A four-year-old autistic boy received minor injuries on Dec. 29, 2013, as a result of an incident with the miniature riding trains at the Airdrie Festival of Lights (AFOL).
The last car of the train, which is a garden tractor with a shroud on it, got tangled with the rear wheel of the stroller the boy was in.
According to a press release from the Airdrie Festival of Lights Society, “the driver of the train stopped the vehicle immediately and got out to offer assistance to the family.”
When the driver reached the child, he was already up and with his family having been ejected from the stroller during the incident, according to AFOL board member Robert Abbott.
“The family did decline an ambulance when the (train) driver offered one and went to the volunteer trailer where they put a Band-Aid on a cut that was about one centimetre long,” Abbott said, adding the wound was more of an abrasion that didn’t draw blood.
Abbott said the incident was unfortunate and was “obviously traumatic for the boy and his family.”
As a result of the incident, the Society put up signs on Dec. 30 and 31, 2013 asking pedestrians to refrain from using the section of the train pathway where the incident occurred.
“Were trying to minimize the interaction between trains and people,” Abbott said.
Abbott said this is the first incident involving the train at the Festival. He said the trains have made approximately 10,000 trips over the years and make about 1,000 each season.
