Toyota Tarago 2010 News

Just a brief look into any junior sports club shows fewer people now do more to keep such clubs and teams afloat.

These are two recommendations University of Queensland researcher Bronwyn Griffin expects to flow from her study into the incidents which is to be handed to Parliament by July next year.  She was speaking yesterday (FRIDAY MAY 21) at a demonstration of vehicle rear blinds spots held on the forecourt of Suncorp Stadium as part of an awareness campaign for national Fatality Free Friday (FFF) next Friday."Nothing replaces parental vigilance," Griffin said pointing out that in Queensland 196 children were seriously injured in low-speed accidents and 18 killed in the past five years.  "Queensland has the highest death rate in the nation probably because we have a higher proportion of four-wheel drives," she said."However, technology such as rearview cameras can't be trusted completely. It's a great aid, but it doesn't eliminate the problem. Also, it's not affordable to all families."  However, FFF founder Russell White said it was wrong to pigeonhole all four-wheel drives as a problem and pointed out with his demonstration that a Commodore sedan with a boot-mounted spoiler has a blind spot 15m long compared with 3.6m for a Land Rover Discovery.The demonstration also included a Holden Barina with a 6m blind spot and a Toyota Tarago with 10.1m.  "I would have expected the 4WD to be the worst, but you can't pigeonhole them as all the same," he said."Some of our sedans are a bigger problem. It depends more on the design of the vehicle rather than the type.  "The Disco has a big window in the back with a low tailgate while the Commodore has a high boot and a spoiler."Rear architecture of the vehicle clearly plays a huge role in visibility and we need to ask manufacturers if they ever take this into account."  While 4WD vehicles were involved in 10 of the 18 fatalities, passenger cars accounted for most accidents causing major injuries and 84 per cent of vehicles involved in low-speed run-over incidents were passenger vehicles.Griffin said most of these accidents happened in home driveways.  "Unfortunately most often it's the mum or dad that is driving," she said.  "With the decreasing size of homes these days the driveaway is an attractive place for children to play, but it's not a safe place."She recommended parents walk around their car before getting in, supervise and remove children in the area and separate their driveway with a physical barrier form the rest of the yard.White also suggested drivers should learn to adjust their rearview mirrors for better vision.  "But even with the mirrors correctly adjusted every vehicle will have a blind spot and we need to be aware of the size of that even in a small sedan," he said.  Drivers who wish to take part in Fatality Free Friday can register their interest online at www.fatalityfreefriday.com