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Friday, March 29, 2024

UK taxi manages to avoid accident after little girl runs across road (RAW)

Credit: SWNS STUDIO
Duration: 00:18s 0 shares 1 views

UK taxi manages to avoid accident after little girl runs across road (RAW)
UK taxi manages to avoid accident after little girl runs across road (RAW)

A taxi driver warned parents to 'never let their guard down' after this near collision when a child ran into the road and in front of his car.

Andrew Westmoreland, 30, was on his way to a pickup when a young girl darted out from behind a parked black van.

He slammed his breaks down on the white Ford Mondeo and stopped three or four feet away from the girl, who kept running.

His dash camera caught the 'scary' near-miss in Southport, Merseyside, on May 8.

The cabbie estimated the little girl was no older than five.

A cyclist ahead forced him to reduce his speed to around 17mph in the 20mph zone but he worried that had he not slowed down, it could have been fatal.

Mr Westmoreland, who has a nine-year-old daughter, said: "What's on my mind right now is what could have potentially happened and the process after that.

"That's what worries me the most about it.

If it did turn out differently you would obviously have the bereavement and the criminal aspect." He wants to 'raise awareness' that parents must never 'let their guard down' - even when roads may seem quieter due to lockdown.

"Thankfully I have a dashcam," he said.

"Hopefully in the future it could even stop just one child running out." He added he had no time to think before instinctively slamming the breaks on but said 'it's really hard to judge.'

"Usually if it is a pigeon or something you are not meant to do an emergency stop - you are meant to carry on.

"It was hard, especially because I had to drive back past - I wanted to go the other way.

It was not a nice feeling.

"Usually in a situation like that you would stop but I thought if I was her parent the first person I would blame is the driver of the car eve thought it was not my fault.

"I wanted to avoid that confrontation." He said there were people out celebrating VE day, who were not social distancing, during the near-miss.

His taxi firm recently handed out 50 care packages to elderly and vulnerable customers.

A taxi driver warned parents to 'never let their guard down' after this near collision when a child ran into the road and in front of his car.

Andrew Westmoreland, 30, was on his way to a pickup when a young girl darted out from behind a parked black van.

He slammed his breaks down on the white Ford Mondeo and stopped three or four feet away from the girl, who kept running.

His dash camera caught the 'scary' near-miss in Southport, Merseyside, on May 8.

The cabbie estimated the little girl was no older than five.

A cyclist ahead forced him to reduce his speed to around 17mph in the 20mph zone but he worried that had he not slowed down, it could have been fatal.

Mr Westmoreland, who has a nine-year-old daughter, said: "What's on my mind right now is what could have potentially happened and the process after that.

"That's what worries me the most about it.

If it did turn out differently you would obviously have the bereavement and the criminal aspect." He wants to 'raise awareness' that parents must never 'let their guard down' - even when roads may seem quieter due to lockdown.

"Thankfully I have a dashcam," he said.

"Hopefully in the future it could even stop just one child running out." He added he had no time to think before instinctively slamming the breaks on but said 'it's really hard to judge.'

"Usually if it is a pigeon or something you are not meant to do an emergency stop - you are meant to carry on.

"It was hard, especially because I had to drive back past - I wanted to go the other way.

It was not a nice feeling.

"Usually in a situation like that you would stop but I thought if I was her parent the first person I would blame is the driver of the car eve thought it was not my fault.

"I wanted to avoid that confrontation." He said there were people out celebrating VE day, who were not social distancing, during the near-miss.

His taxi firm recently handed out 50 care packages to elderly and vulnerable customers.

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