'Spot The Tot'
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 12:36 p.m., June 3, 2008
Updated 12:36 p.m., June 3, 2008
Emporia police plan to emphasize a “Spot the Tot” project to alert drivers to the potentially deadly relationship between children and vehicles.
Officer Larry Clay said that recent deaths of toddlers and other youngsters nationwide had prompted the Kids and Cars organization to ask law enforcement for help in getting out the word to their communities.
The group said that between May 15 and 30, at least 15 children have been killed by vehicles and many more were critically injured.
Most of the fatalities occurred in driveways and at least one happened in a church parking lot.
Janette E. Fennell, founder and president of Kids and Cars, said that 50 children in the U.S. are backed over by vehicles every week. Forty-eight are treated in hospital emergency rooms and at least two are fatally injured weekly.
“These unthinkable tragedies happen most often in the driveway of the child’s home, and in over 70 percent of the incidents, the driver of the vehicle is the child’s parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or older sibling,” she said.
If the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act is passed, the government will set a standard for rear visibility, she said. Reminders through presentations, news stories and public service announcements also will be utilized.
“We’re using the ‘Spot the Tot’ just to make people aware, know the blind area of a vehicle when they’re backing out of a driveway or anywhere,” Clay said. “It’s just a reminder for parents, adults that are driving, that we need to know what’s behind our vehicles and around our vehicles. Walk around the vehicle before you get in. Know where your kids are at. Kids are kids. Little kids play in the driveways.”
At a recent Teddy Bear Clinic, drivers were given an opportunity to get behind the wheel of a Pontiac G6 and see for themselves how difficult it is to see toddlers and children nearby. Clay used a 4-foot-tall teddy bear to represent the child.
“It took the average person, if they looked in the mirror, about 40 feet for people to see the bear,” he said. “A kid could have been playing behind the car and you’d never have seen that little kid.”
The 5-year-old daughter of Christian music performer Steven Curtis Chapman was among the children killed during that time period. Maria Sue Chapman died Wednesday when her older brother did not see her in the large blind zone behind the SUV he was backing from the driveway.
Clay said that Spot the Tot will be incorporated into the SafeKids safety restraint program held regularly by the department.
He offered these suggestions to protect toddlers and children:
• Assume a child is behind or in front of your car every time you move it, and walk around it to verify you can safely drive forward or backward.
• Make children move away from the vehicle to a place where they are in full view and supervised by an adult.
• Teach children that parked vehicles might move. Let them know that they can see the vehicle, but a driver may not be able to see them.
• Be aware that steep inclines and large vehicles like SUVs, vans and trucks, compound the difficulty of seeing behind a vehicle.
• Hold children’s hands firmly when leaving the vehicle.
• Teach children never to play in, around or behind a vehicle. Keep toys and other sports equipment off the driveway.
• Always set the emergency brake and keep the vehicle locked at all times, even in the garage.
• Trim landscaping around the driveway to improve visibility for drivers and pedestrians.
• Do not leave keys or remote openers within reach of children.
• Make sure all child passengers have left the vehicle after it is parked.
• Be especially careful in and around cars during busy times, schedule changes, and periods of crisis or holidays.
• Never leave children alone in or around cars, not even for a minute.
More information is available at www.KidsAndCars.org.