Backover Accidents Kill 228 People Per Year and Injure 17,000

Government statistics indicate that 228 people of all ages — 44 percent of whom are under age 5 — die every year in backover accidents involving passenger vehicles. About 17,000 people a year are injured in such accidents.

Backing Rules

Rule #1:

Do not back unless you absolutely have to

Rule #2:

Never back when children are present

Rule #3:

Back first, meaning you should back before you park your vehicle,

not when you leave

Rule #4

Walk Around Your Vehicle Prior to Backing

The New York Times
By Nick Bunkley
2/27/2012

On average, two children die and about 50 are injured every week when someone accidentally backs over them in a vehicle, according to KidsAndCars.org, a nonprofit group that pushed the government to begin tracking such tragedies. And more than two-thirds of the time, a parent or other close relative is behind the wheel.

Now, auto safety regulators have decided to do something about it. Federal regulators plan to announce this week that automakers will be required to put rearview cameras in all passenger vehicles by 2014 to help drivers see what is behind them. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which proposed the mandate in late 2010, is expected to send a final version of the rule to Congress on Wednesday.

Cars are filled with safety features that have been mandated by government regulators over the years, including air bags and the Liddy Light, the third brake light named for Elizabeth Dole, who made it standard as secretary of transportation in the 1980s.

But the rearview camera requirement is one of the biggest steps taken to protect people outside of a vehicle.

“We haven’t done anything else to protect pedestrians,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington. “This is one thing we can do and should do.”

However, in a preliminary version circulated for public comment, regulators predicted that adding the cameras and viewing screens will cost the auto industry as much as $2.7 billion a year, or $160 to $200 a vehicle. At least some of the cost is expected to be passed on to consumers through higher prices.

But regulators say that 95 to 112 deaths and as many as 8,374 injuries could be avoided each year by eliminating the wide blind spot behind a vehicle. Government statistics indicate that 228 people of all ages — 44 percent of whom are under age 5 — die every year in backover accidents involving passenger vehicles. About 17,000 people a year are injured in such accidents. Continue Reading Nick Bunkley's Article

Proof of Auto Insurance App Coming to a Smartphone Near You

PCI

News Release

2/27/2012

CHICAGO — Have you ever been pulled over in a traffic stop, fumbled through your glove compartment only to find out you don’t have your proof of insurance card with you?  Now you are stuck with a court date or a fix-it ticket even though you did indeed have insurance.  There is a simple solution to this inconvenience: show proof of insurance electronically with your smart phone, says the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). 

Long before personal computers even existed, states adopted laws and regulations requiring drivers to carry physical insurance identification cards as proof that they had auto insurance. Now, we live in a technology driven world where smart phones are everywhere and people can do just about anything on a phone with the click of a button. In an effort to keep up, policymakers across the country are changing the rules to allow drivers to show proof of insurance electronically.

The Idaho Senate Transportation Committee unanimously approved a measure Thursday (SB 1319) giving drivers the flexibility to show proof of coverage electronically with a smart phone.  Similar bills are under consideration in Arizona, California and Mississippi.   

“As we move into the 21st century, state legislators and regulators are beginning to update laws to recognize the increasing prevalence of technology by allowing insurers to provide policyholders electronic ID cards.  That little piece of paper will still count, but it will no longer be the only option motorists have to show they have auto insurance,” said Alex Hageli, PCI’s director, personal lines policy.  “Electronic display of proof of insurance will save insurance companies the cost of printing and mailing ID cards to policyholders. It will also save law enforcement and court personnel time and money because they will no longer need to process tickets written to drivers who had coverage but forgot to put that little piece of paper in the car.”

All states except New Hampshire and Tennessee require drivers to carry liability insurance to cover other drivers in an accident.  A report by the Court Statistics Project shows there were more than 56 million traffic violation cases filed in state courts in one year alone. Drivers had to show proof of insurance coverage at each one of those stops.

“Electronic proof of coverage is the wave of the future,” said Kenton Brine, PCI assistant vice president.  “Many policyholders are living green and want to go paperless, but without changing the law insurers are still required to send paper ID cards.  Legislation like the measures under consideration in Arizona and Idaho are a win-win situation because insurers and customers retain the flexibility to use paper ID cards or use an electronic device.  It is all about having choices.”

Nationwide Legislation and Regulations Allowing Electronic Proof of Insurance:

NHTSA States 2011 Traffic Deaths Decline...BUT 24,050 Traffic Deaths in 9 Months

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports an estimated 1.6% decline in traffic fatalities during the first three quarters of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.

This decline is hardly a reason for breaking out the party favors as 24,050 traffic fatalities occured during the first 9 months of 2011. 24,050 is over 1/2 of the entire population of Edina, MN and almost the entire population of Stevens Point, WI.

For the first 9 months of 2010, an estimated 24,437 people died in motor vehicle crashes.

While the estimated traffic fatalities decreased by an estimated 1.6% year over year, total vehicle miles traveled (VMT also declined by an estimated 1.3%.

According to the NHTSA, motor vehicle fatalities have been on a downward trend since 2005. Traffic fatalities have declined approximately 24% from the 43,510 fatalities in 2005. NHTSA has traffic fatality data going back to 1975. NHTSA Preliminary Report

A disturbing trend is the increase in teenage driver deaths.

From EHS Today:

The new GHSA report revealed that 211 16- and 17-year-old drivers died in the first 6 months of the year, compared to the 190 who died in the first half of 2010. Researchers have not yet determined whether that increase in fatal teen crashes continued in the second half of 2011 – but if it did, the 8-year streak of continuous decline in teen driver deaths for this age group might be over.

Rental Car Industry Not Regulated Yet They are Largest Purchaser of New Cars...say what?

"The rental car industry is the single largest purchaser of new cars, and the single largest source of used cars in North America, yet they have escaped all regulation and oversight from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)," Houck says.

USA Today
By: Gary Stroller
2/20/2012

Raechel and Jacqueline Houck died in a fiery 2004 crash in a rental car that "was essentially a ticking time bomb," their mother, Cally Houck, says.

The vehicle — a PT Cruiser under a safety recall for a power-steering fluid problem — was not repaired and had been rented to three other renters and then the Houck sisters at an Enterprise Rent-A-Car facility in Capitola, Calif.

The power-steering fluid leaked and caught fire, Cally Houck says, causing Raechel, 24, and Jacqueline, 20, to lose control of the car, which slammed into a semi tractor-trailer.

Enterprise admitted liability, and Houck was awarded $15 million in damages by a jury two years ago. She says she will keep fighting to improve auto-rental safety until Congress makes the industry adhere to federal safety regulations.

Documents submitted to NHTSA by Chrysler and General Motors do not reveal how many recalled vehicles were rented out before they were fixed, but they show that it can take months, a year or more before rental companies repair a recalled vehicle.

The documents show that no major auto-rental company fixed all its recalled vehicles within a year. GM documents, for example, show that a year after getting a recall notice about a shift lever indicator problem in 2009 Buick Enclaves, Chevrolet Cobalts and seven other types of vehicles in their fleets, Avis Budget had fixed 35% of them. The documents show that Enterprise fixed 34% of these types of vehicles in their fleets within 30 days after the recall, 52% within 60 days, 62% within 120 days and 74% within a year.

Hertz, according to the documents, fixed 18% within 30 days after the recall, 36% within 120 days and 52% within a year.

Hertz Senior Vice President Richard Broome says data submitted to NHTSA by auto manufacturers are inaccurate. The data include "countless instances" of vehicles that rental companies had sold before recall notices were issued, he says.

Consumer-safety advocates aren't convinced that rental companies are so conscientious about fixing their vehicles. Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (carconsumers.org), says lobbyists for rental car companies told her last year at a meeting in the State Capitol Building in Sacramento that their companies sometimes needed to rent cars under recall, particularly during busy holiday weekends.

Continue Reading Article at USA Today