Regulations

Backup cameras mandatory on cars, trucks, transit vehicles by 2018

By May 2018, all new cars and light trucks in the United States will need rearview cameras, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has ruled. The rule phases in throughout the next several years with 10% of vehicles required to have cameras by May 2017, 40% by May 2018, and all vehicles after May 1, 2018.

The agency estimates that accidents when a car or truck backs over something in its path cause 15,000 injuries and 210 deaths per year. Children younger than five make up 31% of fatalities, and people older than 69 make up another 26%.

“Safety is our highest priority, and we are committed to protecting the most vulnerable victims of backover accidents – our children and seniors,” says U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “As a father, I can only imagine how heart wrenching these types of accidents must be.”

In the grand tradition of anti-rollover technology and advanced airbags, safety regulators are effectively drawing the targets after the shot has been fired. NHTSA surveyed automakers and found that 73% of new vehicles were scheduled to have the cameras by 2018, so the new rule effectively spreads that trend to the remaining 27%. Honda, for example, will have rearview cameras available on 18 of its 19 vehicles this year, including them as standard equipment on many of them.

Because the industry has been moving in this direction, the costs of those systems have fallen since NHTSA began studying a mandate. The agency believes adding cameras will cost about $142 per vehicle, adding as much as $620 million in production costs annually to cover the 27% not already set to have such systems.

The regulations set minimum coverage lengths and angles for the camera systems, but they do not set a specific screen size for viewing images, instead opting for a rule that determines when a person viewing the camera image can see obstacles in his rear path. During debate about the rules, Ford recommended a 2.4" minimum screen size because that automaker has used small screens embedded into its rearview mirrors. General Motors and others had recommended 3.5" screens. NHTSA reviewed several studies and ruled the screen size wasn’t important as long as drivers could clearly make out obstacles in their paths.

The camera mandate applies to all vehicles weighing 10,000 lb or less. That weight limit includes all cars and light trucks and a handful of smaller commercial vehicles. Specifically, NHTSA said it wanted to include small bus and transit vehicles in the camera mandates.

Go to http://www.safercar.gov to learn about safety regulations.

Obama calls for higher truck fuel economy rules after 2018

President Barak Obama has directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy to begin work on new fuel economy rules for commercial vehicles made after 2018. A draft of the new regulations should be ready in about a year and will become official in 2016, giving equipment makers and trucking groups the opportunity to study and possibly alter the new rules.

The 2018 regulations would mark the second round of tighter fuel-economy standards for commercial vehicles. Equipment producers are under orders to boost efficiency each year from now until 2018. The new proposed rules would then take over.

Commercial trucks make up only 4% of vehicle registrations, but they account for 25% of fuel consumption because of their sizes and the fact that they tend to be in use as much as possible. The earlier round of commercial truck standards set a target of reducing fuel consumption by about 20%. The administration did not announce a new target for the 2018 rules.

Visit http://1.usa.gov/1fatC7w to read President Obama’s comments on fuel economy.

Texting while driving bans expand

South Dakota and New Mexico have become the 42nd and 43rd states to ban texting while driving for all drivers, starting in July 2014, leaving Arizona, Montana, and South Carolina as the only states not to limit the practice.

Several states limit texting while driving without outlawing it outright. Missouri, Texas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma all ban texting for younger drivers, although the ages and restrictions vary by state. Texas and Oklahoma also have bans for bus drivers.

“We know that texting while driving is a lethal distraction,” New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says. “There is no text message that is worth a person’s life. Distracted drivers pose a serious danger to fellow motorists on our streets, roads, and highways, especially among our youth. Texting while driving is now the leading cause of death for New Mexico’s teen drivers.”

New Mexico allows drivers to text to summon emergency vehicles. Federal regulators have urged states to ban the use of handheld devices in cars, calling texting and wireless phone use a major safety hazard.

“Reducing the dangers of distracted driving requires sound laws, rigorous enforcement, and extensive public education,” says David Friedman, acting National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator. “This new law will improve the safety of New Mexico roads for all motorists.”

Signed a few weeks after the New Mexico ban, South Dakota’s prohibition also allows for the use of texting to contact emergency vehicles. Gov. Dennis Dauggaard says he hopes the ban “will remind South Dakotans and all those who use our roads to keep their eyes on the road, not on their phones.”

Almost all new cars have available hands-free systems for wireless phone calls, and many suppliers are offering advanced systems that read text messages to drivers and offer automatic replies such as, “Robert is driving now and will respond to you when it’s safe.”

Go to http://bit.ly/1hmbkkN or http://1.usa.gov/1e5WG0v to hear from the governors of New Mexico and South Carolina.