FACTS

1. Backing accidents occur because operators rely too heavily on their vehicle mirrors. Even with the best of mirrors and mirror arrangements, there still are blind spots to the sides of the vehicle and behind it.
2. One-quarter of all collisions occur while backing. Backing incident rates are even higher among fleet drivers, accounting for up to half of all on-the-job vehicle collisions.
3. Backing carries its own set of driving risks. Backing incident rates and related injuries are expected to decrease as a growing number of vehicles with rear-vision camera systems and other safety technology features hit the road.
4. While this technology still has room for improvement, reverse braking systems currently focused on preventing collisions with obstacles will soon protect against pedestrian crashes. Front automatic braking will become standard in most cars in 2022, but there is currently no plan to make it standard for backing.
5. Until this technology becomes standard on all vehicles, one of the best ways for employers to prevent backing collisions is to create a company-wide vehicle training program that includes the following safe backing practices.

STATS

• Less than 1% of a driver’s time is spent behind the wheel, but regularly, year after year, produces approximately 25% of all vehicle-related accidents
• Backing collisions cause over 500 deaths and 15,000 injuries per year, many of which involve children.
• There are at least 500,000 backing accidents of some type every year in the U.S.
• Of those half-million accidents, 15,000 include some type of injury and approximately 210 deaths – mostly children aged five and under (31% of all fatalities) and elderly people aged 70 and over (26%).
• Up to two children every week are killed in the U.S. by back over incidents.
• Most of these events (70%) occur with a parent or family member behind the wheel.
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 70 workers died from back over incidents.
• One out of every four vehicle accidents can be blamed on poor backing skills, according to the National Safety Council.