I am completely unconvinced by the a-mother-wouldn't-have-forgotten-to-put-their-brakes-on.
How many days is it since we had the last my-child-ran-out-in-front-of-a-car?
Toddlers are killed, injured, put into danger every day because mums forget to hold on to them near cars. Or are you saying we should be less afraid of traffic than of the sea? And if so- why? Is traffic in some ways considered less dangerous because there is so much of it? Traffic is the biggest killer in this country. And you still regularly see mums forgetting to hold on to their toddlers when walking next to a busy road.
There are two things here.
In this country, man-made things are considered natural but outdoor things are considered scary and an unusual risk to take. So a child who is run down by a car doesn't even make the local press. A child who is killed toboganning or in the sea makes the national press. (In Scandinavia, which has less manmade environment, you are likely to see the opposite. Everybody accepts that Nature can kill, it always has, but a death from a manmade environment seems so unnecessary).
Also, this country still considers mothers to be the natural carers. So if a mum let go of her toddler and it ran into the road, noone would report the fact that it was the mum or think oh-that-wouldn't-have-happened-if-the-man-had-been-in-charge-but-women-can't-be-trusted-with-childre n. But the other way round, and that's the immediate reaction. (again, it is likely that this would have been reported differently in a country with more paternal involvement in baby care).