Proper road signage and traffic calming measures should be put in place and all shrubbery and bushes obscuring road visibility should be removed from near all playgrounds, a jury has recommended, after hearing how a small child was hit by a car near a playground in Co Cork.
The jury at the inquest into the death of 15-month-old Kaitlin Butler from Forest Hill, Midleton, Co Cork, made the recommendations after hearing how bushes on an approach road near Carrigaline playground may have prevented a motorist from seeing the little girl.
The inquest heard how the incident happened when Kaitlin and her mother, Margaret (20), had gone with Kaitlin's grand-aunt, Sabrina Hegarty, and her children, Stephanie (13), Chelsea (7) and Jordan (6), to visit the playground in Carrigaline on July 18th, 2006.
Margaret Butler told the inquest how she and Ms Hegarty were drinking a beer on a green area near the playground as the children were playing and that she went to the toilet at about 6.20pm, thinking that Kaitlin was with Stephanie and the two younger children.
However, it emerged that Stephanie had got permission to go to a nearby chip shop for food. Kaitlin was with the two younger children but they were unable to save the child when she was hit by a car as she stepped on to the roadway leading to Carrigaline Community Centre.
Sabrina Hegarty told the inquest that her daughter, Chelsea, told her that she had tried to grab Kaitlin as she went on to the roadway but a car came down too quickly and hit the little girl and rolled over her.
Car driver, Andrew O'Connell (18), told the inquest that he was driving at less than 10mph at the time down the driveway to the community complex when he felt a bump just as he rounded a bend at the bottom and he thought he had driven over a rock.
He drove on a little, checked in his mirror and thought he had driven over a doll so he stopped his silver Honda Civic car and got out. As he did so, he saw a woman running over and picking up what he then realised was a child.
Cross-examined by solicitor for Kaitlin's parents, Margaret Butler and William McCarthy, Mr O'Connell said that he never saw Kaitlin on the road in front of him and that she must have come out from behind some bushes near the bend in the driveway.
Two people who were in the park at the time, Rachel Crowley and Paul Murphy, both told how they saw Mr O'Connell's car come down the driveway and both testified that he was travelling slowly at the time he passed the bushes, where they heard a thud.
Public Service Vehicle Inspector, Sgt Pat Donovan, said he examined Mr O'Connell's car and found it to be in good working order, but he found the standard fitted seats to be low and that may have been a factor in the accident as it created a blindspot for low objects immediately in front of the car.
Forensic crash investigator, Garda Mark O'Connor, said he found a blindspot of approximately 5.1 metres at the bend near the end of the driveway. It was obstructed by shrubbery and a rock plaque near where he believed the point of impact may have been.
If Kaitlin had run out on the driveway behind those bushes, then Mr O'Connell would have had only 1.5 seconds to react, even travelling at just 10mph, and he could not have avoided colliding with the little girl, said Garda O'Connor. Insp John Quilter confirmed a file had been sent to the DPP who recommended no prosecution over the death of the girl whom, a postmortem showed, died from head and neck injuries due to a road collision. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
