Posted on 12/05/2010 1:52:45 AM PST by GraceG
The federal government wants automakers to install back-up cameras in all new vehicles starting in late 2014.
The plan, announced Friday, received a strong endorsement from insurance industry and other analysts and is likely to get some level of support from car manufacturers.
"There is no more tragic accident than for a parent or caregiver to back out of a garage or driveway and kill or injure an undetected child playing behind the vehicle," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. "The changes we are proposing today will help drivers see into those blind zones directly behind vehicles to make sure it is safe to back up."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I just bought a new SUV and as someone who hitches up to tow a trailer daily I’d like to keep my bumper unscratched.
A backup camera is top on my Christmas wishlist this year.
I might bend my libertarian sense a bit if I was required to have a “LIB/Moonbat” indicator in my car.
With all the televised car chases in LA being a source of entertainment for the entire country—rear view cameras will help the fleeing felons see and avoid those little bumper “bumps” the cops use to end the pursuit—thus prolonging all the fun!
Maybe if the lame ducks hurry, they can pass this law along with the mandatory GPS-Taxometer...
Have you driven some of the new cars the last few years? The bottom of the rear window is so high, you can't see anything but the sky. The designers are idiots.
but since it’s for the children.....
Agree wonder who will be the first creep that installs a zoom lens.
“So, which Congressman has a friend who has cornered the market on back-up cameras. That guy is gonna be very rich!”
DING DING DING! The Winner!
STOO-PID™ people cannot drive.Problem solved. (not that there's a problem to begin with)
Just remove reverse gear from all cars. Problem solved. Also, for safety, make all left turns illegal.
I don’t see that rear backup cameras are a threat to our liberties or a problem of any kind. Often times people in higher vehicles, no matter how much they turn and look, simply won’t be able to see something right behind them. Usually you’re not going very fast when you’re backing up...but it can still be lethal.
I know someone who ran over and killed her own small child in a church parking lot (the child had gotten away from an older sibling) and someone else who ran over but fortunately did not kill a tiny elderly lady who was walking right behind her vehicle in a store parking lot. Both of them were very safe drivers and were going slowly, but they were driving vans or higher vehicles and the simple fact is that there is a blind spot behind these vehicles that could be helped by having a camera.
I’m all in favor of using automation for safer driving. I noticed now there are a few big commercial trucks that seem to have a warning system (probably in conjunction with a camera) to watch the passing lanes so that they don’t pull into a lane when a smaller vehicle is coming up along side. An excellent thing, IMHO.
Next will be Radar and cars that have no reverse gear.
Never had a back up accident.
I have but it was not due to the lack of a camera it was due to the lack of thinking on my part.
I have a camera on my present car and rarely look at it or when I do does it give me a useful view.
‘Managed’ Health Care is morphing in to the Communist “Managed Life’ system. That was the original intent of HMO’S.
it’s not the unsafe backin of the car it’s the CAR itself..
automobiles kill kill kill and they must go the way of medical research.....the best thing is the horse and buggy..just name me one fool who’s been killed by the careless backin up of the buggy.....case closed..
Where does it end? Seriously, where does it end? Airbags, back-up cameras, ABS brakes, radar, sonar, force-fields, speed governors... let’s make them all mandatory. After all, it’s all about saving lives. No wonder new cars start at $20,000. Pretty soon, only the upper-middle class will be able to afford a new car.
I have a backup camera in my car. I do not find it useful. I do not use it. I use my mirrors, or I actually turn around to watch where I’m going when I back up. I have never had a backing accident. If others have had backing problems, then feel free to buy a car with a backup camera, but don’t make me pay for one.
The government has no business mandating this type of equipment. I suspect the link between backup cameras and accident reduction is very tenuous, if exists at all. Furthermore, even if backup cameras do reduce accidents, it doesn’t change the fact that the government has NO business mandating this equipment! If you want a backup camera, then pay extra and buy a car that has one. I should be able to pay less and buy a car that doesn’t have one.
It’s amazing that we’ve been able to survive at all and that every kid in the US hasn’t been backed over by Mom or Dad. Good the government is here to stop the millions of children getting run down in driveways....
You nailed it.
Fine.
As soon as Mr. LaHood explains which of the eighteen enumerated powers in the Constitution gives the government this authority.
I pick up my g/daughter every Thursday night 8:00P.M. from Girl Scouts. Small, poorly lit parking lot, I’m driving a Trail Blazer and while backing up I’m scared to death I’m going to hit a small child that I can’t see by turning my head to look and looking in both mirrors. Little kids are quick and could dart behind me easily, plus the fact that not all parents are that observant of where their kids are.
This past Thursday night there was a woman walking by my car as I was ready to leave, I rolled down my window and asked her if it was clear behind me. She said it was and that’s the best I’ve felt yet about leaving that lot.
There are usually about 20 or so cars there but everyone leaves close to the same time. I think I will ask the G.S. leader if she needs a volunteer to watch outside as kids are leaving but with that many cars it probably would take more than one volunteer.
Similar to, "Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear"?
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