[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 11981]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CAR AND CHILD SAFETY

  Mrs. CLINTON. Madam President, it is with deep regret that I share 
the following story of a constituent of mine. On April 24, Kristen 
McCrea, a woman from Amherst, NY, lost her daughter in a nontraffic, 
noncrash incident. Collett McCrea was only 22 months old. The incident 
occurred when Kristen left her daughter in their home briefly while 
backing her car out of the garage. Little did Kristen know that Collett 
had gotten out of the house and was behind the vehicle. Kristen did not 
realize she had backed over Collett until her child came into view in 
front of the car.
  Sadly, Collett's tragedy is not an isolated incident. In April 2007, 
the child safety advocacy group, Kids and Cars, has documented 17 fatal 
backover incidents across the country--from Rochester, NY, and South 
Bend, IN, to San Francisco and Dallas. Six more incidents of fatal 
frontovers were reported in April, as well as a brake-shift interlock 
fatality.
  While all these tragedies occurred in the last month, the danger of 
nontraffic, noncrash incidents is not a new trend. On average, a child 
dies in the United States nearly every other day from a completely 
preventable accident--backed over by a driver who couldn't see behind 
his or her vehicle, strangled in a power window, or killed when an 
automobile inadvertently shifts into gear.
  Since 2000, over 1,150 children have died in nontraffic, noncrash 
incidents, and this number has been steadily rising. The average age of 
victims is between 12 and 23 months. This year alone, according to the 
research by the child safety group, Kids and Cars, 261 children have 
been involved in 235 of these incidents, resulting in 17 fatalities. At 
least 21 children in New York State have been victims of these 
incidents since 1990.
  It is time we stopped these tragedies from happening to more 
families. And that is why I introduced, the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and 
Cars Safety Act, a bill to improve the child safety features in new 
vehicles.
  This bill is named in honor of a 2-year-old Long Island boy who was 
killed when his father accidentally backed over him in his driveway.
  The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act would make new 
passenger motor vehicles safer in three important ways. First, it 
requires a detection system to alert drivers to the presence of a child 
behind the vehicle. Second, it calls on the Secretary of Transportation 
to examine power windows technology that reverses panel direction when 
it detects an obstruction--preventing children from being trapped, 
injured, or killed. And, finally, the bill will require the vehicle 
service break to be engaged in order to prevent vehicles from 
unintentionally rolling away.
  The bill also establishes a child safety information program 
administered by the Secretary of Transportation to collect nontraffic, 
noncrash incident data and disseminate information to parents about 
these hazards and ways to mitigate them.
  This bill proves that with modest, cost-effective steps, we can 
prevent many tragic car-related accidents from occurring. Power window 
sensors, for example, cost around $10 a window. Brakeshift interlocks 
are already standard in most passenger vehicles but will cost only $5 
where needed. Backover warning systems cost approximately $300 a car, 
far cheaper than DVD and stereo systems. This inexpensive technology 
could save thousands of children's lives.
  I fought long and hard into the last hours of the 109th Congress to 
get this bill through, and I am proud to be working with families, 
advocates, and many of my colleagues in the fight to get this bill 
passed.
  I am proud to champion the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety 
Act of 2007 and urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting this 
bill. Together, we can ensure that we have safer cars and safer kids 
across our country.

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