To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations to reduce the incidence of child injury and death occurring inside or outside of passenger motor vehicles, and for other purposes.

November 1, 2005

Mrs. CLINTON (for herself and Mr. SUNUNU) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations to reduce the incidence of child injury and death occurring inside or outside of passenger motor vehicles, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2005'.

SEC. 2. RULEMAKING REGARDING CHILD SAFETY.

(a) Power Window Safety- Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation (referred to in this Act as the `Secretary') shall issue regulations, applicable to all passenger motor vehicles, to ensure that power windows and panels automatically reverse direction when they detect an obstruction to prevent children from being trapped, injured, or killed.

(b) Rearward Visibility- Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations, applicable to all passenger motor vehicles, requiring a rearward visibility performance standard that will provide drivers with a means for detecting the presence of a person or object behind the vehicle in order to prevent backing incidents involving death and injury especially to small children and disabled persons.

(c) Preventing Vehicles From Rolling Away- Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations, applicable to all passenger motor vehicles, requiring the vehicle service brake to be engaged in all key positions and while the key is out of the ignition, before starting the engine or engaging the transmission in order to prevent accidents resulting from vehicles accidentally or unintentionally rolling away.

(d) Phase in Period- The regulations issued pursuant to subsections (a) through (c) shall require--

(1) a phase-in period, as determined by the Secretary, for compliance with the regulations, which shall commence not later than 6 months after the date on which final regulations are issued; and

(2) all new passenger motor vehicles manufactured after the date that is 3 years after the issuance of final regulations to be fully compliant with such regulations.

(e) Database on Injuries and Deaths in Nontraffic, Noncrash Events-

(1) IN GENERAL- Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish and maintain a database of injuries and deaths in nontraffic, noncrash events involving passenger motor vehicles.

(2) CONTENTS- The database shall include information regarding--

(A) the number, types, and proximate causes of injuries and deaths resulting from the events described in paragraph (1);

(B) the make, model, and model year of passenger motor vehicles involved in such events; and

(C) other variables that the Secretary determines will enhance the value of the database.

(3) AVAILABILITY- The Secretary shall make the information contained in the database available to the public.

(f) Defined Term- In this section, the term `passenger motor vehicle' has the meaning given the term in section 32304(a) of title 49, United States Code.

SEC. 3. CHILD SAFETY INFORMATION PROGRAM.

(a) In General- Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall--

(1) supplement a consumer information program relating to child safety; or

(2) create a new program with information about hazards to children in nontraffic, noncrash incident situations.

(b) Program Requirements- In executing the program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall--

(1) utilize information collected pursuant to section 2(e) regarding nontraffic, noncrash injuries, and other relevant data from private organizations, to establish priorities for the program;

(2) address ways in which parents can mitigate dangers to small children arising from back over incidents, hyperthermia in closed vehicles, accidental actuation of power windows, and similar dangers; and

(3) make information related to the program available to the public through the Internet and other means.

END