The University of Utah recently conducted a seminal study investigating the occurrence of injuries to children caused by larger, high-profile vehicles. This comes courtesy of the Associated Press:

(AP) – SALT LAKE CITY-Children are up to 2 1/2 times more likely to be backed over by a minivan, sport utility vehicle or truck than by a car, according to a study released Monday by the University of Utah.

Children are 2.4 times more likely to be struck by a van than a car, and 53 percent more likely to be hit by a truck, the study found.

And children hit by high-profile vehicles – such as trucks, SUVs or minivans – were more likely to be severely injured than those backed over by cars, the report said.

Previous reports have suggested that high-profile vehicles produce a large blind spot, but until now no U.S. studies have attempted to document the injury rate by type of vehicle, the university said.

The study, conducted by the university’s Intermountain Injury Control Research Center, used medical records and police reports of back-over injury data for Utah children under age 10 from 1998 to 2003. The findings were to be published in the journal Pediatric Emergency Care.