One Child's Death is One Too Many - Preventing Backovers in America's Driveways

As you walk out the door and move towards your car in the driveway, your mind is ahead of you, thinking of your drive, your destination, and your day ahead. Children on scooters and bicycles circle the sidewalks, so you take note and are careful to watch for them when you pull out into the street.

But will you see your neighbor's youngest son, who has stopped to adjust his rollerblades and is sitting directly behind your car and out of plain site, before you pull from the driveway? Tragically, you might be like thousands of other people every year who do not see that child or other pedestrian behind their car, causing injury or even death. 

The Scope of the Problem

Until recently, the government did not track the number of children that were injured or  killed in non-traffic related incidents. In 2007, the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act was passed in Congress. This legislation, among other key provisions, directed National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for the first time to collect data about motor vehicle incidents that take place off the public roads and highways. NHTSA released its first-ever "Not-in-Traffic Surveillance 2007" report in January 2009, which confirmed that preventable deaths and injuries associated with motor vehicles happen every year on private driveways and in parking lots. The safety agency report estimates that thousands of these tragic vehicle incidents occurred in 2007.

The NHTSA report found that in 2007 alone, 221 people were killed in back-over incidents, and 14,000 suffered injuries. An additional 393 fatalities and 20,000 injuries were due to front-over incidents or being struck by a vehicle in some manner. It also concluded that an average of 588 fatalities happen annually involving passengers inside the vehicles where children are strangled by automatic windows, left in hot vehicles, or perish from carbon monoxide poisoning or vehicle fires. All told, in 2007, NHTSA estimates there were 1,747 fatalities and 841,000 injuries in non-traffic incidents, which translates to over 33 people who died and 16,170 who were injured occur every week due to nontraffic incidents.

For parents and all drivers, awareness and understanding of the problem is the first step toward reducing the risk of backover deaths.

Every Vehicle Has Blind Spots

Drivers need to be aware that every vehicle has blind spots, which are located to the side and behind vehicles. In the case of a backover incident, the blind spot is the place behind your vehicle that you cannot see in the rear or side view mirrors - or even by leaning your neck out the driver's side window.

In addition to the height of the driver, vehicle size, and vehicle type, other factors can contribute to the size of a blind spot. These include the elevation of the driver's seat and the shape of a vehicle's windows and mirrors. Even the slope of a driveway can affect the size of the blind spot behind your vehicle - so take special care when backing out of unfamiliar driveways.

Safety Tips for Motorists

Keeping children out of harm's way requires ongoing education, supervision, and vigilance: there simply is no single fail-safe solution. However, safety experts advise employing the following strategies to help reduce the risk of backover tragedy ocurring:

• Always assume children could be present, and carefully check the street, driveway, and area around your vehicle before backing out.
• When backing up, always know where all children are and have them stay in your full view and well away from your vehicle.
• Always look behind as you back out S-L-O-W-L-Y with your windows rolled down to listen for children who may have dashed behind your vehicle suddenly - and be prepared to stop!
• Use extreme care whenever you back up. If you're driving an SUV or truck, remember that the blind spot behind your vehicle can be especially large.

Safety Tips for Parents

Take the time to talk with your children about the reasons they need to be so careful around vehicles. Enlist older children to watch out for younger siblings who may not fully understand the reasoning for your concern. Ensure your children are properly supervised at all times, especially wherever motor vehicles might be present.

• Teach children not to play in, under, or around vehicles - ever.
• Avoid making your driveway a 'playground.' If you do allow children in this area, make sure that it's only when there are no vehicles present. To further protect children who may be outside playing, separate the driveway from the roadway with a physical barrier to prevent any cars from entering.
• To prevent curious children from ever putting a vehicle in gear, never leave vehicles running, and keep all vehicles, even those in driveways and garages, locked up tight.

Making Everyone's Driveways Safer

Finally, talk with neighborhood parents about backover incidents and ask them to teach their children not to play in or around any vehicle or driveway. By working together to promote awareness and more protective home and neighborhood environments, we can help to keep all our children safe.