49 Year Old Grandmother Killed While Walking Her Grandson

Tragic news of a young grandmother, that was hit and killed while she was out for a walk with her grandson. The grandson was in a stroller and was unhurt. The vehicle that hit her was backing out of a driveway on the 2800 block of 94th Avenue N of Brooklyn Park. Reading the article about her, sympathy goes out for all of those involved. Cause was still being determined.

A number of Injuryboard members have discussed pedestrian accidents and the issues with backing up. Timothy Smith, covered the issue extensively with : Nearly 100 children killed in "backing-up" accidents in 2007.

Kids health has some great safety advice about backing up around children:

• children injured in driveway accidents often suffer severe and sometimes fatal injuries; injuries typically involve significant trauma to the head, chest and lower limbs
• most children are injured on their own home driveway
• the greatest risk is to children under the age of five
• sadly it is most commonly the child’s own parent who is driving the vehicle when a child is hit
• in many cases, the driver reported seeing the child in a safe place before the accident
• driveway accidents are more common in summer, between December and February, when children are more likely to be playing outside
• most driveway accidents happen in the afternoon between 4pm and 7pm or in the morning between 10am and 12pm
• the occurrence of these tragic accidents has not changed significantly over the past 15 years but the good news is these deaths and injuries are preventable

As with any death in a Minnesota motor vehicle collision, there are a number of issues that will need to be reviewed. My partner, Joe Crumley, addressed this topic in a recent article for the Minnesota Lawyers Trial magazine. I was interviewed last year on the same topic. In all of these cases sorrow for the families of those involved goes out.