Automakers already offer rear view cameras on many models.
The U.S. Department of Transportation today proposed a new safety regulation designed to help eliminate blind zones behind vehicles that can hide the presence of pedestrians, especially young children and the elderly.
The proposed rule was required by Congress as part of the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2007. Two-year old Cameron Gulbransen, for whom the Act is named, was killed when his father accidentally backed over him in the family’s driveway.
“There is no more tragic accident than for a parent or caregiver to back out of a garage or driveway and kill or injure an undetected child playing behind the vehicle,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, an Illinois Republican.
“The changes we are proposing today will help drivers see into those blind zones directly behind vehicles to make sure it is safe to back up,” LaHood said.
The proposal, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) branch of DOT, would expand the required field of view for all passenger cars, pickup trucks, minivans, buses and low-speed vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of up to 10,000 pounds so that drivers can see directly behind the vehicle when the vehicle’s transmission is in reverse.
NHTSA did not explain why larger commercial vehicles are exempt?
NHTSA says that automobile manufacturers will install rear mounted video cameras and in-vehicle displays to meet the proposed standards. And indeed Ford Motor Company immediately issued a release saying it would do so. To meet the requirements of the proposed rule, 10% of new vehicles must comply by Sept. 2012, 40% by Sept. 2013 and 100% by Sept. 2014.
The regulation, along with increasingly stringent emissions, other safety and fuel economy rules, will add to the growing cost of new vehicles. It is also a government bestowed gift to the relatively few suppliers of automotive rear view cameras.
Consumers might face some sticker shock when during the next say five years the cost of a vehicle will rise what’s estimated as several thousand dollars, according to industry analysts.
“The steps we are taking today will help reduce back-over fatalities and injuries not only to children, but to the elderly, and other pedestrians,” said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, an Obama Administration political appointee.
NHTSA estimates that, on average, 292 fatalities and 18,000 injuries occur each year as a result of back-over crashes involving all vehicles. Of these, 228 fatalities involve light vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less.
Two particularly vulnerable populations – children and the elderly -– are affected most. Approximately 44% of fatalities involving light vehicles are children under five–an unusually high percentage for any particular type of crash. In addition, 33% of fatalities involving light vehicles are elderly people 70 years of age or older.
Congress has thus far refused to act on Distracted Driving, a far greater safety issue that is currently killing more than 5,000 people annually and seriously injuring hundreds of thousands more.
