Is your neighbor’s pickup truck hazardous to your kids?

If you live in a suburban neighborhood, you undoubtedly love the kid-friendly environment. After all, your children can ride bicycles, play games and take walks on the quiet and safe suburban streets. Still, if one of your neighbors owns a full-size pickup truck, your kids may be in more danger than you think.

Deadly front-over car accidents, where a vehicle drives forward over a pedestrian, are alarmingly common in the U.S. In fact, according to reporting from ABC News, roughly 30% of child traffic fatalities stem from this type of accident. This is considerably more than those who die in backover accidents.

Trucks and SUVs are getting taller

Full-size trucks and SUVs often have hoods that are as tall as four feet. Tall hoods, of course, make it exceedingly difficult for drivers to see anything that is immediately in front of their vehicles, including children. If your child is shorter than 48 inches, he or she is at increased risk of dying or suffering a serious injury in a front-over accident.

Safety technology is an option

Since 2018, all new vehicles sold in the U.S. must have backup cameras to comply with federal safety regulations. These cameras have reduced the number of backover fatalities considerably.

While the technology exists to add frontend sensors and cameras on all vehicles, these features do not come standard on most. Rather, they remain options that simply are out of reach financially for many car buyers.

You should teach your children about the dangers of being around parked and moving vehicles. Ultimately, though, if your son or daughter dies or suffers a major injury in a front-over accident, you may have grounds to pursue significant financial compensation.