Boy killed in driveway accident

A young boy is dead after being hit by a car on a residential driveway in Kaipara Flats, Auckland.

The incident happened just before 6pm on Woodcocks Rd. A police statement said the dead boy was 1, but it is understood he may have been even younger.

It wasn't clear what the child was doing on the driveway. St John spokesman Norm Ngatai confirmed they were called to a report of a child being run over by a car.

He suffered serious head injuries and died before the ambulance arrived. At least four police cars were parked outside the house last night near the spot where the boy was struck.

A small red sign on the gate read: "Slow please, children and dogs."

According to child safety group Safekids 40 children were admitted to Starship hospital from the greater Auckland area after being run over in a driveway from 2006 to 2010.

An average of four children a year were killed on driveways between 2000 and 2010, rising to five in 2011 and 2012.

The bulk of the deaths occurred in Auckland, with 41 per cent of fatalities.

Safekids has three key messages: always check where children are, supervise them playing and, if possible, separate the playing area from the driveway.

The group has compiled a description of a typical child killed or injured in a driveway accident based on New Zealand's appalling record in this area, with one of the highest rates of child driveway deaths in the OECD.

They say the child is usually close to 2 years old, a Maori or Pacific Islander, and from a household with a number of people.

In almost half of the cases one of the child's parents was the driver of the car that struck them.

- Vaimoana Tapaleao of the New Zealand Herald