Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) sent the email below to Capitol Hill on July 22, 2021:
Amy Cohen (New York), Co-Founder of Families for Safe Streets: “2,842 days. Nearly 41 million minutes. That is how long it has been since I last kissed my kind, adorable 12-year-old son goodbye and then never saw him alive again. He was in 8th grade and just needed to walk from school to soccer practice. That should not be a deadly act. In his memory, I urge Congress to prioritize safety. It is imperative that vehicles be designed to protect children like mine just trying to get around on our streets. All vehicles should have automatic emergency braking (AEB) with an ability to detect those walking and biking who are most vulnerable.”
What Amy Asks You To Do:
Congress must take action now in the infrastructure/transportation bill to prevent crashes, deaths & injuries.
- Advance requirements, performance standards and compliance dates for automatic emergency braking (AEB) in all new cars and trucks that detects and responds to vulnerable road users (VRUs).
- Update standards for car hoods and bumpers and headlamps including deadlines for action.
- Stop weakening truck safety rules – Remove reckless provisions that allow teen truckers to operate big rigs in interstate commerce and that provide special interest exemptions from federal truck driver hours of service (HOS) limits.
In honor and memory of the tens of thousands of families like Amy’s who lose loved ones each year, safety advances must be made in this bill. Failure to do so will result in 183,000 people killed and 14 million injured at a cost of $5 trillion over the 5-year span of the legislation.