SAN ANTONIO — A little boy ran to his mother's truck, but she didn't see him. It's a tragedy that experts say happens more often than most people think.
According to KidsAndCars.org, every year thousands of children are hurt or die because a driver moving forward very slowly was not able to see them in the blindzone directly in front of their vehicle. Most of these accidents happen in driveways and parking lots.
KidsAndCars.org was successful in ensuring that a federal regulation was passed requiring a rear visibility standard on all vehicles. In other words, a rear visibility standard means that the automakers will have a regulation on what a driver must be able to see behind all vehicles.
According to the orginization, at least 50 children are backed over by vehicles every week in United States alone. Two of those are killed 48 end up seriously injured after being backed over.
A similar accident happened Wednesday morning in Somerset.
Bexar County deputies said a 28-year-old mother accidentally backed over her small child. The mom allegedly dropped the 2-year-old boy off at her sister's house in the 188800 block of Senior Road around 6:30 a.m. and hit the child as she backed out of the driveway.
Bexar County Deputy Dennis Casillas said the boy broke free from his aunt and was hit as he ran out into the driveway to say goodbye to his mom.
"The aunt was 26 years old and she made an attempt to run after her child but she fell down the stairs and hurt her foot," Casillas said.
Emergency responders tried extensively to revive the child, but were unsuccessful.
