A year-old Big Island boy who died Saturday was the third young child killed in Hawai'i this year in a driveway accident involving a large vehicle.

Sgt. Christopher Gali, supervisor of the Big Island's Traffic Enforcement Unit, said Kahea Smith was run over by a 2000 Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle driven by his 28-year-old father, who was clearing parking space for a family barbecue.

The man was moving his truck forward in the driveway of his Malae Place home, near Waiakea, and did not see his son, who was injured by the left rear tire of the vehicle.

The accident occurred at 6:33 p.m., and the child was pronounced dead at Hilo Medical Center at 7:20 p.m.

Blind spots have proven deadly to young children, and Kids and Cars, a Kansas-based national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving child safety around cars, has been pushing for owners of sport utility vehicles and large trucks to install safety devices to cut down on blind spots, especially in the rear.

Consumer Reports magazine, testing in 2005, illustrated the problem using 28-inch-high cones, about the height of a typical 2-year-old. The cone had to be 10 feet, 10 inches from the back of a typical sedan before it became visible in the rear-view mirror. That rose to 25 feet from the back of a large pickup and more than 46 feet from a large SUV before the cone was visible from the driver's seat.

According to Kids and Cars, an average of 50 children are injured in backover accidents every week in the United States, two fatally, and 60 percent of the incidents involve large vehicles.

Kahea is the second victim of a driveway rollover on the Big Island this year.

On April 8, Maylani Piper-Caravalho, 1, died after being run over by a 2007 Honda Pilot backing out of the driveway of her Holualoa home in Kona.

In a similar death — but not in a driveway — Abygail Arquitola, 2, was killed while playing in back of an Orchidland Subdivision home in Puna on Feb. 9.

A driveway backover fatality occurred March 6 on O'ahu when Teysia Aku, 2, was crushed by a Chevy Trailblazer backing out of a driveway in Punalu'u.

TEXAS BOY, 8, KILLED IN MAUI CRASH THAT SPLIT OTHER CAR

An 8-year-old boy from San Antonio, Texas, died yesterday after being injured in a two-car collision that split one vehicle in half on Maui's Honoapi'ilani Highway.

Police said Will Smith died at 1:43 p.m. at Maui Memorial Medical Center following the 9:19 a.m. collision near Ukumehame Wayside Park.

Smith was a front-seat passenger in a car driven by his mother, Susan Moulton, that was struck by a Lahaina-bound 2003 Mazda sedan that had crossed the center line, police said. Moulton and the woman driving the Mazda were treated for injuries at Maui Memorial and released.

The collision left the Mazda split in half, with the front half against a guardrail and the back half near a picnic table at the park, said Timothy Lara, who was going surfing at Ukumehame but stopped to take photos of the accident.

Lara was standing under a tree when a piece of the Mazda fell from above, nearly hitting him.

"There was debris everywhere in the park for about 200 feet," Lara said. "Part of the back half flew into the trees and landed up against a picnic table. Some pieces flew another 100 feet and almost hit a surfer who was sitting at another table.

"I never saw a car split in half before," Lara added.

According to police, the Mazda's driver lost control of her car after overtaking a vehicle and veering off the roadway onto the mauka side dirt shoulder. The driver managed to steer the car back to the highway but crossed left of center and struck the front of Moulton's car.

The impact sent the Mazda onto the makai shoulder, where it collided with two unattended parked vehicles.

The death is Maui's 10th traffic fatality of the year compared with six on the same date in 2006.

Big Island police, meanwhile, said yesterday a 19-year-old Pahoa man injured Saturday in a three-car collision that killed a woman, 24, remained in critical condition at The Queen's Medical Center. The man is facing charges of negligent homicide and driving under the influence of an intoxicant, police said.

Police today will try to use fingerprints to confirm the identity of the dead woman.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.