Stronger Car Safety Laws To Be Enacted?

New federal legislation will curb giant injury and death toll on roads

Hurray! The U. S. House of Representatives has just passed the Moving Forward Act. It allots one-half trillion dollars for transportation initiatives that will make our roads safer. It now moves to the Senate, where hopefully it will be passed and then signed into law. This legislation is urgent.

(The photo was taken during the Marine Corp Marathon when Mr. Berenson was running a marathon in every state.)

That is because, forgotten in the grim daily news about the pandemic, is that each year over 36,000 Americans die and two million others are injured in motor vehicle collisions. They happen 24/7. They can happen to anyone who is driving. Here in Texas, we have not had a day without at least one death on our highways for almost 20 years. That’s disgraceful.

Virtually all of these car and truck crashes are caused by human error and are clearly preventable. But we need to crack down on them since relying on drivers to follow the traffic laws and simply keep their eyes on the road has clearly been unsuccessful.

The Moving Forward Act (H.R.2) includes a grab bag of badly needed safety measures. These will make our highways and vehicles safer by doing the following things:

  • Requiring driver assistance systems like lane drift warnings, blind spot monitors, and emergency automatic braking to be standard (not expensive package price options as they are now) features in new vehicles. They can stop collisions before they happen.
  • Implementing technology to curb DWIs and DUIs by detecting intoxicated or impaired driver behavior, leading causes of crashes in our highways; a
  • Enhancing commercial truck safety by improving under ride and side guards and keeping tired 18-wheeler drivers off of our roads.

  • Preventing child deaths from hot cars and trucks by requiring alarms as the vehicle is being locked;
  • Adding safety measures to prevent vehicle rollaways due to keyless ignition technology;
  • Making school buses safer;
  • Adding more information to child passenger safety seat labels;
  • Requiring the front end of vehicles to better protect cyclists and pedestrians;
  • Improving the reporting of DWI and DUI collisions; and
  • Studying the safety of small commercial motor vehicles; and
  • Enhancing the New Car Assessment Program so new vehicle purchasers have more accurate information about how safe the vehicle really is.

Some of these measures were previously defeated in the Self Drive Act and the 21st Century Smart Cars Act. All are needed. We hope that that the Moving Forward Act is enacted so that our highways and vehicles are safer.

The U.S. Senate will also vote on new safety bills

In addition, two U.S. senators have introduced other car and truck safety bills that will accomplish the following objectives:

  • Curb the epidemic of distracted and drunk driving;
  • Remove dangerous vehicles from the roads quicker;
  • Improve the safety of seats; and
  • Speed up defective vehicles recall rates.

What the future holds

Perhaps self-driving cars are the answer to our transportation woes. Or hey, why not flying vehicles?

We can help you

As a personal injury law firm that has focused on helping the victims of car and truck accidents for the past 40 years, we see the devastation they cause on a daily basis. We hate that our clients suffer so much pain and financial hardship after they are crashed into by negligent drivers. We work hard to get our clients the medical treatment they need and the compensation they deserve.

If you have been unfortunately injured in a car, truck, or 18-wheeler crash, we can help you. Please contact us for more information.

Related posts:

Our high crash rate could be cut by exciting future transportation concepts

All cars and trucks will brake automatically — by not until 2025

How Texas personal injury cases are affected by new laws

Child deaths from hot cars: why is Texas #1?

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