All New U.S. Cars Now Required To Have Backup Cameras

As of this week, all newly manufactured vehicles sold in the U.S. are required to have backup cameras as a standard feature.

Advocates for the rule hope this will lead to fewer instances of drivers backing into people due to a lack of visibility. ABC News reports that Congress passed the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act in 2008. The bill was signed into law by then-President George W. Bush, ordered NHTSA to issue by 2011 a standard for improving drivers’ ability to detect pedestrians behind their vehicles.

It wasn’t until March 2014, when advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation, that a rule was issued with a May 1, 2018 deadline. Today was 16 years in the making for Dr. Greg Gulbransen, who in 2002 accidentally backed over and killed his 2-year-old son Cameron, who is the namesake of the bill Congress enacted.

The Department of Transportation reports that more than 200 people are killed and over 12,000 more are injured each year due to “backover” crashes. Of those killed, more than half are children under 5 years old or adults 70 and older. Rearview cameras have already been found to reduce backup-related crashes by 17 percent, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.