Blind spot mirror appeal by mother of baby saved from lorry by heroic au pair

THE mother of a baby, whose au pair died rescuing the child from under the wheels of a lorry, has called on trucking companies to act now and not wait for months before installing blind spot mirrors.

German-born Nicole Naumburger was dragged under the wheels of a truck that was about to hit 13-month-old, Maeve Bosteels on Main Street, Carrigaline, Co Cork, on February 26, 2004.

Since then, Maeve’s mother Finola has repeatedly spoken of a need for blind spot mirrors on trucks.

The European Commission has agreed to a proposal by independent MEP, Marian Harkin for all heavy goods vehicles to be fitted with the mirrors.

However, Finola Bosteels said it could be years before any legislation comes into effect in Ireland. She wants trucking companies to take action now.

“I would appeal to them to be responsible about something which costs so little but saves lives,” she said yesterday, “Accidents can be avoided by taking these steps.”

Ms Bosteels said it should not take legislation and directives for drivers to know that lives are at risk.

She added that Maeve, now four years old, still has a fascination with trucks, that her mother finds a “little bit unsettling”.

“It has remained with her and comes from the incident,” she Ms Bosteels. “She does know of Nicole as there are photographs of her, and her family came to visit.”

It is thought that 400 people in the EU die every year in blind-spot accidents.

Jimmy Quinn, vice-president with the Irish Road Haulier’s Association, said yesterday: “Congratulations to Marian Harkin for getting this up on the agenda. To be frank, there was too much pussy-footing around about this thing.

“We’ve promoted it in Ireland for the past two years. We have a specific problem here because we only have about 500 miles of motorway and dual carriageway for the 95,000 miles of ordinary road. The problem becomes apparent when trucks are intermingling with pedestrians and other road users.”

He said the IRHA was very concerned: “First of all, nobody wants the death of anybody of their conscience; secondly, it’s a career ending occasion for many drivers.

“They simply don’t want to sit behind the wheel again after doing something like this, and it happens especially when elderly people in slow moving traffic move out, and assume the driver can see them because he’s so high up when, actually, they’re in a blind spot.”

Mr Quinn added: “On the open road [truck drivers] can see for miles in front of them whereas car drivers can’t but this translates into a weak spot when you’re in heavy traffic.”