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Parents seek SUV safety changes

BY AUDREY DUTTON AND GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau

September 7, 2006

WASHINGTON - The driver who killed 16-month-old Alec Nelson in 2004 had checked his rearview mirror and walked behind his SUV, but that wasn't enough.

Alec's father, Bill Nelson of Dix Hills, joined parents and safety advocates on Capitol Hill yesterday to urge passage of a bipartisan bill requiring installation of safety mechanisms to prevent "backover" fatalities and child-related accidents in driveways and parking lots.

The bill would require automakers to improve safety features on power windows, include back-up warning systems to alert drivers of children hidden behind cars and start a child safety information program.

"We have three wonderful children, but we should have four," said Nelson, 42. "The driver [a relative] who ran over my son couldn't see him because he was in the blind spot."

At least 1,000 children have been killed nationwide in so-called "non-traffic" accidents since 1999, with about 125 dying this year alone.

The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, named after a Woodbury 2-year-old killed in a 2004 backover accident, is co-sponsored by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford). It was introduced last fall. A spokesman for Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (D-Alaska) said hearings will be scheduled this fall.

"The auto manufacturers aren't too enthused about it," said King. "They feel it's an extra burden on them."

Charles Territo of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said, "We just don't think the legislation is necessary."

Clinton said it was the Senate's "moral responsibility" to upgrade safety features, particularly on trucks, which can have rear blind spots that extend as far as 69 feet.