Chicago personal injury attorneys at Zneimer & Zneimer welcome the federal regulation mandating rearview cameras. Years of efforts from car-safety advocates and parents have finally paid off as a new federal regulation made it mandatory for all cars sold in the United States to have rearview cameras. Back-over crashes according to a USA Today article kill 200 people annually and injure 12, 000. This regulation which Congress passed in 2008, aims to reduce these numbers. It is long overdue especially for parents who fear running over their children while backing out of their driveway, for example. With the adoption of rearview cameras and other backup warning devices, parents and motorists, in general will have improved visibility.
The cost to fully equip a car with this technology costs approximately $142 which personal injury attorney Peter Zneimer believes is a small price to pay in order to safeguard the most vulnerable victims of back-over crashes which are mostly children and seniors. Children are less adept at perceiving that a car is about to hit them as they are playing or walking in residential areas; so are senior citizens, whose reaction times are considerably slower than their younger counterparts. In many instances, particularly, when toddlers are involved, motorists won’t even know immediately that they have struck a child. Children getting run over from behind could easily sustain serious head injuries causing death.
For many families, the enactment of this regulation, however consoling, is a little too late. Rearview cameras might have prevented the death of four year old Madison of Champaign, Illinois seven years ago. She was pronounced dead in the hospital after being struck by her mother’s Chevrolet Suburban. As Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety stated, this regulation is “monumental advancement of safety for children” and will spare many parents from the painful loss of a child.
If you have been a victim of accident, and need legal assistance, contact the Chicago car accident lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer.