[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 66 (Tuesday, April 24, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S4869]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        KIDS AND CAR SAFETY ACT

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I want to talk about a sad 
situation we can do something about. A year ago this little girl, 
Veronica Rosenfeld, and her mom were walking in their Boca Raton 
neighborhood. This little girl, Veronica, was about 5 feet ahead of her 
mother on the sidewalk when a neighbor, not seeing little Veronica, 
backing out of the driveway, backed out over her and killed her. Her 
mother was right there, and there was nothing she could do about it. It 
is every parent's nightmare to certainly see their child die, but how 
much more horrible to lose them and be totally helpless in preventing a 
senseless accident--an accident that could be prevented.
  Let's talk about that, the prevention of the accident. Look what has 
happened in the last 6 years. There has been a 138-percent increase in 
the last 6 years in the number of children killed in these noncrash 
fatalities in which people back over a child because they can't see the 
child. Several children are killed every week in the United States, and 
sadly--and this is why I bring it up again; I have brought it up 
several times to the Senate--this past weekend in Florida, two more 
children died in their driveways. In Hollywood, FL, a 3-year-old died 
when her father accidentally backed over her with his cargo van, and in 
Fort Myers, a 5-year-old was killed by her 16-year-old brother when he 
was parking the family car.
  Mr. President, this month alone, April, there have been 11 children 
backed over and killed in this country. These injuries and deaths 
continue to occur, even though we have the technology to prevent many 
of them. But we need legislation to put this technology to use. In 
April alone--and we are not even to the end of April--they have 
happened in Indiana, New York, Georgia, three in Florida, two in Texas, 
two in California, and one in Hawaii thus far. And it is only April 24.
  This is why a bunch of us have gotten behind the Cameron Gulbransen 
Kids and Cars Safety Act. It is a bipartisan bill that would provide 
drivers with the means of detecting a child behind their vehicle. This 
bill would also ensure that power windows would automatically reverse 
direction to prevent a child from being trapped and mandate a car's 
service brake to engage to prevent rollaways. We have this technology 
in a lot of vehicles. We have been in the vehicles where there is a 
signal that goes beep, beep, beep, and it becomes more frequent when an 
object is detected behind the car. The technology is there, and it is 
already being used. The same thing for windows. A child's head is in a 
window and suddenly the window goes up. It hits resistance and it 
reverses, and a parking brake automatically engages to prevent a 
rollaway on an incline.
  Consumer groups have teamed with the parents of victims to suggest 
ways that are relatively simple and inexpensive in order to ensure that 
more parents won't have to endure the pain of losing a child. The 
technology is there. We all want to be safe behind the wheel of a car, 
especially when we back up. How many times, when we back out of our 
garage, do we have that nagging thought: Is there a child behind this 
vehicle I cannot see? Why go through this trauma anymore? Let's pass 
this Kids and Cars Safety Act, and then we can stop a lot of these 
needless deaths.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I will proceed in morning business. I 
believe I have time allotted to me.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority has 15 minutes.

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