Many newer models of cars are now equipped with a backup camera. And many car crashes can be preventable with drivers taking the proper precautions and being aware of their surroundings when backing up.
According to KidsandCars.org, every year thousands of children are killed or seriously injured because a driver backing up did not see them. While kids may be the most common victims of these incidents, anyone can be injured and hurt due to someone’s negligence or recklessness while backing pup.
Backing Up Crash Facts
Everyone is aware that when we are behind the wheel that we have blindspots, or a blind zone. A blind zone is the area behind the vehicle that the driver cannot see when looking and using the rear and side mirrors. According
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Sadly, in over 70% of these incidents, it is the parent or close relative that is the driver behind the wheel. On average 232 fatalities and 13,000 injuries occur every year due to backovers, according to the Not-in-Traffic Surveillance study. The prime age of backover victims is one-year-old. As many parents know, at this age, toddlers have just started walking and are testing their limits and trying new things.
Safety Tips
One safety tip to prevent these incidents is to install a backup camera and other sensors. You don’t have to purchase a new vehicle to get these assets, a camera and/or sensors can be installed in any vehicle. However, you should also increase your awareness when your vehicle is in reverse. Some safety tips include:
• Walk behind and around the vehicle before entering it and moving
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However, they don’t help in every situation.
An IIHS study shows that the camera help prevent more backover crashes involving pedestrians. In the original study the IIHS measured the visibility of children to an average size male driver, and the degree to which the technology (camera and sensors) improved visibility and detection. It found that without the added technology, large SUVs were found to have the worst rear visibility, and small cars had the best. So beware, the large your vehicle, the less visibility you have.
The study also found, that backup camera reduced the blond zone by about 90 percent on average. Parking sensors also reduced blind zones, but not as much.
The second study used volunteer drivers. It found that drivers who had both a camera and sensors, actually had less of a benefit than those with a camera alone. In fact, three-quarters of these drivers hit the stationary object behind them. It begs whether the sensors gave the driver a false sense of security, and had them pay less attention to the camera, while the sensors only detects objects up to 8 feet behind the
Imagine that your car could detect hazardous roads before you could sense it? A feature that provides this type of protective driving exists within European cars. This valuable safety feature that is offered in European cars i...
After the incident, I began doing some research on teenage car accidents at the advice of the officer who had responded to the scene. What I read about and learned was frightening. In 2008 over three thousand teen deaths occurred, either as a passenger or driver in a ...
According to national teen driving statistics, 16-year-olds, in particular, are 3 (three) times more likely to die in a crash than the average of all drivers, and they have higher crash rates than any other age group. In 2008; 81% of teenage crash deaths were passenger vehicle occupants, 31% of teenage drivers killed had been drinking alcohol, 55% were not buckled up, and 37% of male teenage drivers involved in fatalities were speeding. Teenagers who drink and drive have a greater risk of serious crashes than older drivers with equal blood alcohol concentrations. Teens do not wear seat/safety belts as much as adults. Teens tend to take more risks due to overconfidence in their abilities. These risks include: speeding, tailgating (driving too close to the vehicle in front), running red lights, violating traffic signals and signs, illegal turns, dangerous passing, and failure to yield to pedestrians.
One of the reasons why the elders get in accidents because as they age, their vision starts to slowly fade away. Before seniors even realize that they are struggling more, they are crashing into other cars or places. In addition, “An older person may test well in the eye doctor's office but could still struggle to focus on the road at night” (Source G). This source explains that even though elderlies might pass their eye test, they could struggle with seeing the lights on the roads as well as other vehicles because an eye test only tests if one can read, not if they can see bright lights. Although, some individuals may say that despite the fact that most elderlies cannot see, some actually care about their health and can see fairly well. The aging adults, who take care of themselves properly, ultimately will have very exceptional eyesight. “The earlier these problems are detected and treated, the more likely you can retain good vision” (Source H). This source clarifies that the sooner seniors fix their eye issues, the better chance they will have to see as they age. However, not all old citizens fix their vision problems or notice anything wrong with their eyes, so as they grow older, their eyesight gets more
“Why are Young Drivers at a Greater Risk.” Highway Safety Research Center. The University of North
During side impact crashes, cars can potentially flip. Side impact crashes are said to be the most dangerous type of car crash. The rear facing seat is the best option during this type of crash. If the car flips the sides of the seats are better equipped to harness the child in the seat. The seat is able to make pivoting motions because of the attachments to keep the child in a straight line. Keeping them in a straight line reduces the risk of injuries especially in the spinal cord.By having their back straight it won't bend or come close to snapping. A rear facing car seat protects the child by using a 5- point safety harness which is a system of hooks even used for race car drivers, and flight pilots.This allows the child to stay In the seat without them fal...
When I was about seven years old, someone pulled right out in front of my parents. We missed hitting them. When I was nine, we almost backed into another car coming down the road. The lady was on her cell phone, not paying any attention to the road. When I was 13, we finally did hit someone. It was my brother’s fault. My brother should have been more focused. These are all things that happen to everyone at one point in their lives. It’s inevitable. I think if people were to pay more attention to the road, crashes would happen less often. Driving can be dangerous, and people can be even more dangerous if not focusing on the task at hand.
There is a high percentage of people that spend a majority of their day sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle. Whether it is commuting to work, taking the kids to school, running errands, or simply going out to eat one may feel that their car has become a second home. With so much time spent behind the wheel, drivers become comfortable and incorporate distracting activities while trying to remain focused on the road. Our inability to put our cell phones away while driving is inexcusable. Drivers who choose to use mobile devices are endangering people’s lives and property with associated risks that are not acceptable. No one distracted driver is better than the next. Do to rising accidents
Richard Petty once said “You’ll got home safe, so drive safe, and stay safe.” Being a racing legend, he is an advocate for safe driving to minimise the cases of road crushes that have been on the rise. He double up as the chairman of the Veterans’ Safe Driving Initiative, the initiative is aimed at guiding the veterans returning from deployment on safe driving tips. It is necessarily important since the infrastructure has changed over time. Another initiative is being run in Minnesota where the teens are guided on the important safe driving tips. Study shows that more crushes are likely to occur in teen driving than veteran driving. It is also evident that young drivers are more likely to cause a crush within six months of passing the driving test and young male are worse than the females in the field.
Nissan Motor Corporation is the automaker that seems to be the leader in safety technology. They implemented many features such as intelligent cruise control and advanced rear-view backup cameras to their vehicles. “The low-speed following mode operates at speeds under about 40 km/h to maintain an appropriate following distance in congested traffic, thereby helping reduce the driver’s workload” (Nissan 7). A teenager may get stressed out when trying to drive in high-traffic situations. Nissan is helping them by using an intelligent cruise control that will slow down and speed up with traffic while staying a distance away from the driver in front of them. It prevents the young driver from tailgating and coming into dangerous speed-related incidents. Teenage drivers are inexperienced and it is common for them to back into fixed objects. Parents get frustrated when they have to pay to fix the vehicle after it has been damaged and body work can be expensive. Nissan has everyone covered with their advanced rear-view backup camera. “A dashboard monitor shows the area behind the vehicle using a rear-mounted camera. This helps make parking easier and helps avoid collisions with fixed objects while backing” (Nissan 9). This seems to be a useful technology not only for the inexperienced teenage driver but also for the driver who is not so confident with backing up. Buying a Nissan car with said features
Inventors hope to help people with autonomous cars because “autonomous cars can do things that human drivers can’t” (qtd. in “Making Robot Cars More Human). One of the advantages that driverless cars have is that “They can see through fog or other inclement weather, and sense a stalled car or other hazard ahead and take appropriate action” (qtd. in “Making Robot Cars More Human). Harsh weather conditions make it difficult and dangerous for people to drive, however, the car’s ability to drive through inclement weather “frees the user’s time, creates opportunities for individuals with less mobility, and increases overall road safety” (Bose 1326). With all the technology and software in the car, it can “improve road traffic system[s] and reduces road accidents” (Kumar). One of the purposes for creating the driverless car was to help “make lives easier for senior citizens, people with disabilities, people who are ill, or people who are under influence of alcohol” (Kumar). It can be frightening to know that that we share share our roads with drivers that could potentially endanger our lives as well as other people’s lives. How can people not feel a sense of worry when “cars kill roughly 32,000 people a year in the U.S.” (Fisher 60)? Drivers who text while driving or drink and drive greatly impact the safety of other people, and Google hopes to reduces the risk of accidents and save lives with the
These technologies have made driving an easier and enjoyable experience, as well as reducing our chances of getting into accidents. The research presented in the following article “Driven to Distraction [in car technology]” provided surprising conclusions. Professor John D. Lee from the University of Iowa states the following issue: “Technology is changing very quickly. Many of these things coming into the car were not designed to be used in it. ”(Edwards 8).
For all these features any car can still crash so this report aims to make you more aware of the safety aspects of modern cars and what role they play in driving.
The engineering that goes into a driverless car covers all areas of mechanics, computing software and so on which still tends to frighten some drivers of its monstrosity on the inside. In the article “Google Cars Becoming Safer: Let the Robots Drive” it states that, “The economic lift from ridding the roads of human-driven vehicles would be over $190 billion per year. That would primarily come from reducing property damage caused by low-speed collisions”(Salkever). The point is that when driverless cars hit the road the cost of low-speed collision and save consumers money will be reduced. In the article “ Google Driverless Cars Run Into Problem: Cars With Drivers” Slakever states that “One Google car, in a test in 2009, couldn’t get through a four-way stop because its sensors kept waiting for other (human) drivers to stop completely and let it go. The human drivers kept inching forward, looking for the advantage — paralyzing Google’s robot”(Bosker). Current drivers have never followed the rule of the road, which have made the road more prone to any accident. Drivers have found the upper hand on not following traffic laws that makes manufacturing driverless car more meticulous to decrease accidents and breaking traffic laws. The fact that driverless car sensors can detect the errors of other human driven car is extraordinary. Human driven cars are trying to stick to the status quo of the roads when in reality human driven cars are breaking valuable innovation that will make the roads safe for generations to
Road safety is one of the most important aspects of daily living. Our vehicle is our main transportation from one place to another. The number of car and motorcycle accidents seem to be increasing because of the many distractions, the lack of safety measures and judgment to road conditions and weather. Not being cautious increases the chances of not only injuring ourselves but hurting others as well. On the road, you see people talking on their cell phones or texting, eating, putting makeup on, changing the radio station, reading or using your GPS while driving. These are all distractions that endanger drivers, passengers and bystanders safety. Safe driving involves off-road precautionary measures such as making sure tires are properly inflated, testing windshield wipers, getting regular oil changes and tune-ups and adjusting the mirrors. All of these actions can help prevent an accident. Unfortunately, not all of us decide to wear our seat belts when driving or turn signal ligh...