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Every year, thousands of children are hurt or die because a driver backing up didn't see them.

KIDS AND CARS has documented 436 incidents during the past 10 years (1993-2003) primarily involving children under the age of 4, who were backed over when a vehicle was backing up. These incidents for the most part took place outside the victim’s home or in residential driveways.

• A death occurred in 270 of the 436 documented incidents.
• An injury or death occurred in 99% of cases documented in the database.
• The predominant age of victims were one year olds. (12-23 months)
• Over 60% of backing up incidents involved a larger size vehicle (truck, van, SUV)

KIDS AND CARS urges all adults to heighten their awareness before they engage a vehicle into reverse; especially when children are present. Young children are impulsive and unpredictable; still have very poor judgment, and little understanding of danger. In addition young children do not recognize boundaries such as property lines, sidewalks, driveways or parking spaces. Toddlers have established independent mobility between the ages of 12-23 months, but the concept of personal safety is absent. Backovers are often the predictable consequence of a child following a parent into the driveway without their knowledge.

Backovers can happen in any vehicle because all vehicles have blind spots; the area behind a vehicle you can’t see from the driver’s seat. The danger tends to increase with larger vehicles. “The longer the vehicle and the higher the rear that you look out from, the more difficult it is to see a child or something on the ground behind,” states David Champion, director of Consumer Union’s Automotive Testing Division.

It’s always best to look carefully behind the vehicle before you get in and again before you put the car in gear and back up. Remember to back up slowly, and pay attention to your mirrors.

KIDS AND CARS recommendations to keep children safe include:

• Walk around and behind a vehicle prior to moving it.
• Know where your kids are. Make children move away from your vehicle to a place where they are in full view before moving the car and know that another adult is properly supervising children before moving your vehicle.
• Teach children that “parked” vehicles might move. Let them know that they can see the vehicle; but the driver might not be able to see them.
• Consider installing cross view mirrors, audible collision detectors, rear view video camera and/or some type of back up detection device.
• Measure the size of your blind spot (area) behind the vehicles you drive. A 5-foot-1-inch driver in a pickup truck can have a rear blind spot of 50 feet.
• Be aware that steep inclines and large SUV’s, vans and trucks add to the difficulty of seeing behind a vehicle.
• Hold children’s hand when leaving the vehicle.
• Teach your children to never play in, around or behind a vehicle.
• Keep toys and other sports equipment off the driveway.
• Never leave children alone in or around cars; not even for a minute.
• Keep vehicles locked at all times; even in the garage or driveway.
• Keys should never be left within reach of children.
• Always make sure all child passengers have left the car after it is parked.
• Be especially careful about keeping children safe in and around cars during busy times, schedule changes and periods of crisis or holidays.

These precautions can save lives.

For additional information, visit the Kids And Cars website at www.kidsandcars.org