Daughter breaks mom's legs while learning to drive

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Police said a 17-year-old girl who was practicing how to drive broke her mother's legs after stepping on the gas pedal instead of the brake. Sgt. Thomas Long told the Republican newspaper that the mother was sitting on a fence when she was struck Saturday morning at a movie theater parking lot.

The woman was taken to Baystate Medical Center for treatment.

Authorities cited the girl's 39-year-old father, for allowing an unlicensed driver to operate the vehicle.

Information from: The Springfield Republican, http://www.masslive.com/news/

Drive A Toyota Yaris and Die

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Would you let your child Drive this car?

The death rate in was almost twice as high as the rate in very large cars in multiple vehicle crashes, according to the report from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry-funded group that prods automakers to improve the safety of vehicles.

The IIHS crashed a 2009 model Toyota Yaris into a larger Toyota Camry; a Smart Fortwo into a Mercedes C-Class; and a Honda Fit into a Honda Accord. Each vehicle was traveling at 40 mph. All three small cars performed poorly, while the larger vehicles were rated good or acceptable.