Brittani Lusk

One Sunday morning in July 2007, an Orem family was getting ready to go to church when the mother went to move a car that was parked backward on the street, according to police. Her 2-year-old followed her. By the time the 23-year-old woman realized her child was standing on the sidewalk and in danger of being hit by an open car door, she panicked and slammed the gas instead of the brakes.

According to accounts by Orem police, the door caught the little boy and knocked him down. The car, speeding in reverse, ran him over. The boy was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late to save him.

Stories like this are common. Janet Brooks, child advocacy manager at Primary Children's Medical Center and the vice president of Safe Kids Utah, said that even with an education campaign, about five children are run over in Utah every month. There is a fatality about every three months. Between 2002 and 2006, 29 Utah children under the age of 4 were killed in back-over accidents.

A bill recently passed by Congress and sponsored by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., would require the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to create guidelines that would require new cars to meet certain visibility thresholds. The bill, S.694, would also require new cars with automatic windows to have an automatic reversal mechanism in case there is an obstruction. This is to prevent young children from being caught.

The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 has been presented to the president.

To protect children while new standards are being hashed out, Kevin Condra, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Health, reminded parents to be careful.

"People need to pay attention when they do get into their cars and look around," Condra said.

Andrea Miller, a health educator with the Utah County Department of Health, said many injuries could be avoided if parents would walk around their vehicles before starting the engine. She also recommends knowing what's in the driveway before opening the garage.

"Nowadays, so many people have garages. They get in their car and put the garage door up before looking to see if there's anything on the outside of the garage door," Miller said.

Brooks stressed supervision. Parents need to hold their children's hands in parking lots and watch them. Young children can be victims of bye-bye syndrome and get hurt chasing after a parent or older sibling.

"Whenever an adult gets in a car to move it forward or backward, make sure that all kids are accounted [for]," Brooks said.

Three years ago Brooks started an educational program called Spot the Tot.

"We started it because the emergency-room doctors at our hospital were tired and upset at seeing these kids coming into the hospital dead or severely injured in back-overs," Brooks said.

It has since been carried across the country and across the Atlantic to Europe. Spot the Tot gives parents a yellow sticker that they are supposed to place right above the driver's side door handle. The yellow dot is aimed to remind parents to look around their vehicle before getting in and backing out of the driveway. Parents can get a sticker from the health department or by calling (801) 662-6580.

• Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at blusk@heraldextra.com.