WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) today joined Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.) to cosponsor legislation to improve child safety features in new vehicles. The measure, called the Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007, will address issues surrounding vehicles and child safety, including backover crashes, injuries by power windows or deaths when a vehicle inadvertently shifts into motion.

“Backover warning systems, auto-reverse power windows and brake-shift interlocks are simple solutions to improving child safety in and around vehicles,” said Senator Stevens. “This bill will provide significant ways to protect our children from vehicle hazards.”

The Kids and Cars Safety Act directs the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations to decrease the incidence of child injury and death. The regulations would require power windows and panels (like a sunroof) to automatically reverse when an obstruction is encountered, which would help prevent children from being injured.  Additionally, the legislation requires a rearward visibility standard that will allow drivers to detect persons or objects behind their vehicle.  The bill requires that vehicles with automatic transmissions have a service brake that must be depressed before the vehicle can be shifted out of “Park.” This will prevent vehicles from inadvertently shifting into motion.  The measure also requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide information about non-traffic, non-crash vehicle hazards to children by creating a new child safety consumer information program, which would be made available to the public.

In the U.S., motor vehicle accidents are now the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 14. Non-traffic motor vehicle-related events, including children being backed over by vehicles, being strangled by power windows, and setting cars in motion when left unattended in a vehicle, are also a significant cause of death for the nation’s youths. In 2005, at least 226 children died in non-traffic vehicle accidents.

# # #