Backover accidents continue to occur despite awareness of the problem.  These accidents are more common with larger SUVs and minivans.  The only foolproof method to avoid such accidents is to get out of the car and make sure there is no child behind.

Almost every day there are reports of young children being injured or killed simply because the driver did not see them while backing up.  Unfortunately, in the majority of cases the driver is a parent or a relative, making this a double tragedy.

Kids And Cars

According to the non profit group, KIDS AND CARS (www.kidsandcars.org), approximately 50 children are injured each week during car backups in North America.  At least 2 children die from such mishaps and the rest require some type of hospital emergency room treatment.  Despite improvements in car safety and awareness of such tragedies, the death rates from backups have remained unchanged for the past decade.

Blind Spots

While there are many contributing factors to car back accidents involving children, the biggest risk factor is vehicle size.  SUVs, pickup trucks and minivans are among the vehicles most often involved in such accidents.  Consumer Reports have tested blind spots on hundreds of vehicles.  The Jeep Commander had the biggest blind spot, up to 70 feet with a short driver.  Generally speaking, larger vehicles have the biggest rear blind spots.  For example, the blind spot behind a typical small sedan can only hide a small vehicle, while the blind spot of an SUV or minivan can hide both children or vehicles.

A blind spot is an area behind the vehicle that the driver is unable to see from his or her sitting position.  This blind spot is invisible and cannot be seen either from the front, side or rearview mirrors.  From the driver’s seat, the most common blind spots are those located in the rear quarter and areas towards the rear of the vehicle on both sides.  In some large vehicles, there are also some areas that are too low to see behind and in front of a vehicle.  Children may fall into these blind spots and the driver may be unable to see them using the car’s mirrors.

There have been many studies to measure blind spots from different directions and driver positions.  The overall conclusion has been that the longer and bigger the vehicle, the larger the blind spots.

Mirror Solutions

The industry has tried to come up with a foolproof method of avoiding blind spots.  In many vehicles the blind spots can be eliminated by installing overlapping side and rearview mirrors.  Sometimes convex mirrors can also bring blind spots into view, but their optical features also cause a great deal of distortion making it difficult to judge distances.  In the last few years, newer technologies using "aspheric" mirrors permit blind spots to be virtually eliminated while decreasing image distortion by expanding the field of view by 1.4 to 1.7 times.

Look Where You're Going

Despite all the fancy mirrors, there is no guarantee that a back-over accident will not occur . The only foolproof method of avoiding a back-over is to get out of the vehicle and look behind.  Or better still, always have someone outside guide you when you back out.  This might sound like a hassle, but it may save the life of a child one day and it could be your child.

Other Ideas

In the last decade, the concern for back-over accidents has forced the industry to develop other methods of safety.  Today, some large vehicles like minivans and some SUVs have factory installed video cameras or distance sensors.

What is surprising is that there are no Federal standards for rear visibility.  In the USA, Congress is now considering the Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007, a bill that, if passed, would establish a rear visibility performance standard so that drivers would be able to detect a person behind the vehicle.