Backovers
Every year, thousands of children are killed or seriously injured because a driver backing up could not see them. A backover incident typically takes place when a car is backing out of a driveway or parking space.
Rear Visibility Standard – learn more about back-up cameras in all cars here
Fact Sheet
- In the U.S. at least fifty children are being backed over by vehicles 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.
Learn the BlindZone measurement 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.
Safety Tips
Learn simple tips on how to keep your children safe in and around vehicles.
Info on Backup Cameras from NHTSA:
Chart, Statistics, Graphics
Below are KidsAndCars.org charts and graphs which can 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.
Click on an image below to open a full PDF file of the chart.. Please note, the PDF files are large and may take some time to open in your browser.
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Definition of “Blindzones” vs “Blind Spots”
An entire preschool class was behind this SUV and the driver could not see a single one of the children from the driver’s seat, even when using their rear & side view mirrors.
Child Stories
Backover tragedies change the lives of parents, families, and communities forever. The links below will take you to stories of just a few children whose lives were lost, and some near misses, because they could not be seen in the blindzone behind a vehicle.
Tragedies
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Near Misses
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Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and Videos
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.
Examples of Available Technology
Technology is available to reduce the blindzone behind your vehicle. Learn more about what is available as aftermarket technology you can add to your vehicle today. All vehicles can be retrofitted with camera systems to help keep children safe because you cannot avoid hitting what you cannot see.
VOXX Electronics Corporation
ACA801 – License Plate Mounted Back-up Camera
Today’s drivers are more safety conscious than ever. With the popularity of SUVs, trucks and larger vehicles, blind spots are an increasing problem. Sophisticated technology now makes it affordable for drivers to have an added dimension of safety. The VOXX Electronics’ ACA801 License Plate Mounted Back-up Camera is easily added to most OEM vehicles or added in combination with one of their many monitors, making backing up easier and safer. The ACA801 is an HD camera that is waterproof, compact, and low light sensitive and includes trajectory grid lines for ease of use.
Disclaimer of Endorsement: Kids and Car Safety does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, brands or services listed on our website. We encourage visitors to carefully assess whether any product, service or brand will meet the needs of their specific circumstance. Kids and Car Safety is not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites, nor do they endorse, warrant, or guarantee the products, services, or information described or offered on these external sites.
Backover Studies
Learn more about backovers through studies specific to backover injuries and deaths. There have been several studies published about backovers, but there is still much to be learned.
- New Study Released on Nontraffic Injuries and Fatalities in Young Children – 9/27/2017
- Risk Factors Associated with Injury and Mortality from Paediatric Low Speed Vehicle Incidents: A Systematic Review (2013)
- Trauma Center-Based Surveillance of Nontraffic Pedestrian Injury among California Children (2012)
- Backing collisions: a study of drivers’ eye and backing behaviour using combined rear-view camera and sensor systems (2010)
- Back-over Collisions in Child Pedestrians from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (2009)
- Not-in-traffic surveillance 2007 – children.Traffic safety facts.Washington DC: (2009)
- Pediatric driveway runover injuries: Time to redesign? (2009)
- Light Vehicle Rear Visibility Assessment (2008)
- Backover and non-crash events – special crash investigations – protecting children in and around cars, Lifesavers Conference (Portland, OR) (2008)
- NAPNAP position statement on the prevention of unintentional injuries in children (2008)
- Backover and non-crash events – special crash investigations – protecting children in and around cars, Lifesavers Conference (Portland, OR) (2008)
- Back-up detection devices: what do we all need to know? Dangerous blind zones (2007)
- NHTSA’s backover crash prevention research: Washington, DC (2007)
- Vehicle backover avoidance technology study: Washington, DC (2006)
- Risk of pediatric backover injuries in residential driveways by vehicle type (2006)
- Nonfatal Motor-Vehicle—Related Backover Injuries Among Children — United States, 2001-2003 (2005)
- Design and evaluation of a prototype rear obstacle detection and driver warning system (2005)
- The prevalence of driveway backover injuries in the era of sports utility vehicles (2005)
- An investigation of the potential safety benefits of vehicle backup proximity sensors, Washington, DC (2005)
- The danger of blind zones: the area behind your vehicle can be a killing zone; Washington, DC (2005)
- Data collection study: Deaths and injuries resulting from certain non-traffic and non-crash events, Washington, DC (2004)
- Pedestrian injuries and vehicle type in Maryland 1995-1999 (2004)
- Stereo Panoramic Vision for Monitoring Vehicle Blind-spots (2004)
- Children’s response to a commercial back-up warning device (2003)
- The fatality and injury risk of light truck impacts with pedestrians in the United States (2003)
- Pedestrian injuries and vehicle type in Maryland 1995-1999 (2003)
- Low speed run-overs of young children in QLD (2003)
- The off road toll: Children at risk in driveways yards and carparks, Sydney, Australia (2003)
- Driveway-related motor vehicle injuries in the paediatric population: a preventable tragedy (2002)
- Driveway deaths: Fatalities of young children in Australia as a result of low-speed motor vehicle impacts (2002)
- Injuries and Deaths Among Children Left Unattended in or Around Motor Vehicles – United States, July 2000 – June 2001 (2002)
- Analysis of motor vehicle-related fatalities involving children under the age of six years (1995-2000) (2002)
- Pedestrian Injuries to Young Children (2002)
- Why our children are not as safe as we think they are, New Zealand (2002)
- Devices to reduce the risk to young pedestrians from reversing motor vehicles (2001)
- Vehicles reversing or rolling backwards: an underestimated hazard (2001)
- Outcomes of pediatric pedestrian injuries by locations of event (2001)
- Driveway Injuries in Children: Risk Factors, Morbidity, and Mortality Pediatrics (2001)
- Four children crushed in their driveways, United Kingdom (2001)
- The danger of young pedestrians from reversing motor vehicles, Paper No. 466 (2001)
- Driveway motor vehicle injuries in children (2000)
- Child deaths and injuries in driveways: Response to the recommendations of the child death review team (2000)
- Rollover Injuries in Residential Driveways: Age-related Patterns of Injury (1999)
- Rear Cross-View Mirror Performance: Perception And Optical Measurements, Final Report HS 808 824 (1998)
- Driveway crush injuries in young children: a highly lethal, devastating, and potentially preventable event (1998)
- Nonambulatory ‘pedestrians”: infants injured by motor vehicles in driveways (1998)
- Injuries in the home: Toddler’s low speed run overs (1997)
- Paediatric Slow-Speed Non-Traffic Fatalities, 1985-1995, Australia (1997)
- Nonoccupant Fatalities Associated With Backing Crashes, NHTSA, Research Note (1996)
- Driveway-related child pedestrian injuries: a case-control study, Pediatrics (1995)
- Crush injuries to the head in children (1995)
- Pedestrian injuries to children younger than 5 years of age (1994)
- Differences in child pedestrian injury events by location (1994)
- Non-traffic child pedestrian injuries, New Zealand (1993)
- Unsupervised children in vehicles: a risk for pediatric trauma (1991)
- Pedestrian injuries to children younger than 5 years of age (1991)
- Limitations of data compiled from police reports on pediatric pedestrian and bicycle motor vehicle events(1990)
- Fatal pedestrian injuries to young children: a different pattern of injury, Canada (1988)
- The Development and Test of Urban and Rural Pedestrian Safety Messages (1983)
- Low Velocity Vehicular Injuries in Children—“Run-Over” Accidents (1980)
