Clinton Kids and Cars Safety Legislation Signed into Law
Senator Clinton Led Bipartisan Effort to Pass Landmark Legislation
Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton announced today that the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, her legislation to protect children from injury in and around motor vehicles, has been signed into law. Nearly every other day in the United States, a child dies in a non-traffic vehicle accident. Senator Clinton’s legislation will ensure that cars in the United States are properly equipped with safety technology to prevent unintentional harm to children, promising safer cars and safer children in New York and across the country.
“After years of hard work and bipartisan coalition building, we finally have a law that will save lives and make our children safer. Because of the changes this law will bring, fewer families will go through the unthinkable horror of losing a child,” Senator Clinton said. “I am proud to have stood with so many families and safety advocates from New York who never gave up on this important legislation. I am also grateful to the dedication and leadership of Chairman Dingell in the House and all my colleagues on both side of the aisle who supported this bill. Together we have won a real victory for America’s children.”
Child safety advocates quickly hailed the new law as a major accomplishment that would improve safety for children across the nation.
“Everyone knows an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. KIDS AND CARS and all the families we work with will be forever grateful to Senator Clinton and all the legislators that stood up for child safety,” said Janette Fennell, Founder and President of KIDS AND CARS. “Anyone who looks at the legislation Senator Clinton works on knows she cares deeply about children and protecting them. The Senator is all about solutions and action.”
On average, a child dies in the United States nearly every other day from a non-traffic incident — backed-over by a driver who couldn't see behind his or her vehicle, strangled in a power window, or killed when an automobile inadvertently shifts into gear. The average age of victims is between 12 and 23 months. In 70 percent of cases, a parent, relative or close friend is behind the wheel. According to the child safety group Kids and Cars, there were more than 230 non-traffic fatalities in 2007 -- the highest number of fatalities ever recorded. The technology exists to protect families and children from these tragedies at relatively low cost. However, such technology is only available on a select few high-end vehicles or as an aftermarket product that consumers have to purchase and have installed.
The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act requires common sense child safety protections in all new vehicles. First, it requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to begin a rulemaking on the need to require power windows and panels to automatically reverse direction if there is an obstruction in the path of a motor vehicle window or panel, thereby preventing children from being trapped, hurt, or even killed by power windows in cars. Second, it requires a back-over detection standard that will alert drivers to the presence of a child behind the vehicle. Every vehicle without back-over prevention technology -- technology that exists today at relatively low-cost -- has a blind spot. Some are more than 50 feet long according to testing by Consumer Reports. Third, it requires that in all key positions the vehicle service brake be engaged in order to shift out of "Park." This will stop anyone not intending to drive the car, such as a child, from engaging the transmission and prevent the vehicle from inadvertently rolling away. The legislation also establishes a database on injuries and deaths in non-traffic, non-crash events and a child safety information program to disseminate information to parents about these hazards and ways to mitigate them.
In October of 2005, Senator Clinton first introduced the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act in the Senate. Senator Clinton worked for years to build bipartisan support for the measure, meeting frequently with child safety advocates and families who have lost children, and working closely with Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and a bipartisan coalition in both chambers of Congress to draw attention to this important issue.
http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=293880&&
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