Backovers
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Every year, thousands of children are killed or seriously injured because a driver backing up didn't see them. A backover incident typically takes place when a car is backing out of a driveway or parking space.
Stories
Backover tragedies change the lives of parents, families, and communities forever. Below are stories of just a few children whose lives were lost because they could not be seen in the blindzone behind a vehicle.
Close Calls
Below are stories of just a few children who survived being backed over because they could not be seen in the blindzone behind a vehicle.
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Fact Sheet
In the U.S. at least fifty children are being backed over by vehicles EVERY week. Forty-eight (48) are treated in hospital emergency rooms and at least two (2) children are fatally injured every WEEK.
• The predominant age of victims is one year olds. (12‐23 months)
• Over 60% of backing up incidents involved a larger size vehicle. (truck, van, SUV)
• Tragically, in over 70% of these incidents, a parent or close relative is behind the wheel.
Fact Sheet for Backovers
Why we call the areas around a vehicle a blindzone and NOT a 'blind spot."
Learn what the BlindZone measurement is for your vehicle:
Consumer Reports has measured the blindzones of a number of popular vehicle models. The results for both an average-height driver (5 feet 8 inches) and a shorter driver (5 feet 1 inch) are listed in the accompanying charts.
click here for BlindZone information
Chart, Statistics, Graphics
KidsAndCars.org makes available charts and graphs to be downloaded for free and are excellent education materials. We encourage you to share, print, copy, distribute, or enlarge them; but we ask that no changes be made.
Safety Tips
Learn simple tips on how to keep your children safe in and around vehicles.
Click here for Safety Tips
Public Service Announcements
Heighten awareness about the dangers children face in and around motor vehicles with KidsAndCars.org's Public Service Announcements. Please encourage TV stations, hospital, doctor offices, public health offices, parenting classes, etc., to share this life-saving information.
News
The Lost Art of Backing Up
April 01, 2012
For the umpteenth time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) has postponed issuing a rule that would require automakers to install backup cameras in all vehicles.
Read MoreMoney Minute: Not enough focus on rearview cameras [Video]
March 29, 2012
Sometimes you just gotta wonder. Federal regulators have been calling on the auto industry for years to help reduce accidents by installing rearview cameras on vehicles. Yet an official rule requiring such technology on new cars and trucks keeps getting postponed.
Read MoreMandatory rear-view car cameras could save 100s
March 04, 2012
The federal government said last week it's temporarily delaying a mandate that rear-view cameras be installed in every new vehicle sold, but the rule will still be implemented by the end of this year.
Read MoreYOUTUBE VIDEO: Mandatory vehicle rear-view camera mandate
March 04, 2012
The Department of Transportation is delaying a rule that would mandate rear-view cameras in all new cars pending further study. Mark Strassmann reports supporters of the rule cannot wait any longer.
Read MoreEditorial | Backing up safely
March 03, 2012
The stories to be found at kidsandcars.org are every parent’s nightmare. Only the nightmares are true for the families represented there.
Read MoreRoad Warrior: Jury’s still out on rearview cameras
March 03, 2012
After four years of false starts, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week came close to asking Congress to force automakers to mandate rearview cameras on all new cars, a feature designed to save 100 lives a year — half of them toddlers killed by cars backing out of driveways.
Read MoreBack-over deaths devastate families
March 02, 2012
“Tragic accident.” It’s the description given, over and over again, as four U.S. families every week bury a loved one — often a child — who was backed over and killed. It’s one that Tiffiany Schmidt, 31, heard when her 2-year-old son, Wesley, was backed over by his father in Clarksville, Tenn., in 2006.
Read MoreGovernment Backs Up On Rearview Car Cameras
March 02, 2012
The statistics are pretty grim — on average 300 people a year die after being hit by cars backing up, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Half of them are children younger than 5. LISTEN TO AUDIO: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/02/147742760/government-backs-up-on-rearview-car-cameras
Read MoreMandatory rearview cameras in vehicles would help save children: An editorial
March 01, 2012
For more than a year the Obama administration has postponed issuing rules to phase in the camera requirement. The latest delay came this week, when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the rules, originally required by February 2011, won't be ready until the end of the year.
Read MoreChildren are dying; we bailed out automakers, now we should demand back-up cameras/sensors on all cars
March 01, 2012
Have you ever started to back up your vehicle and then caught movement in your rearview mirror? Maybe a person darting behind you, or another car backing out at the same time in a parking lot? Me too.
Read MoreTechnology
Technology is available to reduce the blindzone behind your vehicle. Learn more about what is available today as after market technology you can add to your vehicle today. All vehicles can be retrofitted with rearview video camera systems and/or sensors.
Audiovox - provides smart, dependable and affordable Rear Collision Avoidance solutions to keep families safe in the driveway and on the road.
Backup4Safety - Backup4safety.com is in the business of providing a safe environment for our children by making premium rearview backup safety systems accessible to everyone through direct sales, charitable donation, fundraising and “Pay It Forward” good will programs.
Gentex - automatically shows a driver the view of what is directly behind the vehicle when it is put in “reverse” so that the rear blind zone is visible.
Echomaster - the premier manufacturer of reverse sensing devices, is dedicated to preventing reversing accidents. Safety is our number one concern.
Ackton - a world leader in the manufacturing of parking sensors for the automotive, commercial, and R.V. markets.
Vehicle Reversing System - makes available the Worlds Only patented "Talking" Reversing Alert System.
Rostra - recently introduced BabyCam, a system with allows safe and easy monitoring of children in their car seats without taking driver focus from the road.
ScopeOut - a patented system of aerodynamic mirrors that are strategically placed on the vehicle to provide a panoramic rear view of vehicles or persons approaching on the street or down the sidewalk.
VisorView - The rear view camera system VISOR-VIEW is compatible with virtually any vehicle. Drivers now have an affordable way to view hidden object
Studies
Below are studies specific to backover injuries and deaths. There have been several studies published about backovers but there is still much to be learned.
Not-in-traffic surveillance 2007 - children.Traffic safety facts.Washington DC:
Pediatric driveway runover injuries: Time to redesign?
Light Vehicle Rear Visibility Assessment
NAPNAP position statement on the prevention of unintentional injuries in children
NHTSA's backover crash prevention research: Washington, DC
Vehicle backover avoidance technology study: Washington, DC
Trauma Center-Based Surveillance of Nontraffic Pedestrian Injury among California Children