Preventing Backovers in America's Driveways

Question

National Highway Transportation Safety Administration

1 Vehicle backover injuries and deaths occur when someone, without a driver’s knowledge or awareness, is positioned behind a vehicle as the driver is backing out of a driveway or other parking spot. Most victims of backovers are the elderly and children.

2 To add to the tragedy of backover injuries and deaths, the driver is often a neighbor or relative. When a child is the victim, the driver may even be the child’s mother or father.

3 Since most of these heartbreaking incidents occur in private driveways rather than on the road, they are not typically included in traffic-crash fatality data. Therefore, experts often don’t agree on the exact number of children injured or killed in backover incidents each year.

4 But even one child who dies from a backover incident is one too many. Awareness and understanding of the problem are the first steps toward reducing the risk of backover deaths.

All Vehicles Have Blind Spots

5 In the case of a backover incident, the blind spot is the place behind your vehicle that you cannot see in the rear or side view mirrors — or even by craning your neck out the driver’s side window. Generally speaking, the larger the vehicle, the larger the blind spot.

6 Blind spots for shorter drivers tend to be significantly larger as well. In addition, the elevation of the driver’s seat, the shape of a vehicle’s windows and mirrors, and the slope of a driveway can affect the size of the blind spot behind a vehicle. In addition, the smaller stature of children can make them particularly difficult for a driver to see when backing up.
Question
Based on the information from the passage, which of these combinations would be most likely to result in a driveway backover?
Responses
A midsize sedan and an elderly womanmidsize sedan and an elderly woman
B compact car and two-year old toddlercompact car and two-year old toddler
C full size truck and a thirty-year-old manfull size truck and a thirty-year-old man
D sport-utility vehicle and two-year-old toddlersport-utility vehicle and two-year-old toddler
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Answer 1

The passage provides detailed information about factors contributing to vehicle backover incidents, focusing on the role of blind spots and the visibility challenges for drivers. The two most vulnerable groups mentioned in the passage are the elderly and children, with a special emphasis on the heightened difficulty drivers face in seeing small children.

Let's analyze the given options:

A. Midsize sedan and an elderly woman: Although the passage mentions that the elderly are victims, it strongly highlights the visibility issues related to children rather than older adults. Additionally, a midsize sedan generally has smaller blind spots compared to larger vehicles.

B. Compact car and two-year-old toddler: While two-year-old toddlers are at high risk, a compact car typically has smaller blind spots, which may slightly reduce the likelihood of a backover incident compared to larger vehicles.

C. Full size truck and a thirty-year-old man: Although a full-size truck has large blind spots, a thirty-year-old man is generally tall enough to be seen by the driver, making this scenario less likely than incidents involving smaller children.

D. Sport-utility vehicle and two-year-old toddler: This combination is the most likely to result in a backover. The passage emphasizes that larger vehicles, such as SUVs, have larger blind spots. Coupled with the small stature of a two-year-old toddler, this scenario presents the highest risk.

Based on the passage, the answer is:

D. Sport-utility vehicle and two-year-old toddler