Rearview cameras may reduce reversing car accident deaths

Federal safety regulators want your next vehicle to have a rearview camera. A new draft rule from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would require all new passenger vehicles to come with rearview cameras by 2014.

NHTSA believes that the installation of the cameras will prevent the thousands of personal injuries which occur every year due to drivers backing up. About 228 people die annually in car accidents involving drivers going in reverse. Another 17,000 individuals are injured annually in similar accidents.

Children are especially vulnerable to dying due to a car backing up. Approximately two children die per week in backup accidents. Many drivers fail to check for children behind their cars before backing up from a driveway and there are also many instances in which children quickly run behind a car just as it is backing up.

Rearview cameras are just one of many new technologies designed to reduce the likelihood of a car accident. Infiniti cars will be equipped with collision intervention technology which will automatically brake to avoid a crash after beeping sensors detect obstacles in the road. Cadillac has virtual bumper technology which will stop a car before it hits anything and Ford has blond-spot warning technology.

Source: Chicago Tribune, “Federal regulators push to require rearview cameras in cars by 2014,” Tiffany Hsu, Feb. 28, 2012