More and more cars are being sold with back-up camera systems, and for good reason. In June of this year Australian researcher Bronwyn Griffin revealed that over the past two years in Queensland, almost 200 children were injured in low-speed incidents, and nearly 20 were killed. She says most of the accidents happened in residential driveways, and the high number is probably because they have a "higher proportion of 4-wheel drives."
"Nothing replaces parental vigilance," she says. "Technology such as rearview cameras can't be trusted completely. It's a great aid, but it doesn't eliminate the problem. Also, it's not affordable to all families."
Still, certain automobiles don't help matters. Drivers are more likely to experience blind spots in larger vehicles like trucks and vans -- even mini-vans. It may seem like a stereotype that families are more likely to own mini-vans, but stereotypes stem from somewhere, and this one happens to be more true than most others. Families with children are probably going to drive larger vehicles, which provides a potentially dangerous combination.
Backing-up accidents involving children happen all too often. In October alone, two toddlers, one in Louisiana, the other in Guam, were struck by family members backing up in large vehicles. One of the boys spent time in a nearby hospital's pediatric ICU, while the other, sadly, did not make it.
Small children aren't the only victims of backing-up accidents. On October 20, a highschooler in Florida was hit by a woman picking up her grandchildren from school; the victim's leg was severed. The day before, an elderly man in Iowa was killed while out for a walk when a garbage truck backed into him. The day before that, Monday, a farm truck in California backing up struck two men, killing one. The Saturday prior, a man in Oklahoma was killed when a dump truck backed into him. That same day, in Colorado, a furniture truck backed into two women, one of whom died.
In less than a week, there have been seven victims of backing-up accidents, four of whom died from their injuries. It's not definite that back-up camera systems could have prevented them, but it's likely that these accidents were caused because the driver simply didn't realize anyone was behind the vehicle, either because he or she couldn't see properly due to a blind spot, or wasn't sufficiently looking back. If this is the case, then there's a good chance that had back-up camera systems been installed in the vehicles in question, they wouldn't have to worry about blind spots. It's also clear that, if this group of accidents is representative of general backing-up accidents, the majority involve large vehicles (like garbage, farm, dump and furniture trucks). Economic times are obviously tight for everyone, but companies that use vehicles like this would surely benefit from investing in back-up camera systems.
Author Resource:-
RearViewSafety.com is your source for commercial truck, trailer, and RV back up camera systems — we even do boats! Our vehicle backup camera technology has already helped thousands of autos reverse safely, including school buses, emergency vehicles, charter buses, cargo trucks, houseboats, and forklifts.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.articlesbacklink.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
