Reps. Schakowsky, King Urge the President to Support Stronger Rear Visibility Rule

Washington, DC (March 22, 2013) — Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Peter King released a joint statement on sending a letter to the President urging a stronger rear visibility rule for vehicles:

Today, Reps. Schakowsky and Peter King (R-NY) sent a letter to President Obama urging him to direct the Secretary of Transportation to release a strong rear visibility rule. The Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act was passed in 2008, and it is named after two year old Cameron Gulbransen, a boy whose life could have been saved with improved rear visibility in vehicles. The Act mandates that the Secretary issue a rule to expand rear visibility on vehicles. It has now been five years since the Act passed and still no final rule has been issued.

"Expanding rear visibility is common sense. Drivers' inability to see what is directly behind them when they back up is responsible for devastating accidents that injure and kill," said Rep. Schakowsky. "The victims of these accidents are often young children and the drivers who run them over are often their own parents, as in the case of Cameron. On average 2 children under the age of 5 are killed every week. These deaths are preventable with rear visibility technology."

"It has been 5 years since the Cameron Gulbransen Safety Act was signed into law," said Rep. King. "To this date, NHTSA has failed to issue a rule that could prevent an average of 100 fatalities and 7,000 injuries a year. It defies common sense. A rule must be issued immediately to prevent further fatalities."

Over the course of a year, the average American spends a total of twenty-five days in a car. Americans need to be confident that the vehicles in which they and their families spend so much time in are safe. The technology for this is available, affordable, and will save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of injuries.

Full text of the letter here.

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