Safety Tips

Preventing Backover Deaths
Advocacy groups battle automakers and the government for a rear visibility standard
By Scott Memmer
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On December 30, 2005, Angela Gridley was doing laundry at her home in South Carolina. Her youngest daughter, Aliviah, age 2, climbed up into her lap, gave her a kiss and a hug, told her she loved her and climbed down. Then she went back outside to her father, Tim Gridley, who was having trouble untangling their dogs' leashes. In an effort to untangle them, he temporarily set the dogs free. When they bolted Gridley's brother jumped in his pickup truck to chase them down. "As quick as a little one could run," her mother recalls, "Aliviah darted behind the truck before anyone could realize it." Tim's brother, Aliviah's uncle, backed out of the driveway, striking Aliviah and killing her.

In 2006 alone, the deaths of 209 children resulted from nontraffic incidents, the majority being accidental backovers. And each year since 2002, more than 9,000 nontraffic injuries have occurred, according to the non-profit organization Kids and Cars. The federal government doesn't track these incidents, because they don't happen on public roads and usually don't involve a crash. How many times will similar stories of backover deaths be repeated until the government finally sets a rear visibility standard, potentially saving hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children's lives? If Janette Fennell, founder and president of Kids and Cars, has her way, not much longer.

Kids and Cars, a national nonprofit safety organization, has taken the point position in advocating that the U.S. Department of Transportation (which oversees NHTSA) create a viable rearward visibility standard to ensure safety behind all vehicles. Believe it or not, there is currently no such standard on the books — and there never has been. In the meantime, according to Fennell, more than 100 children die from backovers annually and thousands more are injured.

"You can't avoid hitting something you can't see. Most people don't realize how prevalent this problem is," Fennell said, "or how preventable it is."

Due at least in part to the pressure applied by Kids and Cars and other safety advocacy groups, in July 2005 President Bush signed a $286.4 billion transportation bill: the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). One provision of the act requires the Department of Transportation and related agencies to study effective methods for reducing injuries and deaths outside parked passenger vehicles.

The act's passage opened the door for two other safety and visibility bills, S. 694 and H.R. 1216, currently before Congress. The Cameron Gulbranson Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 would require that all U.S.-marketed vehicles (including garbage trucks and delivery vehicles) be designed to prevent backing incidents by providing an unobstructed rear view. The Senate bill is being co-sponsored by John E. Sununu (R-NH) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), while the House bill is being co-sponsored by Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL) and Rep. King (R-NY).

Note that the proposed bills do not specify that automakers add cameras, sensors or LCD displays to their vehicles to meet the rear visibility standard, although this would most likely be the end result if the bills were passed in their present form. Currently, only 22 percent of 2007 models have standard or optional rearview cameras, including General Motors and Mercedes-Benz.

In past decades, both foreign and domestic automakers resisted safety innovations that are now standard equipment, such as seatbelts and airbags. Today, as they scramble to reclaim their market share, the Big Three look unfavorably on such a federal mandate, which they say would increase vehicle prices. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing nine automakers, is fighting the bills.

Cameron Gulbransen was 2 years old when he ran behind his father's SUV on October 19, 2002. "Suddenly, I noted a small bump in the vehicle," his father, Dr. Greg Gulbransen, remembers. "Quickly, I jumped from the vehicle and saw the most devastating scene of my life: My little Cameron was lying down with his blanket in his hand while bleeding profusely from his head. As a physician, I knew it was the end."

Kids and Cars is not alone in advocating for a rear visibility standard. Other supporting groups include Public Citizen, Consumers Union and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

Fennel's group is spearheading a public relations blitz this fall, hoping to generate pressure on Congress.

"We're working right now to get a hearing, to get the bills out of committee," Fennell noted.

Not waiting for the bill to become law, a number of innovative aftermarket suppliers have begun offering retrofit products to prevent backover deaths. Many are available right now, including cutting-edge offerings from Audiovox, HitchCAM and Magna Donnelly. (See photos at left.)

"Our products are ready today," says Tom Malone, senior vice president of sales for Audiovox. "Drivers don't have to wait for mandatory legislation that might take years to implement."

On June 20, 2003, at approximately 11:42 a.m., Kaycie Lynn Blood was riding her purple 20-inch bicycle in the Tu-Su Circle cul-de-sac near her home in Apple Valley, California. At the same time, a San Bernardino County trash truck was collecting trash on Tonkin Avenue. Kaycie followed the truck from some distance, waving to the driver as he performed his duties. He waved back. At the south end of the cul-de-sac, the garbage truck reversed to execute a three-point turn and exit the cul-de-sac. The audible back-up warning device, as required under the California Vehicle Code, did not operate. Kaycie Lynn Blood was struck by the truck and died at the scene.

"Everyone would agree that the worst thing that can ever happen is to lose a child," Janette Fennell stated. "Add to that, that you were somehow responsible — that you were the driver of the vehicle. Most parents never get over it."

"Kaycie left us far too early," says Amy Blood, Kaycie's mother. Blood's family now argues for rearview cameras on all U.S.-sold vehicles with large blind spots. "It's important to our family to make sure that her death does not simply become another faceless statistic. We don't want to see another child backed over and killed."

To see a startling visual demonstration of vehicle blind spots and their consequences, see this story from CNN.

To learn more about vehicle visibility issues, read "Visibility: Now You See It...Now You Don't."

Thanks to Kids and Cars for helping us collect information for this article.