Preventing Backovers in America's Driveways

Question

Preventing Backovers in America's Driveways
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 in the passage, which combination is least likely to result in a backover accident?
Responses
A	a full-size SUV and a petite, elderly womana full-size SUV and a petite, elderly woman
B	a compact sedan and a tall, twenty-year-old mana compact sedan and a tall, twenty-year-old man
C	an Airstream motorhome and a ten-year-old childan Airstream motorhome and a ten-year-old child
D	a full-size pick up truck and a three-year-old childa full-size pick up truck and a three-year-old child
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GPT-4o · Answer

The combination least likely to result in a backover accident, based on the information in the passage, is:

**B: a compact sedan and a tall, twenty-year-old man**

Here's why:

1. **Compact Sedan**: Generally, a compact sedan has a smaller blind spot compared to larger vehicles such as SUVs, motorhomes, or full-size pickup trucks. This makes it easier for the driver to see what is behind the vehicle.

2. **Tall, Twenty-Year-Old Man**: A tall individual is much more visible to a driver compared to a child or a petite elderly woman. The driver's ability to see over their shoulder or in the mirrors would make it easier to spot a tall person.

In this scenario, the taller individual and the smaller vehicle combine to create the least likely situation for a backover accident to occur.