Saving Kids’ Lives Through Safer Vehicles

Virtually every safety feature in automobiles, even those we take for granted, like seat belts and airbags, became standard equipment only after overcoming intense resistance. The technologies that have made cars much safer for both passengers and pedestrians have come about because of the commitment, determination, and resourcefulness of those who refuse to surrender in the fight for positive change.

That’s why I am so grateful for the partnership of Sally Greenberg and the National Consumers League (NCL). The work they have done and continue to do is saving countless lives.

In the 1980s, healthcare professionals were publishing papers on the number of people, predominantly small children, who were being killed or injured by cars backing out of driveways or parking spots. A 1993 report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that as many as 200 pedestrians, mostly children, were being killed each year by backing out collisions. At least 50 children every week were being backed over by vehicles.

My organization, Kids and Car Safety, compiled data on the problem and concluded that the only solution would be to mandate a rear visibility standard—cameras that would allow the driver to see what was behind the car, particularly a small child who could not be seen through the rearview mirror or rear window. The regulators were not acting, so we began working with Congress on legislation to require a rear visibility standard allowing drivers to see behind them when backing up. After all, you cannot avoid hitting something or someone you cannot see.

That’s when I teamed up with Sally Greenberg, then with Consumers Union. We began a battle that would take years but was so very necessary to prevent more families from suffering avoidable tragedies. We matched our research and our firsthand witness testimonies against the arguments that rear backup cameras would add too much to the cost of cars and that drivers wouldn’t use them. We argued that they shouldn’t only be offered as an optional feature in luxury cars.

Sally and Consumers Union, along with Kids and Car Safety and NCL, tirelessly insisted that safety could not be offered only to those who could afford it.

Finally, in 2014, a new rule was issued and took effect in 2018, mandating that all vehicles sold or leased in the United States, no matter where they were manufactured, be equipped with a rear backup camera. Today, they are thought to be as essential as seat belts, airbags, side impact protection, and electronic stability control—features that no vehicle should ever be without. And it happened because of advocates like Sally Greenberg and others who simply wouldn’t back down to the powerful, well-financed opposition.

There is more to be done to make cars safer for drivers and their families. On average, about 40 children die annually in hot cars. Often, these are infants and toddlers in rear- facing car seats, and the driver, looking in the rearview mirror, can’t tell if the seat is occupied or not.

We’re pleased to have NCL’s powerful voice engaged in yet another effort to use effective technologies to save lives. Occupant detection systems can distinguish between living beings and inanimate objects in the vehicle and can alert the driver that a child is unattended in the vehicle. This system will save lives, as NCL has compellingly pointed out. There is resistance to making occupant detection systems a mandatory feature in new cars. There always is. Yet, we were successful in adding a lifesaving traffic safety provision designed to prevent hot car fatalities, in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

Kids and Car Safety and NCL have a solid track record of collaborating on these issues. When lives, health, and safety are at stake, I wouldn’t bet against us.

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Janette Fennell is the Founder and President of Kids and Car Safety, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing injury and death to children and animals in and around motor vehicles.