I'm all for adding the little kid to the list of obstacles, while retaining the fruit stand.
Sorry my post above wasn't clear, and thanks Jonathan for explaining.
More diversity in the car chases would always be nice.
I'd also agree with the idea of the driver losing juice for plowing through the fruit stand / running over the little kid. It's a pretty clear "sacrifice the innocent to save your own skin" scenario that demands a juice reduction. After all, if we lose juice for accidentally shooting an innocent, it makes sense that recklessly disregarding innocent civilians should also lead to a loss in juice.
And to add something actually helpful to this discussion: If you have less than two driving skill, swerving to avoid the fruit stand will always lead to your squad getting wiped out. If you have five or more driving skill, you will likely succeed in avoiding the fruit stand, and the pursing car has a decent chance of wiping out.
Those are just some general rules of thumb from what I've observed. Your milage may vary, and note the health of the liberal and the quality of the vehicle driven also influence these rolls. Still, I doubt even a sportscar driven at less than two driving could safely avoid the fruit stand.
Regarding health, if your driver is near death, then expect most fancy driving moves to fail, such as avoiding the fruit stand. Your liberal driver is too busy trying to keep breathing to pull off such fancy moves.