According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, about 221 fatalities and more than 14,000 injuries happen every year because of backover accidents in nontraffic situations. Additionally, approximately 71 backover deaths and injuries occur on public roads.
A backover accident happens when the driver of a vehicle is backing out or moving in reverse and ends up striking another vehicle, a pedestrian, or a bicyclist. Kids, who can be hard to see because of their smaller stature, are most at risk of becoming involved in a backover crash, with a huge percentage of backover crashes happening as vehicles are backing out of driveways. Another common reason for driveway backover crashes is that some kids don’t realize how dangerous it is to get behind a moving car, and some of them have been known to run to that precarious position at the last minute, resulting in tragic consequences. Backover accidents also can happen in parking lots, and on elevated streets or alleys.
If your child or someone else that you love was injured or killed in a backover accident, please contact our child injury law firm right away. The Gilbert Law Group represents kids injured in car accidents that were caused by the negligence of others. Remember, serious injuries can also result in non-traffic incidents or in car accidents involving vehicles moving at very low speeds.
Pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are the ones most likely to be involved in backovers. One reason for this is that their blind spots tend to be larger than the ones of smaller vehicles due to the more elevated position of the driver from the road. According to Consumer Reports, a 5-foot-8-inch tall motorist in an average sized sport utility vehicle has a blind zone of about 18 feet whereas in a midsize sedan this would be about 13 feet.
As our product defect lawyers mentioned above, even when a vehicle is equipped with backover prevention technology, including rearview video cameras, ultrasonic sensors, or radar, backover incidents can happen. These devices are aren’t always reliable. Also, rear-view cameras were initially marketed as parking aids and not safety devices.
NHTSA says that while rearview cameras likely prevent about 95 to 122 deaths each year, how well the driver uses this device will determine its effectiveness. Ultimately, it is up to the driver to be careful.
The Gilbert Law Group would be remiss if it did not mention that another demographic with a high risk of getting hurt in a backover crash is elderly adults. They may not have the abilities or reflexes to move out of the way/avoid a car going in reverse.
We understand that most drivers involve in a backover crash never intended to cause harm to anyone—and often, the consequences are catastrophic for everyone involved. That said, if you believe that another party’s negligence caused a serious backover death or injury, you may have grounds for personal injury or wrongful death recovery.
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Source: Backover Crashes, IIHS, May 13, 2013
Source: Backover Accidents, Kids and Cars
