Due to the safety they provide, rear cameras have become more readily available to drivers recently. Although driving in reverse is generally at slow speeds and seems like a relatively innocuous action, too many injuries and deaths occur yearly due to backover accidents. Sadly, backover accidents typically lead to the death of, or injury to, children who simply cannot be seen due to their small statute.
According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, “backover crashes involving all vehicle types are estimated to cause at least 183 fatalities annually. In addition, between 6,700 and 7,419 injuries result from backover crashes per year.” Collaboratively, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) states, “Young children and older people are most likely to be killed in a backover crash. Based on
2007 NiTS data, 103 of the estimated 292 annual deaths in backover crashes were children younger than 5, and 76 deaths were people 70 and older. About 2,000 of the 18,000 injuries that occur every year from backover crashes involve children younger than 5, and 3,000 involve people 70 and older than 3. A Canadian study of child pedestrian backover collisions occurring between 1993 and 2004 found that 52 percent of the
children were younger than 5.4.”
Given this, the Department of Transportation has proposed that all motor vehicles under 10,000 pounds sold in the United States come mandatorily equipped with a review camera starting September 1, 2014. Until then, however, consumers have the option to add rear cameras to vehicles when they purchase them or buy rear cameras as an aftermarket add-on. Aftermarket rear cameras that consumers can install themselves run anywhere from $20 to a few hundred dollars. Regardless, the safety rear cameras offer consumers, and their children, make them well worth the extra expense.
Allison Dean is a writer bringing to us why every parent should invest in a rear vehicle
camera.
Allison also writes about medical malpractice cases that affect children.
Photo:Ubergizmo
