Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Rear-view cameras on cars could become mandatory (LA Times)
Los Angeles Times ^ | 12/4/2010 | Jerry Hirsch

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 ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cars; gubmint; idiocy; nannystate
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-91 next last
To: GraceG

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


41 posted on 12/05/2010 5:31:24 AM PST by seemoAR
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets
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.

42 posted on 12/05/2010 5:35:58 AM PST by Graybeard58
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: GraceG

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


43 posted on 12/05/2010 5:36:37 AM PST by SampleMan (If all of the people currently oppressed shared a common geography, bullets would already be flying.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RoadTest

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.


44 posted on 12/05/2010 5:43:35 AM PST by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Joann37
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.

45 posted on 12/05/2010 5:43:36 AM PST by sonofagun (Some think my cynicism grows with age. I like to think of it as wisdom!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: riverrunner

This lahood is truly nuts.


46 posted on 12/05/2010 5:43:47 AM PST by GlockThe Vote (Who needs Al Queda to worry about when we have Obama?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: GraceG

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.


47 posted on 12/05/2010 5:45:54 AM PST by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (Liberalism is against human nature. Practicing liberalism is detrimental to your mental stability.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Big E
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.

48 posted on 12/05/2010 5:51:03 AM PST by sonofagun (Some think my cynicism grows with age. I like to think of it as wisdom!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: livius
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.

49 posted on 12/05/2010 6:00:01 AM PST by glorgau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: cva66snipe
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.

50 posted on 12/05/2010 6:00:09 AM PST by Fresh Wind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: GraceG

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! :-)


51 posted on 12/05/2010 6:02:16 AM PST by ThePatriotsFlag (You are just jealous because the voices aren't talking to YOU!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BigCinBigD

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.


52 posted on 12/05/2010 6:06:05 AM PST by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: diverteach

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.


53 posted on 12/05/2010 6:08:54 AM PST by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: GraceG

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.


54 posted on 12/05/2010 6:12:30 AM PST by Ditter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GraceG
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!

55 posted on 12/05/2010 6:14:53 AM PST by muawiyah (GIT OUT THE WAY ~ REPUBLICANS COMIN' THROUGH)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GraceG

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.


56 posted on 12/05/2010 6:15:31 AM PST by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.8)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RoadTest

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.


57 posted on 12/05/2010 6:21:30 AM PST by Ditter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Fresh Wind

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.


58 posted on 12/05/2010 6:27:55 AM PST by NewHampshireDuo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: central_va
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. :^)

59 posted on 12/05/2010 6:28:55 AM PST by Disambiguator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Big E

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.


60 posted on 12/05/2010 6:29:00 AM PST by Ditter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-91 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson