A horrible start of the new Spring season

The victim was a 4-year-old girl visiting from Nottingham, England. Her family said the girl’s parents are back in England.

Police said 66-year-old Barbara Worley, of Elberton, Ga., was driving the 2004 Lincoln Towncar that hit and killed the girl.

Police said the girl's death was not alcohol-related. They said the vehicle was traveling in the travel lanes on the beach under the posted speed limit of 10 mph.

The child and her uncle were walking hand-in-hand, police said, when the girl walked out in front of the Towncar and was hit.

Bystanders yelled for Worley to stop, and she did as the 4-year-old lay in front of her car. For an unknown reason, police said, Worley panicked and hit the accelerator instead of the brake, running over the girl.

The child was pronounced dead at the scene.

"Fair enough you can't see the little one, but (the car) had her by the hand," said the victim's great-aunt, Karen Langlands. "It just took her. I can't believe it."

Huge crowds were expected at the beach on Saturday with the start of spring and one of the first warm, sunny days in a while.

Beach officials said a high tide may have put people and cars in the area closer than usual.

The last time someone was run over on Daytona Beach was in 2006. A sunbather was seriously injured on July 4 when a beach patrol officer ran her over.

She suffered injuries from her shoulders to her stomach, but she survived. The officer was found to be at fault and was ticketed.

So sad and unnecesary....If people would just think that for a second maybe they ar enot the only ones on the planet...my prayers are with that little girl's family...

Chrissy wrote:

So sad and unnecesary....If people would just think that for a second maybe they ar enot the only ones on the planet...my prayers are with that little girl's family...

From what I gather, the worst part is that the little girl was simply lying in front of the car when she was run over!!! Dude, the speed limit on the beaches is TEN MPH and the beach is half it's own size compared to as recently as the seventies, so it's not like running across the freakin' Interstate, you know?! After hours of highway driving, though, I must admit there is that crazy psychological thing involved when you roll down the beach and basically you don't need to apply pressure to the accelerator pedal at all. A very sad occasion for everyone involved.