Washington, D.C.–The U.S. House of Representatives today unanimously approved Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky's (D-IL) Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, H.R. 1216. Schakowsky's bill requires auto manufacturers to adopt simple, common-sense safety measures to decrease the number of deaths and injuries that have resulted from children being backed over, strangled by power windows or killed when they inadvertently shift a car into gear causing an accident.
Congresswoman Schakowsky delivered the following remarks on the House floor today before the House unanimously approved her bill.
"Thank you, Chairman Rush. I also want to extend my appreciation to Chairman Dingell, who's assistance and guidance were critical in bring this important bill — H.R. 1216, The Cameron Gulbransen Transportation Safety Act, to the floor today.
One of the most painful things I have been a part of as a Member of Congress are the press conferences which come about every 6 months or so, in which parents and grand-parents come to share pictures of their children and loved ones, some of whom they have accidentally killed by rolling over them with their vehicles. Imagine that for a moment, particularly in this time of year, as we wish to be with those we love most.
I am here today because of these courageous people, driven by such horrifying accidents. Today we can pass this bill and reduce these unimaginably tragic and unnecessary deaths, and make them a thing of the past. At just two years of age, Cameron Gulbransen was tragically killed when his father, a pediatrician from Long Island, accidentally backed over him. This bill is a tribute to him and the hundreds of other young children who have died.
I first introduced this legislation back in 2003, with my colleague from New York, Congressman Peter King, but today I stand here with strengthened resolve; Just two days ago, as her mother picked up snow shovels that had been left in the driveway, Ashlynn Lauber, an 8-year-old from just outside Collinsville, Illinois, was killed when the family car rolled over her.
Unfortunately, since we first introduced H.R. 1216, well over 1,000 children have needlessly died in preventable accidents, and in this year alone, 200 children have died of back-over accidents. Many children are killed in these kinds of accidents each year without ever leaving their driveways — suffocated by unsafe power windows, backed over by cars with major blind spots, or hit because a car was accidentally put into motion by a child who could not control it.
H.R. 1216 is common sense, consensus legislation that reflects input from the auto industry as well as child safety advocates. This legislation will require the Secretary of Transportation to set minimum safety standards for cars, SUVs, and trucks, and to begin rulemakings in three areas; expanding rearward visibility, enabling power windows to automatically reverse direction when an obstruction is detected, and requiring brake pedals to be engaged when a vehicle is not in "park.
Expanding the rearward visibility standard will give drivers a better means of detecting when small children or objects are behind their vehicles. Some SUVs have rearward visibility so poor that up to 62 children could fit in their blind spot with the driver being none the wiser. This provision will enable drivers to detect areas behind motor vehicles and will help reduce deaths and injuries from backing incidents, particularly for children and the disabled.
Instructing the Secretary to consider requiring power windows to automatically reverse direction when an obstruction is detected will help prevent small children from being caught in, or strangled by windows. These accidents have taken a minimum of 21 lives over the last 5 years.
And finally, requiring every vehicle's brake pedal to be engaged when the car is shifted out of "park. and into another gear will prevent anyone not intending to drive the car — such as a child who cannot typically reach the brake pedal — from accidentally setting the car into motion. In the past 5 years, at least 80 children have lost their lives in this kind of accident.
Families want safe cars. They deserve these common-sense safety features. It is time that we make sure they get them, and one of the best parts of this bill is that it will direct NHTSA to create a publicly-searchable database of non-traffic, non crash-related motor vehicle injuries, and to establish a Child Safety Information Program to help consumers address ways in which parents and care-givers can reduce risks to small children.
Better designs and technology already exist — and they are getting better and cheaper every day. Many car companies already offer these added safety features on their higher-end vehicles, but protecting our children is not a luxury to be priced out of reach for most Americans. It is time that manufacturers include these features in every vehicle.
I would like to publicly thank Kids and Cars and the Consumers Union for strenuously advocating for the safety of children and for taking on the critical problem of unsafe cars. Again, I want to thank Chairman Dingell, Mr. Barton, and Mr. Stearns for their efforts, and I would also like to thank Jonathan Cordone and David Cavicke on the Committee staff for all of their hard work on this bill. I would also like to extend a special thanks to Congressman Peter King, for the leadership and resolve he has demonstrated through the years we have worked on this bill together.
Finally, I have to thank Diane Beedle, my former Legislative Director, who worked tirelessly on this issue and who played an integral part in bringing this bill before us today. In just one month, she and her husband will be welcoming baby Franklin Dean into the world, and I know that we are both glad to be making the world just this much safer for him, and millions of other young children.
With that, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1216, The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, and yield back the balance of my time.
The Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 directs the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to issue the following regulations to decrease the incidence of child injury and death:
• Ensure power windows automatically reverse direction when they detect an obstruction to prevent children from being trapped, injured or killed;
• Provide drivers with a means of detecting the presence of a person or object behind their vehicle;
• Provide for the vehicle service brake to be engaged to prevent vehicles from unintentionally rolling away; and
• Establish a child safety information program to collect non-traffic incident data and disseminate information to parents about these hazards and ways to mitigate them.