Life Saving Legislation for Kids

Within the past few years across the nation there have been an increasing number of stories in the news about children being run over and killed by cars in their own driveways.  A recent example occurred in Denver, Colorado, on May 8,2014.  A three year old boy was pronounced dead at the scene after a vehicle, driven by his father, accidently backed over him. Stories such as this have prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to propose legislation that would require all new vehicles to have backup cameras installed by the manufacturer.

If such legislation is passed and put into effect, that legislation would require that the backup cameras cover a 10-foot by 20-foot zone directly behind the vehicle. There are also other requirements that legislation will impose on auto-makers, affecting the image size and display for the drivers monitor. Currently, about two-hundred-ten (210) people die each year due to accidents of this sort, and approximately fifteen-thousand  (15,000) are injured. Of these accidents, thirty-one percent involve children under five years old, and twenty-six percent are adults over seventy years of age. With this new proposed law in effect, NHTSA predicts that approximately fifty-eight to sixty-nine lives could be saved each year. NHTSA also believes that the installation of a backup camera in a vehicle which does not possess one, would be relatively cheap, costing about $132-$142. With minimal cost and maximum reward, the backup cameras would offer added safety to children and elderly whom are already vulnerable.

Information on this topic was gathered from the following websites:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/03/31/nhtsa-rear-view-cameras/7114531/