South Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Children and elderly pedestrians are most commonly the victims of back-over car accidents in Boca Raton and elsewhere throughout Florida. These accidents are so common that the U.S. Department of Transportation is pushing for mandatory back-up cameras on all vehicles. Drivers are urged to be extremely cautious when reversing a vehicle as pedestrians can easily be overlooked and unfortunately run over.

"There is no more tragic accident than for a parent or caregiver to back out of a garage or driveway and kill or injure an undetected child playing behind the vehicle," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Our Boca Raton pedestrian accident attorneys understand the number of back-over accidents typically increase during each holiday season. During this time, vehicular traffic increases and drivers don't provide full attention to their surroundings when reversing. These back-up accidents are most likely to occur in driveways and in parking lots. As residents and tourists gather and friends' and family members' houses for holiday gatherings and motorists across the state flock to local shopping centers, the risk for back-up accidents increases significantly. Luckily, there are a few precautionary steps that we can all take to help prevent these types of accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that there are more than 290 fatalities and nearly 20,000 injuries that happen each year because of back-over accidents. Nearly 230 of these fatalities involve a vehicle that weighs less than 10,000 pounds, like the average passenger vehicle. Nearly 45 percent of these fatalities occur to children who are under the age of 5, which is an alarmingly high percentage for any type of accident.

Approximately 35 percent of these victims are pedestrians who are over the age of 70.

Safety tips to keep children safe from back-over accidents:

-Teach your young ones never to play in our around vehicles.

-Always supervise children when they have to be around vehicles.

-Hold your child's hand when walking through a parking lot.

-Before you get in your vehicle to reverse, walk around it to make sure the area is clear.

-Teach your children to stand away a vehicle when a driver gets in one.

-Children should wait on a sidewalk or on the grass while a vehicle is backing out of a driveway or a parking spot.

-Children should never leave bicycles or toys on the driveway.

-Make sure you look behind you when you're reversing your vehicle just in case someone dashes behind your car unexpectedly.

-If you drive an SUV or another large vehicle, roll down the windows as you back up so you can hear what's going on outside your vehicle. Larger vehicles have larger blind spots.

-Although some vehicles come equipped with back-up cameras, don't rely on them. A driver's eye and awareness is still the best defense against a back-up accident.