[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 16, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                SAFETY REGULATIONS IN PASSENGER VEHICLES

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I would like to speak on an incident 
last week that raises serious questions about national passenger safety 
standards for motor vehicles.


                            Crash Incidents

  On March 9, a 1981 Toyota pickup truck carrying 20 people overturned. 
Twelve people were killed. Eight people were injured.
  Of the four people wedged into the cab of the pickup, only the driver 
survived. Nine of the 16 passengers in the bed of the pickup, which was 
covered by a camper shell, were killed.
  Among the seven men and five women who died was a pregnant woman.
  The 16 people crammed into the back of this pickup were not required 
under California law to wear seatbelts because the pickup truck was 
covered by a camper shell.
  In October 1993, a 16-year-old was killed in the Daly City area when 
a half-ton pickup truck with 10 other young people overturned.
  In July 1993, seven young passengers in the bed of a pickup were 
killed when an alleged drunk driver lost control of his car in Commerce 
and struck the pickup truck. The victims in the pickup, six males and a 
female ranging in age from 14 to 20, were returning to the San Gabriel 
Valley from an outing to the beach. There were only two survivors.
  That same month, a teenager died in a traffic accident after a pickup 
truck rolled over three times, throwing him from the truck bed onto a 
road in Santa Ynez. The two passengers in the vehicle, both of whom 
were wearing seat belts, survived the accident.
  In June 1993, two teenagers were killed as a pickup carrying 
teenagers from a graduation ceremony crashed in Oxnard.
  In September 1991, two teenage boys were killed and two others 
injured when a pickup overturned on a curve on Moreno Boulevard in 
Lakeside.


                            State statistics

  According to California Highway Patrol statewide statistics, 144 
people who were riding without restraints in truck cargo areas were 
killed in accidents between 1989 and 1992. Another 3,600 were injured 
in that period.


                               State laws

  On January 1, 1993, a new law took effect that allowed police, 
sheriff's and California Highway Patrol officers to pull over motorists 
for not wearing seatbelts in passenger cars. The first offense brings a 
$22 fine. The second brings a $55 fine.
  California has required motorists to wear seatbelts since 1986. The 
only real change that occurred in 1993 is that motorists can be pulled 
over and ticketed simply for not wearing their seatbelts. Previously, 
officers had to have another reason for stopping a car.
  At this point, California law only required that children under the 
age of 12 be accompanied by an adult when riding in the back of a 
pickup truck. Ironically, more restrictive laws applied to animals--as 
a result, animals must be restrained when in the back of a pickup 
according to a law passed in 1987.
  Beginning on January 1, 1994, the California law was expanded. CHP 
officers began citing motorists and passengers who ride in the beds of 
pickup trucks without seatbelts. Passengers may only legally ride in 
the backs of these trucks if they are strapped in by a lap belt 
attached to a seatbelt bolted into the bed.
  But, yet another tragedy has shown that the California laws are 
inadequate. Twelve people died last week when the pickup truck careened 
off the road--and no California or Federal law prevented the 20 people 
from cramming into the vehicle. A loophole in the California law means 
that anyone who rides in a pickup with a camper shell is exempted under 
the law.


                           Federal standards

  The issue of seatbelt safety is not new to the Federal Government. As 
of September 1, 1989, all new passenger cars produced for sale in the 
United States are required to be equipped with restraints--either 
seatbelts or airbags. According to the Department of Transportation, 
about 4,575 lives were saved in 1989 as a result of the seatbelt use.
  Yet, there remains a great deal of leeway in minimum safety standards 
adopted by States.
  I believe it's time to set a minimum national standard of safety for 
passenger vehicles--cars, pickup trucks, minivans, vans, and the 
increasingly popular jeeps.
  According to a report received from the American Automobile 
Manufacturers Association, truck sales represent one of the fastest 
growing segments of the American automobile industry. From 1992 to 
1993, there was a 16-percent increase in truck sales in the United 
States.
  Such minimum national standards could prevent anyone riding in the 
back of a pickup truck without a seatbelt. Such standards could apply 
the same safety regulations to passenger vehicles and to minivans and 
jeeps that are now so popular.
  National standards could prevent loopholes like the one in California 
where simply because the pickup had a camper shell, the laws did not 
apply.
  Once minimum national standards are set, I believe the Federal 
Government should withhold Federal transportation funds from States 
that do not impose these standards within a reasonable period of time.
  Never again should the people of this country witness the tragedy and 
destruction when 12 people die in a single car accident.

                          ____________________