All important safety features like airbags, antilock brakes, electronic stability program or more recently, autonomous braking, have become or are slowly becoming standard equipment on all cars sold in the US. These will soon have to make room for backup cameras, albeit a little later than expected.
According to Bloomberg, the US Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, issued a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman, Jay Rockefeller, in which he stated that the decision to make backup cameras mandatory had been delayed until 2015. High associated costs were an issue, though their approach of saying that the investment would equate to $18 (€13.8) million per life saved, just seems a bit cold and heartless.
Still, it is a valid point, though, not based on the previous statement, concentrating instead on the total value of the investment, which would equate to roughly $2.7 (€2.1) billion. Another valid point is that these cameras don’t really make sense on a small vehicle, yet their utility for larger ones is undeniable.
The one who initiated all of this is former president George W. Bush, who in 2008 signed an auto-safety law, after a father accidentally and fatally backed over his son, in New York. Tragic events are often used as an example to push new laws, which can be met with disapproval once its implications are fully understood.
By Andrei Nedelea
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