As a parent of three, I feel woozy just thinking about backing over children. My own or someone else’s would be equally horrifying. Our garage is a detached one and in the back of our yard. The turnaround is used by the kids for rollerblading, basketball, hopscotch etc. To avoid any accidents when getting the car out, I require the kids to stand on the lawn, all together in a spot where I can see them at all times. Either I know exactly where all of them are or the car does not move.
Today, 45% of all new vehicles have back-up cameras installed to alert the driver about any obstacle behind the car that is impossible to see otherwise from the driver’s seat. Mandatory back-up cameras in all vehicles have been in the spotlight the last couple of days. The 2008 law on creating rear visibility standards for vehicles by Feb. 28, 2011, has once again been delayed. The plan was to require all vehicles to conform to the new standard by September 2014. Each year, about 228 deaths occur in back-up accidents. It is estimated that half of those could be avoided if all cars had a safety system in place.
We have been wondering for a while how much pedestrian’s lives are worth, so we got out our calculator.
Cameras would add about $200 to the cost of a car. About 15,000,000 cars are rolled out each year. From those rough numbers, we can figure out that law makers are valuing each pedestrian life to about $26,000,000 per year. (15,000,000 x 200 / 114). Wow!
I also feel woozy every time I read in the news that a pedestrian has been killed in the dark because the driver didn’t see anyone along the road or at the intersection. According to the Highway Safety Research & Communications Institute, 2809 pedestrians were killed between 6pm and 6am in 2009. In comparison, 1254 pedestrians were killed between 6am and 6pm. Just out of curiosity, we figured out that if the same amount of money was spent on safety reflectors as is planned to be spent per year on back-up cameras, we could equip every single American with at least 2 quality pedestrian reflectors. All 300-something million Americans!
Two pedestrian safety reflectors cost less than $10. How much is your life worth?
Elisabeth
