Child safety campaigners are backing calls for driver education following another driveway accident, in which a two-year-old was run over by a car at her home on Sunday.
Two children have died in driveway accidents this year. Six children were killed last year, and at least nine injured.
The toddler was partially crushed by the car at the property in the Hamilton suburb of Claudelands, emergency services say, and the vehicle had to be lifted off her.
She underwent surgery at Waikato Hospital, which says she is in a stable condition.
Since the incident involving the toddler, an eight-year-old boy is in a serious condition, also in Waikato Hospital after a car ran over his head in a Hamilton driveway on Monday.
Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers says emergency services were called to the Tennyson Road property at 6.50pm.
Senior Sergeant Rogers says it appears the boy was hiding underneath the car, when the driver reversed.
He says the boy's condition is not considered to be life-threatening but he is in a serious condition.
University of Waikato child injury researcher, John Hunter, says many cars have poor reverse visibility and many driveways are unfenced, which makes changing driver behaviour the key to saving children's lives.
In Auckland, which has been the focus of driveway safety campaigns, the accident rate has dropped from one a fortnight in 1992 to just over one a month in 2008.
Safekids New Zealand director Ann Weaver says constant vigilance is needed by parents and caregivers of small children, but drivers have the ultimate responsibility.
