General Discussion

I have an immature 9 year old granddaughter who always was a runner since she could toddle, and pretty much unaware of what is going on around her.
She will regularly walk into the street when we're on the sidewalk if she focuses on something in the street -or across the street - without notice or care to look around to see if it's safe. I can't always stop her " in time", she's suddenly skipping off the sidewalk to get a closer look.
And she's nine.
As a side, I used to walk to first grade by myself when I was six, and later pick my then four year old brother from daycare when I was nine. In both instances, I crossed several major, busy four lane city streets with no incident, because I could be trusted to look both ways and gauge traffic speeds by the time I was six. Some kids couldn't, even back then. But no one blamed the parents, they blamed the drivers.

From what it appears in the article, Mom probably couldn't have stopped the kid in time either. And still would have been charged with neglect or inattention Sad situation all around.