• 10
  • February
    2012

Many drivers have experienced a jolt after seeing a small child in the corner of their eye as they step on the gas to reverse out of a parking space. While cautious scans out both side windows helps, most young children are too short to be seen until they are right behind a vehicle that is backing up. And even then, they may disappear in a vehicle's blind spot.

In the wake of so many new technological advances in vehicles, it's no surprise that car manufacturers have started to create and implement back-up cameras. Several advocacy groups, in particular, have begun promoting mandatory back-up cameras in order to help save lives and reduce injuries.

Back-Up-Accident Data

Emergency room doctors report that some kids escape unscathed after being hit in a back-up accident. However, other children, they say, suffer serious torso and chest injuries and even die after being rolled over by an automobile.

According to statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an average of 292 people are killed ever year in back-up accidents, and about a third of them are children under 5-years-old.

Long-time consumer product testing organization Consumer Reports reviewed several motor vehicle models to determine the "blindzone" behind the cars, vans, trucks and SUVs parked in U.S. driveways today. Depending on the height of the driver and the type of motor vehicle, blindzones behind motor vehicles averaged anywhere from nine feet behind wagons and hatchbacks, at best, to 35 feet behind large trucks, at worst, from the bumper to the end of the blindzone.

Based on statistics like these, consumer advocacy groups like KidsandCars.org and some Walnut Creek car accident attorneys say back-up cameras should be installed on all new vehicles.

NHTSA Recommends Back-Up-Cameras on Most New Vehicles

The NHTSA seemingly agreed.

In December 2010, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended that manufacturers install back-up cameras on most new cars, vans, SUVs and trucks manufactured in the United States by September 2014.

Some oppose the new requirement. Vehicle manufacturers, for instance, hesitate at the extra costs of installing back-up cameras to their new model fleets. Other safety advocates argue that back-up cameras might be an unreliable crutch that drivers use instead of scanning the area for people and objects and prudently checking all mirrors before backing up.

However, the NHTSA believes that backover deaths and injuries could fall by 50 percent if all passenger vehicles come equipped with back-up cameras.