Spot the Tot
Approximately 2,500 children per year ages 1-14 reported to emergency rooms and an average of 229 children per year died from motor-vehicle backover injuries in the United States from 2001-2003.   Close to half of children injured in these incidents were ages 1-4.

You could save a child’s life by taking a five second walk around your car before you get in. Many of these preventable injuries and deaths occur in driveways or parking lots when drivers do not see children near their vehicles – often, these drivers are loving family members or friends.

Follow three easy tips to help keep children safer around cars:

Parents, Caregivers and Drivers

  1. Parents and caregivers are urged to firmly hold the hand of children when in driveways, parking lots, and sidewalks.
  2. Drivers, even those without children of their own, are cautioned to do a safety check to look for children walking or playing around cars. 
  3. Drivers should walk all the way around a parked vehicle to check for kids, toys and pets before entering the car and starting the motor.
Spot the Tot is a nationwide expansion of the successful program of the same name created by Safe Kids Utah. The program teaches parents, drivers, caregivers and children new safety tips to increase awareness about small children sharing the same space as vehicles.  It is designed to increase awareness and reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities that occur in driveways, parking lots and sidewalks.
 
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