

Five years ago, Peter and Emma Cockburn’s lives changed in an instant when their 15-month-old daughter passed away, after being run over in the driveway of their family home.
Peter, who is a builder, had just arrived home from work and was backing his ute and tool trailer out of the garage when little Georgina crawled into the path of the reversing vehicle.
She had gotten through the access door between the house and the attached garage, and had crawled over to say ‘hello to daddy’.
“It could happen to anyone, anywhere at any time,” Emma told Mamamia.
“We forget that children are small humans in their own right and are quite capable of getting themselves into trouble.”
“Sometimes you can do everything under the sun to protect them and they still get in the path of danger.”
Georgina died in April 2011. In the nine years before her death, in NSW alone, another 16 young children were reportedly killed in low-speed run over accidents on residential driveways.
On average, more than five children are killed and 47 seriously injured across Australia in the same way every year.
In most instances, the driver of the vehicle is the child’s parent, relative or another person known to the family who is visiting the home.
