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Buckle up SA! Girl, 3, dead in crash

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A three-year-old girl has died after she was flung from the car she was travelling in - perhaps because she was not buckled into an anchored child seat?

How many more innocent children must die because some parents are too uncaring or simply too stupid to use a safety harness of some type? But then, they're probably the same ones you see every day with their seat belts dangling...

VIDEO: Heart-wrenching anti-speeding ad - 'Mistakes'

The toddler died on Monday (Jan 20) 2014  when a vehicle overturned on the R53 near Potchefstroom in  North West, paramedics said.

FLUNG FROM CAR

A spokesperson said: "The emergency team arrived to find a three-year-old girl lying on the road. She was ejected from the vehicle on impact and died on the scene.”
 
Engelbrecht said the driver of the vehicle was pacing the roadway, holding another child, a two-month-old baby, in her arms.

He added: "The woman was driving from Ventersdorp towards Potchefstroom when she lost control of her vehicle and it overturned. Advanced life-support measures were implemented and the baby was rushed to hospital in Potchefstroom for urgent treatment.

“The infant was suspected to have suffered severe head trauma, causing her to be unstable.The driver had minor injuries.”

BUCKLE UP!

During December 2013 the Western Cape transport department launched a safety campaign for drivers to buckle up. Traffic boards on the highways said: "Click, tock.. Is your child buckled up?" It’s the law, but many drivers fail to comply.

The same commonsense rule applies to adults... in another crash, this one in Vereeniging, three adults were thrown out of a car, also unlikely to have been wearing seat belts.

They were killed on Monday in a collision between a truck and a Toyota Venture. The Venture apparently rear-ended the truck, the bonnet was ripped off an one ejected person was lying on the hot engine, according to paramedics who added:

"A woman died from severe injuries sustained when she was ejected from the vehicle; the driver was trapped in the vehicle later died from severe head injuries.

"The third person to be killed in the collision was a male, also ejected from the vehicle and was found lying alongside the carnage. It is believed that he also sustained head injuries."

Majija said a critically injured passenger was airlifted to hospital.

She said the driver of the truck was not injured and the cause of the accident was still being investigated by police.

Should there be harsher punishment for unbuckled children and passengers in drivers' cars? Email us and we'll publish your thoughts or use the Readers' Comments section below...
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