Ballarat mum, daughter push for driveway safety

By Jordan Oliver
Updated November 2 2012 - 5:50pm, first published October 25 2011 - 11:54am
ALERT: Melanie Barbera with daughter Sierra and Minister for Children Wendy Lovell place the first of 95,000 vehicle safety stickers yesterday.
ALERT: Melanie Barbera with daughter Sierra and Minister for Children Wendy Lovell place the first of 95,000 vehicle safety stickers yesterday.

A BALLARAT toddler who survived being run over in a driveway last year has become the face of Kidsafe Victoria’s driveway safety campaign, launched in Melbourne yesterday.Melanie Barbera is using the accident involving her daughter Sierra, 2, to educate other parents about the dangers of not remaining vigilant when reversing their vehicles.Official figures show on average, one child in Australia dies each month in a home driveway runover.Six children in Victoria have added to the driveway death toll in the past 18 months.Sierra Barbera was struck by a family friend’s ute on November 20 and spent two weeks in hospital. She suffered internal injuries and broken bones as a result of the accident. Melanie Barbera said Sierra slipped away “just for a second” as a the vehicle went to leave the driveway.“It was very difficult to see,” she said. “She was dragged and then watching her fly out from the car — it was traumatic.”Ms Barbera said the reason she was participating in the campaign was to urge parents to take extra special care around driveways.“If someone’s leaving, make sure you have hold of your child; if you’re going to back out, make sure you can see every single child around,” she said. “If we can save one life out of this, then it’s worth it.”Research from the Coroners Prevention Unit shows most incidents occur at or near the child’s home, where both the parent and the child may have felt that the child was safe. Statistics also show 31 per cent of driveway deaths happen between 8am and 10am, while 46 per cent occur between 4pm and 6pm.The driveway safety campaign involves more than 95,000 vehicle safety stickers distributed across the country.Sierra Barbera helped place the first sticker yesterday. For more information on the campaign, visit www.kidsafevic.com.au

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