Children can be injured or killed by backover incidents. Most often, these unfortunate situations are preventable. ALWAYS take the time to look behind and around your vehicle before backing, especially in familiar places like your own driveway.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers some tips to prevent backover incidents:
- Teach children not to play in or around cars.
- Supervise children carefully when in and around vehicles.
- Always walk around your vehicle and check the area around it before backing up.
- Be aware of small children-the smaller a child, the more likely it is you will not see them.
- Teach children to move away from a vehicle when a driver gets in it or if the car is started.
- Have children in the area stand to the side of the driveway or sidewalk so you can see them as you are backing out of a driveway or parking space.
- Make sure to look behind you while backing up slowly in case of a child dashing behind your vehicle unexpectedly.
- Take extra care if you drive a large vehicle because they are likely to have bigger blind zones. Roll down your windows while backing out of your driveway or parking space so that you'll be able to hear what is happening outside of your vehicle.
- Teach your children to keep their toys and bikes out of the driveway.
- Because kids can move unpredictably, you should actively check your mirrors while backing up.
- Many cars are equipped with detection devices like backup cameras or warning sounds, but they cannot take the place of you actively walking around your car to make sure your children are safely out of the way. Do not rely solely on these devices to detect what's behind your vehicle.
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