Orange County Register March 24, 2002 SUVs, vans turn driveways into deadly terrain for kids O.C. has lost 14 children this way since '95, but problem gets little attention. By TERI SFORZA The Orange County Register At least 23 children have been killed or seriously injured in Orange County when crushed in driveways or parking lots since 1995, often beneath SUVs or minivans driven by their parents, friends or neighbors. Such driveway accidents equaled the number of children who drowned in one of the years examined by the Register. But while safety warnings about children and water are an annual rite of spring, no government agency keeps track of driveway accidents, parents aren't warned about them, and experts say the calamities are happening more and more often as heavy SUVs, minivans and trucks proliferate as family cars. "If we could increase awareness, it could save lives," said Diane Winn, who has studied the accidents as associate director of the Pediatric Injury Prevention Research Group at the University of California, Irvine. SUVs, minivans and light trucks are involved in 40 to 76 percent of these accidents, which typically occur when the vehicles are backing up, studies have found. The overwhelming majority of victims are younger than 4 - children who can be lightning fast but too tiny to be seen in rearview or side mirrors when they're behind a minivan or SUV. "These deaths get categorized as freak accidents, but I'm sorry, we've counted more than 340 'freak accidents' since 1995," said Janette Fennell, executive director of Kids 'N Cars, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco that is the sole group tracking the deaths and injuries. Police and highway officials don't. "They are not freak accidents. They are predictable, and they are preventable. We really need for people to start looking at their 4,000-pound piles of steel as lethal weapons. We just can't ignore the fact that children are being needlessly injured and killed," said Fennell. KILLED At least 14 children have been killed this way in Orange County since 1995. The latest was Jacob Paulson, 1, of Cypress, who died Feb. 23. His father was trying to back his car down the driveway with the engine off and the transmission in neutral. Jacob appeared at the open driver's-side door, the door knocked him to the ground, and the car continued rolling backward, crushing him. "Cause of death: blunt head injury, auto versus pedestrian," the police report reads. The death of Christina Wang Epps, 3, tore apart her entire Mission Viejo neighborhood, as some families blamed her parents for not keeping an eye on her and others blamed the neighbor who hit her. Bryan Guevara, 5, was riding his bike in his family's Anaheim driveway when a family friend backed out and killed him. About 116 children die this way each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates. Already, 11 children have died this way in 2002, according to Fennell's count - more than she has ever recorded so early in the year. And researchers warn that the numbers cited are probably far lower than the actual occurrence. "There's nothing worse for a parent than the loss of life of a precious child - except if you in any way caused that loss," Fennell said. "I don't know how these people go on. It's just so sad. All these circumstances pull together to make a tragedy within a tragedy." Santa Ana has had the most such accidents since 1995 - seven, which killed four children and injured four. But the accidents happen from Brea to Rancho Santa Margarita. "I've seen three or four of these in my career," said Mike Ritter, an emergency-room doctor at Children's Hospital at Mission in Mission Viejo. "The injuries are always horrific." INJURED In addition to the 14 deaths, at least nine local children have suffered serious injuries but survived. Anton La Rosa, 1, of Mission Viejo suffered a fractured skull and crushed cerebellum when he was hit by an SUV backing out of a spot in the Mission Viejo Library parking lot Feb. 26, 2001. He has made a strong recovery, his parents say. But Jessica Cisneros, 1, of Buena Park was not so lucky. Jessica slipped out of her mother's sight and toddled behind a neighbor's minivan as it was backing out of its spot in a Franklin Street apartment complex lot July 10, 2000. She had only been walking for three months. Now she may never walk again. Jessica's skull was fractured. Nearly two years later, she still is not well. She doesn't walk. She must be fed through a tube snaking into her stomach. She requires constant care and is as helpless as her 6-month-old brother, said her father, Enrique Cisneros. Insurance pays for a nurse - on duty every day - but the financial toll has added to the emotional burden. Since the accident, Cisneros' wife hasn't been able to work. That means he has to work harder than ever at his factory job to make ends meet. Jessica's condition is permanent, the doctors tell him. But he holds out hope. "Only God knows for sure," he said. DEADLY MINIVANS? Winn, the UCI expert, reviewed local hospital and coroner's records for a two-year period in the late-1980s. She found that 19 percent of children injured in pedestrian accidents were hurt in driveways or parking lots. Of those injured in driveways, 62 percent were playing at the time. Forty-five percent were in the presence of adults. Toddlers were more likely to be hurt than older preschoolers, and boys were more likely to be involved than girls. "Driveway events involve small children, larger vehicles and backing up," notes the study she co-authored. Young children are at greater risk in private driveways and parking lots than as occupants of motor vehicles, the UCI researchers found. While UCI found that 40 percent of these accidents involved vans, SUVs or light trucks, other studies have found the number to be far higher. In a paper published last year, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that 65 percent of the accidents involved SUVs or trucks. A Washington state study found them involved in 76 percent. "Children in families owning these vehicles may be at increased risk for fatal injury," the Washington state study said. A Canadian study didn't mince words in recommending "reassessing the safety of light trucks and vans as family vehicles." Shy of that, many researchers urge parents to use convex mirrors or cameras so they can see what's behind them. Such systems cost $700 to $1,600 to install, they say. DRIVEWAYS Driveway design and use is a contributor to the accidents, studies have found. The lack of a physical separation between the driveway and the children's play area - such as a fence or wall - is associated with a threefold increase in the risk of injury, a New Zealand study found. Children living in homes with shared driveways were also at significantly increased risk. Fencing as a strategy for prevention deserves further attention, the study concluded. PREVENTION It's a matter of vigilance. Cindy LaRosa, whose son Anton was hit by a minivan in the Mission Viejo Library parking lot, has her strategies. "It's practical, basic stuff," said LaRosa. "Every time I step out of the car, I make sure I hold him. I also have a leash on him - he hates it, and parents give me dirty looks, but I don't care. I want him to be safe." Fennell has installed a $700 camera on her SUV so she can see what's behind her. "Be aware of where your children are when you're leaving your driveway," she said. "A friend of ours always told his two little boys to sit on the front porch while he backed out so he could see them." For those who have tried to save the injured children, the images don't go away. "I remember vividly some of these incidents where the children were severely, severely injured," said Mary Gardner, program manager of Benedum Pediatric Trauma Program at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the co-author of a study published last summer. "It doesn't have to happen. It could be totally prevented if there's parental supervision. That's the bottom line." Register staff writer Jeff Collins and news researcher Eugene Balk contributed to this report.