The NYC Police Department reports over 1000 accidents occurred in the city due to unsafe backing of vehicles. While some backing accidents result in minor damage and no serious injuries, some do involve injuries that require medical treatment.
Why Do Backing Up Accidents Happen?
Most NYC drivers look behind them before backing up by turning around in their seat to make sure no vehicles or people are behind them. Some may glance into their rear-view mirror instead of turning around or look at their side-view and rear-view mirrors if they have difficulty twisting around enough to see clearly behind them. So why do so many accidents occur if drivers check behind them? Here are some possible reasons:- They fail to actually look behind them and instead rely on their "hunch" that nothing is behind them
- They only take a perfunctory glance behind them. While drivers may spot larger objects when taking a one-second look behind them, they will likely miss seeing bicycles, pedestrians, smaller road equipment and pets
- They look and back up at the same time because they may be impatient, distracted or assume nothing is behind them