SAN ANTONIO –
Every year, thousands of children are killed or seriously injured when a driver backs up not realizing children are around their vehicle.
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University Health System leads Safe Kids San Antonio to provide free resources and assistance for the community to ensure your children are safe in every possible way.
Tips to help your teen stay safe while driving this summer
Safe Kids created a program called Spot The Tot to raise awareness and educate people about preventable injuries that occur in driveways and parking lots when drivers are unaware that there are children in the area.
Spot The Tot has helpful tips on how people can spot children and avoid accidentally driving over them while going forward or backing up.
Spot The Tot Safety Tips:
- Take a few moments and walk all the way around a parked car to check for children
- Designate a safe spot for children to wait when nearby vehicles are about to move and make sure the drivers can see them
- Accompany children when they get in and out of a vehicle -- hold their hand while walking near moving vehicles, in driveways, parking lots or on sidewalks at all times
Did you know?
- There have been 92,000 children treated in emergency rooms for injuries in or around motor vehicles
- Each year, more than 9,000 children are treated in emergency rooms for injuries that occurred while they were by themselves in or around motor vehicles
- Thirty-nine percent of deaths from accidentally backing over a child occur at home
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Sport utility vehicles and trucks are more likely to be involved in incidents involving backing over a child than cars
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Drivers who drive over children, either when going forward or backing up, are often family members or friends of the injured child or killed child
According to kidsandcars.org, an accident in which a driver backs over a child typically takes place when the driver is backing out of a driveway or parking space.
Before you get in a vehicle, please check your parked vehicle to ensure there are no children around the area.
For more information about Spot The Tot, visit safekids.org/spot-tot.
KSAT Community operates in partnership with University Health System, Energy Transfer and San Antonio Area Chevy Dealers.
Information courtesy of Safe Kids San Antonio - University Health System.