Advocates: Add Safety Measures to Highway Bill
As Congress puts finishing touches on the federal highway bill, safety advocates want more attention paid to preventive measures such as additional air bags, stronger roofs and door locks, and cameras that might reduce drivers' blind spots.
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Congress is putting the finishing touches on a federal highway bill. Automobile safety groups are hoping that the final version will include new provisions to prevent deaths and injuries on the road. They say thousands of lives could be saved every year by requiring side-impact airbags, better technology to keep vehicles from rolling over and stronger roofs and door locks to protect passengers in case they do. They also want the government to do something about blind spots behind vehicles, which pose a risk to children. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.
KATHLEEN SCHALCH reporting:
On October 9th of last year, Rachel Clemens' husband decided to back the family's SUV out of the garage so he could unpack the Halloween decorations. Clemens' two-and-a-half-year-old daughter was inside.
Ms. RACHEL CLEMENS: It happened so fast. Within a matter of seconds, she was gone.
SCHALCH: The child ran out of the house and behind the moving vehicle. She was killed.
Ms. CLEMENS: Two and a half years old, you can't see a child behind a vehicle. You cannot see these children. You don't cope with it. I don't think you can ever cope with a situation like this. It destroys everyone in your family.
SCHALCH: And she says most parents don't realize how often it's happening. One reason is that the government doesn't keep track of injuries and fatalities caused by vehicles in driveways and parking lots. Janette Fennel does. She's president of a non-profit group called Kids and Cars. She gathers data on back-over accidents from police, coroners and newspaper reports.
Ms. JANETTE FENNEL (Kids and Cars): We can tell you definitively that at least two children every week are backed over and killed, and another 48 every week are being treated in emergency rooms because they were backed over. And, you know, when you think of if there's bad hamburger and children are dying or if medicine bottles are being tampered with and children were dying, this would be an outrage.
SCHALCH: Safety advocates say what makes these deaths especially devastating is that 70 percent of the time, it's the parent who's behind the wheel. They believe the risk of back-overs has grown along with the size and height of the vehicles most families drive. Sally Greenberg, senior product safety counsel for Consumers Union, says the blind zone behind a large SUV can be three times as big as the one behind a sedan. Greenberg says for short drivers peering through high rear windows, it's even bigger.
Ms. SALLY GREENBERG (Consumers Union): These are just accidents waiting to happen.
SCHALCH: There is technology available that can help.
Ms. GREENBERG: It's basically a little monitor that either sits right next to your rearview mirror or it could be part of your rearview mirror. And when you put the vehicle in reverse, it gives you a little view of what's behind you. You can see a tricycle, you could see a garbage can, and you could see a child on a tricycle. And it's really very effective technology.
SCHALCH: Greenberg says if these monitors were mass-produced or became standard equipment, the price would fall dramatically to $200 or less. Currently though, they're expensive. Aaron Shostick, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, says, for now at least, they should remain optional.
Mr. AARON SHOSTICK (Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers): For consumers who want this technology and want to pay the extra 1,500 to $2,000 that it costs, automakers are pleased to make it available. It's available on several different models, available on dealer lots today. Consumers could go out and buy a vehicle with a backing camera today should they wish. Other consumers don't want to be forced to pay for it. And if they don't have small children or pets or live in an area with small children or pets, they don't feel like they should be compelled to pay for it.
SCHALCH: Shostick says it would also be premature for the government to issue a regulation since it hasn't even gauged the extent of the problem. But the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers agrees with safety advocates that collecting data would be a good idea. The Senate version of the federal highway bill would instruct regulators to begin counting back-over accidents and studying technologies that could prevent them. But the House version of the bill doesn't do this. So it's not clear if this or any of the other safety provisions in the Senate bill will become law. Parents, such as Rachel Clemens, say the government and car dealers should at least do more to educate consumers.
Ms. CLEMENS: Why didn't they tell us about the back-up cameras that they had to offer? Our sunroof was more expensive than a back-up camera. And I would have purchased that back-up camera in a heartbeat. And it cost the life of my child not to. And no parent would ever want to experience what we're going through.
SCHALCH: Clemens and a number of other parents who've lost children this way have also been speaking to lawmakers, hoping that the highway bill will mark the first step toward finding a solution. Kathleen Schalch, NPR News, Washington.
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