A study put out in Nov 2008 by NHTSA estimates that more than 2 children a week, age 10 and younger, die in backover crashes, and most occur in driveways.
The reason for these types of collisions is simply that people, usually the parents, don't see the children behind the car.New drivers are normally more aware of the blind spot to the side of their vehicle when doing lane changes, than how large the blind spot is to the back of their vehicle.
Blind spots behind a vehicle
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Notice in the right top picture the sticker in the window conceals the boys head to where it's hard to see him.
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It's about 2 1/2 lengths of a vehicle you can't see behind on the ground. This means for buses it would be two bus lengths they can't see ground (provided they can see out the back window)!
Blind spots in front of a vehicle
It is roughly a distance of 13 1/2 feet in front of this Toyota Corolla to see the boy and his mom head to toe, as opposed to 40-45 feet in back of the vehicles above.
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The Right pictures are a Toyota 4Runner SR5.
The boy is roughly 8 1/2 feet back to barely see his head!
If these kids were much closer to the vehicles you wouldn't see them from the drivers seat at all!
Blind spots to the side of a vehicle
Vehicle blind spots to the side of a vehicle are toward the back corner of a it. This is where an object (car, bike or person) is not visible in your side mirror or directly out your side window.
If your Side mirrors are adjusted correctly, seeing most of the adjacent lane, once the vehicle disappears in your rear view mirror, it should become visible in your side mirror.
Inspite of this, you could still miss something coming past you near the back of your vehicle for several reasons.
1. The object might be smaller thus harder to see, such as a person, bike or motorcycle.
2.Vehicles could be turning into your lane from side streets or driveways.
3. A driver could be doing a lane change from behind you at the
same time as you.
4. Curves and hills can hide drivers coming fast behind you.
On the left side I must be no further than 4 feet away from the vehicle to be seen.
On the right I must be no further than 3 feet away from the vehicle to be seen.
The right side has larger vehicle blind spots because it's further away from the driver, unless you live where you sit on the right side of your vehicle to drive.
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DMV Practice Tests DriversEd.com.
Collisions caused by aggressive drivers