Five-year-old seriously injured in Vienna traffic accident

A five-year-old boy was seriously injured in a traffic accident in Vienna’s Penzing district on Saturday, ORF reported. He was with his mother and is believed to have run onto the road between two parked cars.

The accident happened at about 1 p.m. on Penzinger Straße. The 31-year-old driver said he tried to swerve to avoid the boy. The child suffered a fracture to his left leg and was treated by Vienna’s professional ambulance service before being taken to hospital.

Police are still investigating how the accident happened. No report was initially filed against the mother, but the municipal department responsible for child and youth welfare in Vienna was asked to assess whether she had met her duty of supervision.

Police said questioning the mother was initially difficult because of language barriers. The traffic accident unit of Vienna’s State Traffic Department is leading the investigation.