Auto Safety

Over the course of a year, the average American spends a total of twenty-five days in a car. Consumers need to be confident that the vehicles in which they and their families spend so much time are safe. In February 2008, Congress passed my bill, the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Transportation Safety Act. The law requires minimum safety standards for cars, SUVs, and trucks to help reduce the rate of child injury and deaths caused preventable non-traffic, non-crash-related incidents. For example, under the law, cars will soon be required to have expanded rear visibility that will prevent devastating backover incidents in which children have been injured or killed. Cars must have the brake engaged in order to be shifted out of "Park" and into another gear to prevent children from inadvertently shifting a car into gear and causing an accident.

For fighting to enact this law, I was honored with the Safety Leader Award by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, an alliance of consumer groups that work to improve the safety of America's roads, save lives, and reduce injuries. A 2010 report showed that federal and state highway safety laws enacted over the past 20 years have saved over 85,000 lives and over $600 billion in costs. I am committed to continuing to work to improve auto safety as new technologies change our cars and the way we use them. Americans want safe cars and deserve common-sense safety protections.