HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	160
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Urging Congress to pass, And The President of the united states to sign, the cameron gulbransen kids and car safety act.

     WHEREAS, every other day, a young child is killed in a non-traffic automobile accident, and the age of the victims in these cases is usually less than 4-years old; and

     WHEREAS, since 1999, at least 1,000 children have died in non-traffic incidents, and these statistics are increasing steadily when, for instance, in 2005 alone there have been at least 222 fatalities; and

     WHEREAS, a 2002 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study revealed that over 9,160 children were treated in hospital emergency rooms due to nontraffic incidents; and

WHEREAS, the federal government does not currently have any regulations about what a driver should be able to see behind a vehicle; and

WHEREAS, the United States Congress is considering addressing this issue through the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act, a piece of legislation directing the Secretary of Transportation to issue safety standards and take other action to reduce the incidence of child injury and death inside or outside of parked passenger motor vehicles; and

     WHEREAS, the bill is named after Cameron Gulbransen, a two year old who was accidentally run over and killed by his father as he was backing out his vehicle; and

     WHEREAS, this tragedy has been repeated many times in Hawaii where recently in Punalu'u, 2-year- old Teysia Aku was fatally injured when a car backed out of her family's driveway, and in Puna where 2-year-old Abygail Arquitola was killed in a hit-and-run accident while playing in the back of a subdivision; and

WHEREAS, The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act will help to lessen and eliminate these tragic incidences by requiring such things as a rearward visibility performance standard that will provide drivers with a means of detecting the presence of a person behind the vehicle, and requiring the vehicle service brake to be engaged in all key positions and while the key is out of the ignition, in order to prevent incidents resulting from children disengaging the gear shift and causing vehicles to roll away; and

     WHEREAS, the act further promotes child safety by establishing a child safety information program that will involve collecting non-traffic incident data, informing parents about these hazards to children, and ways to mitigate them, as well as making this information available to the public through the Internet and other means; and

     WHEREAS, this legislation is supported by a large number groups including KIDS AND CARS, Consumer Union, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Public Citizen, Kids in Danger, Trauma Foundation, The Zoie Foundation, Adrianna's Rule Foundation, Veronica's Eye Foundation, Craig's Crusade and more; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature urges the Congress of the United States to pass the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Car Safety Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature urge the President of the United States to sign the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Car Safety Act; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, each member of the Hawaii Congressional Delegation, the Speaker of United States House of Representatives, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Car Safety Act; urging passage and adoption