New homes could soon be required to include safeguards to prevent children from being accidentally run over in internal garages.
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The ACT government is considering changes to the building code to require new homes with internal garage doors to equip self-closing devices and automatic latches, and raise the handle 1.5 metres from the floor.
The measures are designed to prevent children from being fatally struck or seriously injured by cars exiting or parking in the garage.
They are largely the result of campaigning from Peter and Emma Cockburn, who founded the Georgina Josephine Foundation after their daughter died in a tragic accident in 2011.
Mr Cockburn, a builder, was reversing his work trailer into the garage, when he accidentally struck his daughter.
"I started backing in like I do every other day, in this case the door was left open and obviously I didn't realise, and as I reversed I heard the bump," Mr Cockburn said.
"I jumped out and ran around the back and there was my little girl... we lost our little girl."
The accident could have easily been prevented, he said.
If the door was closed, Georgina wouldn't have been able to wander into the garage.
"In our case it was just that door, if that door was closed this wouldn't have happened," he said.
Nationally, it is estimated that 60 children under the age of four were killed between 2001 and 2010 by a car around the home. Another six aged between 5 to 14 were killed in the same period.
The vast majority of deaths occurred in driveways.
The government is now seeking community and industry submissions on its proposed changes.
It plans to amend the ACT appendix to the building code of Australia, to ensure that new homes have barriers that restrict "the immediate access of young children to a garage" from inside buildings.
The changes would only apply from May next year and only to new class 1a buildings, including detached houses, townhouses and duplexes, that provide immediate internal access to a garage.
Planning Minister Mick Gentleman said the government was also considering vehicle safety technologies and driver education and awareness campaigns.
"The Georgina Josephine foundation ... brought this to our attention earlier this year and I have been working hard to amend the building code to prevent any more tragic loss of life from children in driveway accidents," Mr Gentleman said.
Submissions can be made on the Your Say website until October 21.
