PITTSBURGH -- Fifty-eight children were killed last year -- all victims of vehicular accidents. But they didn't die on highways. They were killed in driveways, run over by drivers who never saw them.

They're called back-over accidents, and they usually happen when a child is hidden in the vehicle's rear blind spot.

The longer the vehicle and the higher the rear window, the bigger the blind spot.

Dr. Greg Gulbransen knows firsthand about the dangers of a car's blind spot. One night after coming home from dinner out, he said goodnight to his two boys and went outside to back the car into the driveway.

Gulbransen said, "While I was backing up, looking over my shoulders, using the rearview mirrors, I felt a bump."

It turns out Greg's younger son, Cameron, had followed his dad outside.

"There was my 2-year-old son, with his pajamas and his blanket in his hand, bleeding profusely from a severe head injury. I had obviously backed right over him and I never saw him," Gulbransen said.

Gulbransen was driving a sport utility vehicle that night. But Consumer Reports said every vehicle has visibility issues.

Consumer Reports testers illustrate the problem by moving orange traffic cones behind the vehicle until the driver can see them. The cones mark off the area the driver is unable to see.

David Champion of Consumer Reports said, "That area is completely blind to the driver. Anything could be there -- a child, a soccer ball, a bicycle, anything like that."

The sedan had the smallest blind spot -- about 12 feet. The minivan had a blind spot of 13 feet. The SUV's blind spot was 14 feet. But, the pickup truck was the worst, with a blind spot measuring 30 feet long, more than twice the distance of any of the other vehicles.

One of the best ways to prevent a back-over accident is to get out of your vehicle and walk behind it to make sure your path is clear and alert the kids playing nearby to make sure they're not close enough to dart behind you.