Analyzing backover accidents

Should one mention the term “car accident,” most in San Antonio will likely immediately begin to conjure up images of collisions occurring between vehicles traveling at high speeds on a roadway. Yet car accidents need not involve high speeds to produce devastating results, and some may actually occur off the roads. While most might have difficult conceptualizing it, car accident injuries and fatalities can easily occur in driveways or parking lots when drivers inadvertently back their vehicles over pedestrians.

Many may not appreciate the devastating or crushing force that a slow-moving vehicle can produce, yet backover injuries can often end in catastrophe (particularly when they involve young children or the elderly). Indeed, most often associate backover accidents with these particular demographics, yet almost anyone can suffer them. Crowded parking venues and busy worksites can often cause drivers to become disoriented or confused as to who and what is around them. Information shared by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration reinforces this fact; its data shows that there were as many as 70 fatal “on-the-job” backover accidents in 2011 alone.

Backover accidents are typically just that: accidents. Rarely does one intend to harm another while reversing his or her vehicle. However, oftentimes it only takes an added bit of attention to avoid such accidents. Some might say that it may be next to impossible to see someone who is standing directly behind a vehicle, yet backover accident information compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that more of such accidents involve victims approaching the rears of vehicles from the side as opposed to being behind them. Automakers have introduced technologies to help avoid backover accidents, yet such tools are only meant to supplement a driver’s awareness, not make up for a lack thereof.