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What is your opinion of this car knocking down a girl video ?

posted 4 years ago by Quasimodo (16388)
3 replies | jump to latest

Don't worry the child wasn't badly hurt.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html

It's about a third of the way down the front page. You get a clearer view of the video on the front page than you do by clicking on the article.

Now obviously the 11 year old girl in the moment was oblivious to her surroundings and ran out onto the road without looking so she was at fault. But I think the driver was slow to react, so slow I doubt that the driver was looking at the road at the time.

I made a comment to the effect that drivers should slow down in residential streets and be on their guard for children behaving irresponsibly and got a severe red arrowing for having the cheek to suggest that motorists should drive carefully.

What do you think ? Is this an old person versus young person, non mobile phone user versus mobile phone user situation with regard to the extreme difference of opinion ?

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

The child was running diagonally from more-or-less behind the driver's normal forward focus of attention. From his/her point of view, the child might not have been detectable until the very last moment. Also, I noticed that the car was travelling only slightly faster than the child was running. She virtually ran into the car, it seemed to me. The driver turned his wheels the very instant she struck. If the driver did see her when she first stepped off the kerb, it would be natural to expect that she was intending to run across the street, rather than diagonally along it.

I found it very hard to judge. Drivers should always expect the unexpected, but then the unexpected is impossible to expect, so to speak. One thing's for certain; that girl won't run out into the street ever again!

[–] Quasimodo (16388) 4 years ago

Yes she was running at a bit of an angle but I have watched it many times and the driver didn't react at all until the girl was hit. The driver didn't apply the brakes and just swerved after the girl was on the bonnet of the car. Unless the driver has no peripheral vision at all I think they weren't looking at the road.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Yes, that's a point. There's no sign of the car braking, such as a sudden forward dipping or an abrupt change in speed. I suppose that alone suggests that the driver wasn't ready for it. The swerving almost looks like a belated attempt to avoid a collision, rather than a reaction to it.

Interesting to know just how fast the driver was going. I think the speed is deceptive in the video. It can't have been very fast, since the child reached it easily by running. Still, the car did carry her at least 20 feet, so it wasn't just idling along. Probably a case for further limiting speeds in suburban streets, as you say.