MSNBC.com, "Blind spots are a deadly flaw for most SUVs"

          How many kids can sit behind an SUV without being seen by the driver in the rearview mirrors? This is not a trick question. In fact, knowing the answer could save a child’s life. According to the consumer group Kids and Cars, as many as 62 children could be in that blind zone and you’d never know it. And that’s a huge problem.
          Your driveway is the last place you’d expect a child to get hit by a car. But Janette Fennell, president of Kids and Cars, says at least 100 children are killed there each year in backover accidents. Another 2,400 children are seriously injured this way each year. It happened just last week in Covington, Wash., near Seattle. Mariana Lopez, an 18-month old girl, was accidentally run over as her aunt backed up her Ford F-150 pickup -- a half-ton vehicle with a huge rear blind zone. The aunt couldn’t see the toddler, who was no higher than the tire.
          “People need to understand that there’s actually an epidemic going on right now,” Fennell says. “Two children every week are dying because they can’t be seen behind these larger vehicles that we’re driving.” Like Mariana, most of the victims are toddlers 12 to 23 months old. They have just learned to walk and often try to follow mom, dad or some other relative to the vehicle. They have no concept of the danger involved. The fact that it’s usually a family member behind the wheel makes this a tragedy within a tragedy. “The problem has gotten worse with the increased popularity of SUVs, pickup trucks and minivans as family vehicles,” says Mike Quincy, an automotive expert with Consumer Reports. “Some of the blind spots are incredible.”