving a vehicle and see young children around or are in an area wear you know young children could be , you MUST be situational aware.

A good friend lost her 7 year old Grandson in a a few years ago up in Wisconsin. A fellow backed right over the boy in a restaurant parking lot.

PTL KWFA

Same with my Tundra and I never doubt them.

I do this whenever possible :

Glad that it turned out well. A good reminder to us all to watch out for the unexpected in crowded areas.

A guy in my dad's area ran over a 3 year old boy and killed him. He had a nervous break down shortly after, even though we was found to be not at fault for the accident.

An easy solution to relieve your worry is to back into your driveway.

The theory with backing into a spot, or pulling through, is that you just drove past the spot in the parking lot (or your driveway) and while doing so checked for kids etc. because you have a clear line of sight.

Defensive driving classes I've had put the number of parking lot claims due to backing out of spots and having an "accident" at around 85% +/-.

I had the worst time trying to convince co-workers to back the vehicles into the year in the evening or into the parking spaces during the day. Of course, those yahoos couldn't figure out what window cleaner was either. Maybe they didn't care if they saw anything.

I like that 45 degree back in street parking idea. Our main street is wide enough to allow parallel parking, so no need here, but I know countless other places where it would be a boon idea.

Geno

I afternoon at a local coffee shop where I read outside and enjoy the on premise roasts.
Every week I see one of these young mother's with a small child allowing the kid to walk in assisted through the parking lot and it's once or twice a month when I witness a near fatal accident.
Always followed by one of two things...
He mother yelling at the toddler or the driver.
Hold the fkin kids hand!