An Auburn family is begging drivers to slow down and double-check behind their cars after their 7-year-old daughter was fatally struck by a driver who did not see her standing behind a vehicle outside the family home. The parents say the loss was sudden and brutal, and they are speaking out in the hope that no one else has to learn this lesson the way they did.
Family's message to drivers
The girl's parents spoke with local television crews about the crash and pleaded with neighbors and other drivers to walk around their vehicles and check blind spots before shifting into reverse. According to FOX 13 Seattle, the family said the driver did not realize the child was standing behind the vehicle until it was too late.
KING 5 identified the girl as Hazel and reported that her mother, Heather Bryant, believes a backup camera could have made all the difference. Bryant said such a system might have given the driver a crucial extra second to spot Hazel in the blind zone and stop.
Why rear-visibility matters
Federal safety regulators have long warned about so-called backover crashes, in which drivers unintentionally run over people behind their vehicles. After years of data showing hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries each year, the government required rear-visibility systems on new passenger vehicles to address the problem, according to the Federal Register record of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rule.
Safety advocates say those numbers are not just statistics. They are families like Hazel's. Kids and Car Safety estimates that roughly 50 children are backed over in the United States every single week, a reminder that what feels like a routine trip in the driveway can turn deadly in seconds.
Simple steps families can take
Research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has found that backup cameras and parking sensors sharply reduce rear blind zones and can lower backing-crash rates. Experts caution, though, that technology is only a tool. Drivers still need to walk around the vehicle when possible, check mirrors, look over their shoulders, and move slowly.
The Auburn family told local television reporters they hope their neighborhood will take those habits to heart. They are urging people to slow down in driveways and parking lots, take a few extra seconds to scan for small children, and, where possible, retrofit older vehicles with rear cameras or sensors to cut the risk that another child ends up in a blind spot, FOX 13 Seattle reports.
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