How to Prevent Backover Accidents to Children

The offensive player quickly darted down the ice, using his stick to guide the puck along the ice. When within striking distance, the player fired a slap shot, which sent the puck hurling towards the goalie. With catlike reflexes, the goalie raised his “blocker” to deflect the puck. However, it landed in front of another offensive player, who made a quick, low slap shot towards the goal. The goalie used his leg pads to deflect the puck, which he then cleared to the neutral zone, situated towards the rink’s center. The neutral zone resembles a home’s driveway, where child safety signs and child safety products can help to prevent accidents and trespassing.

Regarding child safety, the driveway is like the neutral zone of the hockey rink. While the driveway is generally safer than a great distance from the home, it is not in the home. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), each year vehicles in the process of backing up, kill over 100 people and injure over 6,000. The majority of these victims are children, with the most common scenario involving a two-year-old toddler who is accidentally hit while a vehicle backs out of a driveway. Various types of child safety products and child safety signs can, and should, be used to avert these incidents.

It may seem baffling or ironic that so many back-over accidents occur in driveways, or that child safety products and child safety signs would be effective there. However, we must remember that children are naturally curious and fast runners. They can quickly run to a dangerous location in the vehicle’s pathway. In another common case, an unsupervised child escapes from a “safe” location, such as inside a home, and then runs outside towards the path of the vehicle. In yet another situation, drivers make a mistake or hazardous choices in the driveway. Toddlers are predominantly vulnerable, as the driver may find it difficult to spot them. Also, a majority of cars have a “blind space” behind them, which mainly exists when the vehicle is in reverse. Ultimately, child safety signs and child safety products are ideal solutions to make driveways safer.

To prevent back-over accidents, parents can take steps to help prevent them. These include:

• If children could have been around your vehicle, encircle it before vacating an area.
• Use child safety signs and child safety products to protect children in the driveway
• If you need to move a vehicle at your home and you are the only adult there, secure your child in the vehicle before you transfer it.
• Never permit your children to utilize a driveway as their play area.
• Use fences, gates, or security doors to make it arduous for youngsters to move from the house, to the driveway.
• Constantly supervise your children, particularly when they are near vehicles.

Though a house’s driveway may seem relatively safe, it can become a hazardous area for children. Therefore, parents should use means such as child safety products and child safety signs, to ensure that the location is safe for the family’s youngest members.