Better to lose licence than take someone’s life
THE family of a little girl killed in a Coles carpark have given their first sit-down interview in a bid to “start a conversation” about changing the law for elderly drivers in Queensland.
Indie Armstrong, 6, was run down by 86-year-old Miriam Grace Paton at the Nambour shopping complex on June 17.
Paton was reversing her silver hatchback when she lost control, hitting the Armstrong family who were in a pedestrian refuge near the carpark.
Indie’s eight-year-old sister Lily received a severely broken leg and suffers extreme post traumatic stress as a result of the incident.
The children’s grandmother Sandy Bampton had both legs crushed and was placed into a medically induced coma for three days. She is lucky to be alive.
Since then, the pair have had multiple surgeries and every day they fight to overcome the trauma.
‘‘ IT NEEDS TO BE WHEN YOU GET TO A CERTAIN AGE YOU’VE GOT TO GO IN AND PROVE THAT YOU CAN DRIVE.
SANDY BAMPTON
Now, in a bid to overcome their emotional and physical pain, the Armstrongs want to be the voice of change in Queensland and won’t stop until elderly drivers are made to retake their driving tests regularly.
The family also want their devastating loss to serve as a reminder for others on the road this busy festive period.
“You get to a certain age and you should have to do a driven test to see if you can turn your head, to see if you can see out your eyes, to see if you can look backwards, to see if you can see over the steering wheel, and to see if your body functions well enough,” Sandy said.
“It needs to be when you get to a certain age you’ve got to go in and prove that you can drive. And then it’s just law, it’s not anything personal.”
In a cruel twist, Indie’s death was not classified as a road death or a pedestrian death because the incident happened in a privately owned carpark.
Instead, Indie’s name was placed among an obscure set of statistics that rarely shows up in media reports and government media releases.
“It’s hindering us being able
to change laws because they’re not added to the tally. They (the stats) look a hell of a lot better than what they really are, and that’s sad,” Indie’s aunt Tamika Bampton said.
“We can’t just be looking at road fatalities.
“If we’re looking at elderly drivers and changing the laws for them then it needs to include all statistics, not just road.”
Indie’s mother Emily said the driver who killed Indie, Miriam Grace Paton, should not have been driving.
“As much as it makes me angry, if (Paton) had’ve had her driving tested when she got her licence renewed, she would’ve had her licence taken off her,” Emily said.
“She would still be living her life.
“She might have been a bit cranky about it but she would be living her life and we would be living our life and Indie would be with us.”