Last Sunday, a Weber County seven year old made off with his father’s car so he didn’t have to go to church. His father was in the basement of their house and his mother was asleep Sunday morning when Preston Scarbrough decided he would take matters into his own hands. He led police on a chase with speeds of up to 40 mph before he returned home, jumped from the car, and ran to the house.
According to safety website kidsandcars.org, there are any number of ways kids can be hurt or killed when they are in or around cars:
- Knocking the vehicle into gear and setting the vehicle into motion
- Strangulation by a power window, sunroof or power accessory
- Being taken by a stranger in the course of a car theft
- Hopping into a car trunk during an innocent game of hide-and-seek
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Finding matches that set the car aflame
- Leaving the vehicle alone to go to the bathroom, or to go looking for you
- Being kidnapped from the vehicle
And, of course, they may get the wild notion that they should drive away in the car for some reason that probably seems like a good idea at the time.
The number one rule for babies to tots is to never leave them unattended in or around parked cars. When you have older children, the best advice is to make sure that they understand that driving is only for licensed drivers and to keep car keys our of their reach.
Bret Hanna of Wrona DuBois in Utah, focuses exclusively on litigating plaintiffs’ medical malpractice and catastrophic personal injury cases. He has represented clients in state and federal courts, in mediations, and in administrative proceedings in Michigan and Utah since 1991.
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