Consumer group expresses great disappointment in DOT’s announcement of a fourth delay in implementing auto backover safety – National Consumers League
June 21, 2013
Contact: Ben Klein, NCL Communications, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—The National Consumers League, America’s pioneering consumer advocacy organization, today expressed great disappointment that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has delayed yet again a Congressional order to improve standards in automotive rear visibility; this is the fourth time in two years such a delay has been announced. The Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act, signed into law in 2008, included a rear visibility rule mandating auto improvements that would allow drivers to more easily see small children directly behind their vehicle. The rule was originally set to take effect on February 28, 2011, but the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a lobbying group for the auto industry, has successfully worked to delay implementation.
“I am extremely dismayed the Department of Transportation has yet again failed to institute a rule that would save hundreds of young children’s lives and prevent innumerable devastating injuries,” said Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director. “The Auto Alliance cannot dispute the fact that four children die every week after being backed over because a driver could not see a small child in their blind spot. For more than two years, while this rule has been delayed time and again, hundreds of innocent children have been the victims.”
According to a KidsandCars.org report, 50 children are backed over by vehicles every week. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates nearly 300 deaths a year and more than 18,000 injuries annually are a result of back-over crashes. NCL strongly urges the DOT to act to implement this rule and stop delaying this common sense, life-saving safety measure.
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About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
