Rear-view cameras on cars could become mandatory (LA Times)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 12/4/2010 | Jerry Hirsch

[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."

[seemoAR]

People sometimes back up without looking in their mirrors. They will ignore the cameras also.

[Graybeard58]

There are good studies that indicate air bags definitely do not save lives: people with air bags tend to drive more recklessly.

I drive through a heavily wooded area frequently, posted speed limit 35 mph. Cars rarely do 35 or more. I drive about 25. Deer are very thick there and sure I have insurance but don't relish the thought of getting smacked in the face by an air bag.

[SampleMan]

The federal government is ensuring that no one with an average income will ever purchase a new car.

[Cvengr]

IMHO, unfortunately the issue isn’t control.

IMHO, the issue is much more foul. Our society has fallen for the panacea of regulation en lieu of responsible behavior.

I have no problem with a manufacturer offering rear-view cameras. I have no problem with insurance companies offering lower insurance rates for vehicles with those devices. The statistics might very well justify such lower rates.

Where I have a problem is when our legislation and regulatory rule makers decide our behavior is illegitimate any time they entertain a seemingly good idea.

They decrease our freedom with every such regulation.

They appeal to a ‘higher standard’ or an improved ‘quality of life’, but ignore the less costly responsible behavior of the just who act freely without harming their fellow man.

Our cost of living today is astronomical, primarily due to excessive regulation.

[sonofagun]

Once you use this thing for a few weeks, you rely on it heavily and will not want a car without one.

DITTO with built in seat heaters.

[GlockThe Vote]

This lahood is truly nuts.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Stupid. Most drivers will just look at the screen and not turn their empty heads. Then when the first kid is killed, greedy lawyers will post ads to sue the manufacturers of the video systems.

[sonofagun]

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.

In 43 years of driving, I've had three backing up collisions. In looking back at the cause, I don't feel a back up camera would have helped in any of those cases

In each case I was confident the coast was clear and didn't look where I should have been looking.

Which means that I probably would not have been looking at the monitor either.

[glorgau]

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

Sorry, once you have run someone over and killed them, you've lost your "safe driver" appellation.

[Fresh Wind]

Generally though I'd rather back in...

I have a nice scrape on my rear bumper from an idiot who tried to do just that.

[ThePatriotsFlag]

Agree ... same as with banning “real” lightbulbs. The Gov has NO BUSINESS doing this. But for myself, I’m installing a back up camera on my car ... not because the gov tells me to, because I want to. If you are backing out and some jerk comes along and you back into him ... its YOUR fault. Also the STUPID people who walk behind a car that is backing out is a law suit ready to happen (even if it does clean out stupidity in the gene pool). I’ve got an SUV and when it is parked beside an SUV, backing out is a crap shoot. The cameras don’t cost that much but Santa Claus has promised to put one in his pack for me. I wonder who buys it for Santa Claus? It’s probably from Obama’s stash! :-)

[ops33]

There are backup cameras available as an aftermarket add-on.
I bought my wife a portable, color camera to help her in hooking up her trailer. The trailer is bumper mount and the camera magnetically attaches to the tail gate above the hook. It has a small little monitor my wife can hold in her hand and even automatically reverses the image in the display. Also comes with a night setting to operate in low light. Because it is magnetic she can mount the camera inside her horse trailer and keep an eye on her horse as she is driving. Cost about $150. Because it is handheld it also has unlimited usage, especially inside the house.

[ops33]

Check out Switch Hitch, what my wife uses. Because it is portable and magnetic has an inifinite number of uses besides backing up a vehicle.

[Ditter]

I don’t know how old you are Grace, but I am old and my neck hurts sometimes and having one of these cameras on my Tahoe is great. I would never have added it as an option but it came on the truck as part of the package, otherwise I would never have know how good and option it was.

[muawiyah]

There are folks who can't turn their heads at all and they are out driving cars around with handicapped stickers.

The DOT regulations on handicapped spots in parking lots require that they be designed so that vehicles cannot be driven through the spaces. That's why those big pipes are put in between two spots placed head-on to each other.

So, what that results in is a bunch of guys who can't turn their heads needing to back out of handicapped spots.

You'll find that the handicapped parking spaces have more handicapped folks around them than do the non-handicapped spaces.

And then people wonder why the handicapped people get run over all the time!

[MrEdd]

Even at 49 my neck swivels that far, and of course I look. But i can’t see low things like a toddler or a bicycle, or a concrete pylon.

I have been looking fo a rear bumper camera with a bluetooth connection.

[Ditter]

If the car you buy has a rear view camera and you don’t like feeling controlled, there is a button on the dash, turn it off.

[NewHampshireDuo]

Last time I was in Singapore I noticed that virtually all cars had proximity alerts - aural. It was a great aid for backing into the narrow spaces in the cramped parking garages. You don’t have to look at anything like a tv screen. Just listen for the beep rate of the detector.

[Disambiguator]

Also, for safety, make all left turns illegal.

This is unenforceable, but the theory is sound. A large proportion of accidents occur due to left-hand turns. Where I used to live (River's Edge in Rio Rancho, NM), we had a major thoroughfare running past our subdivision, and anytime there was a major wreck on the highway, it invariably involved someone turning left. It's dangerous when driving, and dangerous politically. :^)

[Ditter]

My back up camera doesn’t show me anything, it beeps when something is behind me. The beep never fails to get my attention and I stop. Doesn’t matter what is back there, car, person, dog, traffic cone, it beeps, I stop and reconsider my move.