House Energy and Commerce Committee Approves Schakowsky's Cameron Gulbransen Transportation Safety Act

HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE APPROVES SCHAKOWSKY'S CAMERON GULBRANSEN TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ACT

Washington, D.C.–U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, entered following remarks into the record after the Energy and Commerce Committee approved her child safety bill, H.R. 1216, The Cameron Gulbransen Transportation Safety Act. Schakowsky's bill would set mandatory standards which would require auto manufacturers to adopt simple safety measures to decrease the number of preventable non-traffic, non-crash related accidents.

"This is great day for consumers, and I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for making this possible and for your guidance in bringing this bipartisan bill up for consideration. I am extremely pleased to offer the Manager's amendment to H.R. 1216, The Cameron Gulbransen Transportation Safety Act, for the Full Committee's consideration today.

Cameron Gulbransen was tragically killed at 2 years old when his father, a pediatrician from Long Island, accidentally backed over him, and this bill is a tribute to him and the hundreds like him who are fighting for a solution. I first introduced this legislation with my colleague from New York, Congressman Peter King, in 2003, so we could reduce the rate of child injury and deaths caused by preventable, non-traffic, non crash-related incidents and make these kinds of accidents a thing of the past.

Unfortunately, since we first introduced the bill, over 1,013 children have needlessly died in preventable accidents. We have already lost more than 200 children to back-over accidents this year; on average, a young child is killed in a preventable non-traffic, non crash-related accident every two days. Just yesterday, in Collinsville, Illinois, an 8-year-old girl was accidentally backed over by her mother's car after she got out of the car to retrieve her hat.

Many children are killed each year without ever leaving their driveways — suffocated by unsafe power windows, backed over by cars with major blind spots, or because a car was accidentally put into motion by a child who could not control it. The average age of victims is just one year old and, in many cases, a parent, relative, or friend is behind the wheel.

The manager's amendment to H.R. 1216 is common sense, consensus legislation that reflects input from the auto industry as well as child safety advocates. This legislation will require the Secretary of Transportation to set minimum safety standards for cars, SUVs, and trucks, to decrease the incidence of child injury and death. This bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to begin rulemakings in three areas;

First, it expands the rearward visibility standard, giving drivers a better means of detecting when small children or objects are behind their vehicles. Some SUVs have rearward visibility so poor that up to 62 children can fit within the blind spot behind them. H.R. 1216 requires National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to begin rulemaking within 12 months to expand the rearward field of view. This will enable drivers to detect areas behind different kinds of motor vehicles in order to reduce deaths and injuries from backing incidents, particularly for children and the disabled.

Second, it instructs the Secretary to consider requiring power windows to automatically reverse direction when an obstruction is detected. This will help prevent small children from being caught in or strangled by windows — there have been at least 21 fatal power window incidents during the past 5 years. If NHTSA decides not to issue a final rule to require the automatic reversal of power windows, it must report to Congress with its reasons for not doing so, and publish information about which vehicles are or are not equipped with automatic reversal.

Third, it requires every vehicle's brake pedal to be engaged when the car is shifted out of "park... and into another gear. This would prevent anyone not intending to drive the car, such as a child who cannot typically reach the brake pedal, from accidentally setting the car into motion. At least 80 children have lost their lives this way during the past 5 years

Finally, this bill directs NHTSA to create a publicly-searchable, database of non-traffic, non crash-related motor vehicle injuries, and to establish a Child Safety Information Program to help consumers address ways in which parents and care-givers can reduce risks to small children arising from backover incidents, hyperthermia in closed vehicles, accidental activation of power windows, and other risks. H.R. 1216 allows ample time for the regulations to be developed and does not mandate the use of specific safety technology.

Families want safe cars. They deserve these common-sense safety features. It is time that we make sure they get them. Better designs and technology already exist — and they are getting better and cheaper every day.

Adding brake shift interlocks to prevent unintentional rolling would cost $5 a car. Power window sensors run between $8 to $12. Back-over Warning Systems are currently $300, but the price will go down as they become standard.

Many car companies already offer these added safety features on their higher-end vehicles, but protecting our children is not a luxury to be priced out of reach for most Americans. It is time that manufacturers include these features in every vehicle.

And, there is incentive to do so: according to JD Powers and Associates survey released in August 2006, safety sells. The most desired new technologies in cars are ones that make cars safer.

I would like to publicly thank Kids and Cars and the Consumers Union for strenuously advocating for the safety of children and for taking on the critical problem of unsafe cars. Again, I would to thank Chairman Dingell, Mr. Barton, and Mr. Stearns for their efforts, and I would also like to thank Jonathan Cordone and David Cavicke on Committee staff for all of their hard work on this bill.

And I have to thank Diane Beedle, who worked tirelessly on this issue when she was on my staff and who played an integral part in putting together the compromise language we are considering here today.

Finally, I would like to extend a special thanks to Congressman Peter King, for the leadership and tenacity he has demonstrated through the years we have worked on this bill together.

With that, I urge passage of H.R. 1216, The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, and yield back the balance of my time....

The Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 directly addresses vehicles and child safety problems, such as children being backed over, strangled by power windows or killed when they inadvertently shift a car into gear causing an accident.

The bill directs the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to issue the following regulations to decrease the incidence of child injury and death:

• Ensure power windows automatically reverse direction when they detect an obstruction to prevent children from being trapped, injured or killed;

• Provide drivers with a means of detecting the presence of a person or object behind their vehicle;

• Provide for the vehicle service brake to be engaged to prevent vehicles from unintentionally rolling away; and

• Establish a child safety information program to collect non-traffic incident data and disseminate information to parents about these hazards and ways to mitigate them.