Rear-view cameras on cars to become mandatory in US

Safety regulators in the US are expected to make rear-view cameras mandatory on all new cars from 2014.

In the US, on average two children die and about 50 children are injured every week when someone accidentally backs over them in a vehicle, according to KidsAndCars.org, a non-profit group that pushed the government to begin tracking such tragedies.

The rule will go into effect in 2014, and is just one of several safety measures mandated by the US over the years — seatbelts, air bags and third brake lights among them.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected to send its final version of the proposed regulation to Congress today, after first proposing the rule change in 2010.

Government statistics show that 228 people of all ages die in the US each year after being hit by passenger vehicles backing up, while roughly 17,000 people are injured.

“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.”

In a draft paper, regulators said it would cost car manufacturers between $160 and $200 (€119-€149) to install the cameras and viewing screens in each new vehicle — as much as $2.7bn (€2bn) per year overall.

The requirement stems from a 2008 law, the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act, named for a two-year-old boy who died in 2002 when his father was backing a 4x4 into their driveway. The law required the NHTSA to set standards for rear visibility, which had never been regulated.

A study found that 62 children could fit behind a large 4x4 without being visible to the driver in any of the vehicle’s mirrors.