Real Lives

"It was only a short trip" said mum Pauline Thomson of Greenock, "but it almost had fatal consequences for us. We were taking my mum home and she was in the back of the car with six-month-old baby Leona on her knee. Since it was only a two-minute journey, we thought it would be alright."

"As our car stopped to turn right, another car hit us, and Leona went straight through the glass in the rear side window and landed on the pavement. A passer-by picked her up, he thought she was a doll, and left her on the bonnet of our car."

"Lucky isn't the word for it - it was a miracle she survived. Our son was in the car too and, if he hadn't been wearing his seatbelt, he would have gone through the windscreen."

"It doesn't matter how much a car seat costs, you can't replace a child - there's no price for that, and a properly-fitted car seat could save your child's life."

A car was sitting at the foot of a steep hill in Coatbridge, when a JCB travelling down the hill had brake failure. The JCB ploughed into the car, throwing it almost vertical.

Inside the car, a mother and her two-year-old child were shocked and distressed but, thankfully, unhurt.

The child's car seat held in place throughout the ordeal. If the seat had not been properly secured, it could easily have resulted in serious injury or death.

A baby was rushed into a Glasgow hospital with head injuries. The car she was travelling in had been involved in a collision.

Although she was correctly restrained in her seat, her buggy - stored in the boot without a parcel shelf - flew forward and landed on her, fracturing her skull.

In 2007, 17-month-old Iain Goodwill was tragically killed in the driveway of his own home when another toddler took the keys to the family car from a hook in the kitchen and tried to start it, causing the car to lurch back and trap Iain under its wheels.

Sadly this was not an isolated incident. It's estimated that 18 children have been killed in driveway accidents between 2006-2012 and there have been many more near misses.

After this tragic accident, parents Mark and Helen set up the Iain Goodwill Trust to help increase awareness among parents of the risks their children face when playing in and around a car.

Mark says, "Car keys should never be left on display where inquisitive little hands might get hold of them - especially when cars can be so easily unlocked by pressing a button on the remote control."

We want to prevent this from happening to any other family.