Safety When Reversing Your Car

For non traffic car accidents, the single biggest cause of fatalities to children under 15 in the USA, is reversing over them. This happens to 50 US children every week. Safety statistics produced by kidsandcars.org in USA, show that between 2002 and 2007, "Runovers" accounted for 44% of non road traffic car accidents involving children, where a fatality resulted. This is a shocking statistic but safety when reversing your car does not grab the headlines in the same way as fatal car crashes.

It is more difficult to get UK injury figures but RoSPA (www.rospa.com) has some historical data. The HASS/LASS database is no longer funded by the UK government. The last years for which there is any information on the database are 2000, 2001 & 2002. The figures below are for crushing/piercing injuries to under 15's outside their place of residence and involving a car.

YEAR	INJURIES
2000	2,909
2001	3,052
2002	3,629

In Australia also, it is more difficult to get an accurate figure of the total fatalities. However, every week in Australia, one child is hit by a car and run over in its own driveway.. In New South Wales alone, 17 children died between January 1996 and June 1999, as a result of being run over by a reversing car.

Amongst the car driving tips you will find published, you will not often see anyone extolling the virtues of fitting a rear view camera to improve safety when reversing your car. However:-

this inexpensive accessory can literally be a life-saver.

Don't put yourself in the position of being responsible for another heart breaking story like this one. You can easily add a CCTV camera to your carputer installation. Click on the links below for a fitting guide and the factors you need to consider when you choose a camera.

It's a win-win situation. By improving your rear visibility and eliminating "blind spots", you minimise the risk of hitting anything while reversing. This avoids repair bills for collision damage and prevents your car insurance premium from increasing.