As Myley Maxwell sat on the front of a quad bike, her 13-year-old friend tasked with steering momentarily lost control and skidded through a ditch.
It was clearly a scary moment. A video, which had previously shown Myley and four other girls laughing, singing and calling out to each other as they rode their adult-sized ATVs, captured what would be the six-year-old’s final words.
“I hated that,” she could be heard saying.
Myley was not wearing a helmet and the camera was still recording when the quad bike left the road and hit a tree. One girl on the back of the bike got up uninjured to see that the driver was knocked unconscious and Myley was “lying very still” and covered in blood.
She died of blunt force head trauma on the rural property in NSW’s north in March 2017.
Top Comments
This is so weird. Whats a 6 year old doing at a 13 year old's birthday weekend with a bunch of teenagers? And what sort of adult just assumes its okay for kids of any age to ride a quad bike, particularly without any training or a helmet? I mean we wouldn't even let a 6 year old ride on the handlebars of a push bike without a helmet.
I guess laws can't hurt but common sense and basic supervision was all that was needed here.
They want the laws changed? How about prosecuting parents who allow a six year old, without a helmet, to sit on a motorised vehicle being driven by another child?
I'm not unsympathetic to their loss. But how would a law change what occurs when parents don't make responsible choices?
I'm sorry they have to live with that guilt but it's their cross to bear.