Bill Could Improve Child Safety in and Around Vehicles

By Collin Baker

On a fall evening in 2002, Dr. Greg Gulbransen, a pediatrician from Oyster Bay, N.Y., stepped into his SUV to move it from the street to his driveway.

He drove slowly and used his rear view and side mirrors, as any safe driver would do. He was alarmed when his front wheel went over a bump – he hadn’t seen anything in his mirrors.

When he stepped out of his vehicle, Gulbransen was horrified to realize that he had just backed over his 2-year-old son, Cameron, who died from the injuries he received in the accident.

“How could this have happened? I looked where I was driving but yet I never saw him!” Gulbransen said in congressional testimony. “I never had a chance of seeing Cameron because he was too small – too small for the large blind zones that are built into the design of our vehicles.”

Many vehicles today – especially SUVs – have large blind spots, allowing even the most attentive driver to overlook a child behind his or her car.

Gulbransen, Public Citizen, nonprofit child safety group Kids and Cars and others are asking Congress to pass a law that would help prevent such tragedies from happening.

The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007, introduced by Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.) on Feb. 27, would mandate the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require automakers to improve vehicles and prevent tragedies that happen when a vehicle is not on the highway. The bill, S. 694, has broad support from groups, including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and Consumers Union.

Reps. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.)and Peter King (R-N.Y.)also introduced the House version of the bill, H.R. 1216, on Feb. 27.

The bill would require NHTSA to devise a rear visibility standard for all cars, SUVs and light trucks so drivers can see small objects, such as children, behind them. NHTSA also would have to instruct automakers to install technology that would require the brake to be depressed for the vehicle to be shifted into gear, thereby preventing children from accidentally shifting a vehicle into gear.

In addition, the bill would require the installation of sensors that would automatically retract a power window when they sense an obstruction.

On Feb. 28, Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook, Gulbransen and the auto industry testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance and Automotive Safety.

“After 40 years of being caught in a tug of war between industry interests and its statutory mission, NHTSA still has much to do to protect the public, especially children,”Claybrook said.

NHTSA fails to properly record child safety data

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for children between the ages of 3 and 14, according to NHTSA.

In 2005, almost 2,000 children died from automobile crashes in the United States.

However, NHTSA’s statistics do not paint the full picture of the danger vehicles pose to children.

But as a result of the passage of the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, the agency is required to begin recording statistics on how many children are backed over in driveways or injured and killed in other off-road vehicle tragedies.

The only organization that has been recording tragedies involving vehicles that are not on the road is Kids and Cars.

As of May 7, there have been 235 non-traffic motor vehicle incidents in 2007, with 261 children involved and 77 child deaths, according to Kids and Cars.

This number is probably lower than the actual total because NHTSAdoes not yet collect all the updated data for non-traffic deaths.

S. 694 sets up a program for collecting this data, and Claybrook urged Congress to require NHTSA to gather such important safety information.

More improvements needed

While the current bill is a landmark in child safety, more changes are needed to make sure children are fully protected in and around vehicles.

Congress also should require: 

• Built-in child restraint systems, to prevent tragedies related to the improper installation of the systems and to assure they are tested in all crash modes;
• A general visibility standard, to make sure drivers can properly see all around their vehicles;
• An upgrade to the safety requirements for side-impact crashes, to ensure the safety of all vehicle passengers in crashes to the side of vehicles;
• A requirement for stronger vehicle roofs and a real-world rollover test, to make sure vehicle passengers are safe in rollover crashes.

“The safety of children in vehicles is an issue that’s often overlooked,” Claybrook said. “Cars are not made to protect children. Congress must pass this bill to assure these life-saving improvements are adopted.”

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