Davis Law Group, P.S.

Bigger cars with bigger blind spots taking a tragic toll

It's being called a nationwide epidemic -- kids being run over in their own driveway. Bigger cars with bigger blind spots are taking a tragic toll.These slow motion rollover accidents are happening at an alarming rate, killing about 100 kids each year and injuring several thousand more. In most cases, the driver is a parent or relative, making this a tragedy within a tragedy.And the sad fact is, there are simple ways to reduce this driveway danger. We all do it: get in the car, start the engine, check the mirrors, then put the vehicle in gear. If that's all you do before pulling out of the driveway you've made a potentially fatal mistake."I don't want this happening again," said Kari Vastbinder, who was backing out of her driveway last July when it happened. "I don't want this happening to anyone."She accidentally hit her then 2-year-old son, Aiden."I actually ran over him, went over his back and came close to going over his head," she said. "My neighbor stopped me. I pulled forward and my son was all bloody."

Congress is now considering the Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007, a bill that, if passed, would establish a rear visibility performance standard so that drivers would be able to detect a person behind the vehicle.

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