One can never be too cautious regarding children and motor vehicles. What often may be viewed as a moment of fun or even instruction can turn to tragedy quickly.
That fact was sadly reinforced Sunday in Bourne, Mass. A 9-year-old boy who was allowed to drive a car up his grandmother's driveway was killed when the vehicle accelerated and crashed into an embankment, deploying the car's air bags. The boy died about an hour after he was pulled from the car. He had neck and head trauma consistent with an air-bag injury.
The grandmother, who was in the front passenger seat while the youngster was behind the wheel, merely wanted to let him experience what it was like to drive a car. They had returned to her home after going for ice cream. The grandmother reportedly let him take the wheel of the car to drive about 140 feet of driveway.
For some reason, the boy hit the accelerator, causing the car to hit a dirt embankment. The collision activated the air bags on both the driver's and passenger's sides. And, according to police, neither the boy nor the grandmother was wearing a seat belt.
On the whole, air bags are a valuable safety device. They have saved an estimated 4,600 lives. However, they have also been blamed for around 150 deaths of mostly young children who weren't wearing seat belts, as well as some shorter women. Because of the potential problems air bags pose for children, adults need to make sure children are wearing a seat belt or are securely positioned in the back seat.
Tragedy often leads the government and manufacturers to try to improve a particular product, and that is the case with air bags. Because of previous fatalities, newer, less-powerful air bags have been developed that pose less danger to passengers while offering as much protection as older models, according to a new study. Most automakers are now installing air bags that deploy with less force. Federal data show that air-bag deaths have declined sharply for vehicles made since March of 1997, when most automakers installed the new bags.
Regardless of improved safety devices, the critical element to avoiding auto tragedies is common sense. Under no circumstance should a 9-year-old child be allowed to drive a car. That is the tragic lesson everyone else should take from the death in Massachusetts.