Posted on 05/02/2018 12:09:36 PM PDT by BBell
All newly manufactured vehicles to be sold in the U.S. are required as of Tuesday to have backup cameras equipped as a standard feature.
Advocates for the rule, which was mandated by the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency in 2014, hope today’s milestone will lead to fewer instances of drivers backing into people due to a lack of visibility.
“This day is so important because we don’t have a choice” when it comes to children’s safety around cars, said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsAndCars.org, an advocacy group that works to prevent accidents involving children and motor vehicles. “This measure will save countless lives, especially of children.”
Congress passed the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act in 2008. The bill, signed into law by then-President George W. Bush, ordered NHTSA to issue by 2011 a standard for improving drivers’ ability to detect pedestrians behind their vehicles.
NHTSA’s proposed standard was stalled for several years in the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, according to a Reuters. It wasn’t until March 2014, when a coalition of advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation (of which NHTSA is a part), that a rule was issued, with a May 1, 2018, deadline for full implementation.
Today was 16 years in the making for Dr. Greg Gulbransen, who in 2002 accidentally backed over and killed his 2-year-old son Cameron, the namesake of the bill Congress enacted.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
I was not aware of this before. It sounds good but it sounds like one more thing to break to me. Will they require backup warnings next? If it will save one life...
I have had a backup camera on my Acura MDX for the past 14 years so they will not break.
My 2015 Acura TLX has all the backup warnings signals plus the blind side and lane departure warning, brake mitigation, and adaptive cruise control and they are fantastic. I cannot buy another vehicle without them.
Lenses get dirty fast.
I think you have the cart before the horse. The availability of rearview cameras has allowed and encouraged designers to make cars with truly atrocious sight lines.
I thought about adding one to mine.
Clip....”This measure will save countless lives, especially of children.”
Surely there must be some hard data that provides the actual number of lives lost due to lack of rear facing cameras...Public needs to know the actual numbers and circumstances, number of drunk or impaired drivers, homocides, accidental or otherwise, etc.
Back when OSHA and CPSC got started they tackled the need for safety glass in public areas, setting sill heights, and safety glass standards. Among the items included in their manadrin mandates were glass jalousie slats, common in the south . The glass slats, formerly of tempered glass about 1/4” thick, same as used for shelves in medicine cabinets, were cited in the data appendices were the cause of only three injuries nation wide, none fatal. One was a broken finger while stumbling into the jalousie door. Another was a small child with minor cuts. The worst of the injuries, though not serious were the result of an admitted drunk youth crashing through while staggering.
Nonethe less, the “if it saves one child...” dictum created onerous regulations created by legions of government mandarins accountable to no one.
3 incidents buried in back page foot notes can change the course of an industry with vast economic and social behavioral changes. That’s all it takes. Thats why we need to see hard data up front, not actors tearfullu pleading for some flavor of the month whacko cause.
Read my tag line.....
Dont need one but WOMEN drivers need one.
(HIDING before Freeper ladies lynch me)
It can be handy when backing without clearing snow off of the back window and mirrors....
So people become dependent on the cams and forget to turn around and look whats coming around either side of them. I have a cam in my car and that’s my take away.
They already do and it’s called YOU:-)
I like my back up camera.
What I would like are cameras on the side of rear bumbers. I have a low sedan, and have to inch my way out of a parking space.
Yes. The majority of vehicles involved in accidents when the weather is snowy or icy are SUVs and 4WD and AWD vehicles. People think they can drive like it's nice and dry out. I noticed as 4WD, AWD, and ABS became more prevalent there seem to be more accidents during inclement weather. People drive like maniacs relying on these systems instead of common sense.
My Wife’s car has one and I do check it for roaming kitties who are outside...
THat’s because of the fleet mileage standard. You see all those mini SUVs now replacing sedans?
EPA fleet mileage mandates means automakers have needed to add expensive fuel-injectors, turbo-chargers, and computers (as well as cheap, light plastics) to your autos to get smaller engines to run at higher gas mileages.
Because safety mandates also mean window space is shrinking, now the nanny state must also mandate back-up cameras.
My 16 Tacoma came with one and love it.
The camera has saved me. My new neighborhood has a narrow street. My area has had some new houses go up and contractor vehicles all over.
The sales guy told me that there have been more crunches on the lot because staff gotten too dependent.
Another SOP to the arrogant technologists, on course over the next 20 years to be the owners of the auto industry, as profit margins on everything outside the technology get squeezed.
What is a government “mandate”; is it about market competition? No. Mandates are about insuring a certain thing MUST be part of a product or service, thus insuring vendors buy/pay for the inclusion of that mandate, and as a mandate competition in providing it, or not is killed (when everyone MUST do, there is no longer any competition for providing it, or not).
Mandates, all mandates are a SOP to the industry who will provide the means for them. THAT and for no other reason are why they exist.
My 2015 Dodge Challenger has a Backup Camera and Sensors to alert me when someone drives past or walks behind when the Car is in Reverse. If it wasn’t included in the Equipment Package, I probably wouldn’t have ordered it along with the Navigation I have. Now I’m glad both were on the Car.
I am surprised how many People will see you backing up and pull behind or walk behind your Car as you are backing out of a Parking Space. Absolutely no courtesy or patience.
My Wife’s Car, a 2013 Kia Optima has the Backup Camera but no Sensors.
Dollar to a Donut that the next “requirement” will be the addition of the Sensors.
Just the other day, I watched a doofus in a brand new Mercedes SUV (c. $80K) ignore the backup camera and back into another car doing several thousands in damage.
You’re probably correct. Car manufacturers have been enabled to have bad designs because technology is supposed to replace good driving. A year ago, I switched to a Kia Rio for its larger windows. I like it much better than not knowing for myself what’s coming at me.
A doc too busy to notice his 2 year old and ran him over causes much virtue signaling, and subsequent expense to the the majority of us who have never backed over anything. I’ll buy older cars as long as I can.
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