Florida’s Senior Senator Democrat Bill Nelson wants Congress to pass the Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 after two more Florida children were killed by cars in their own driveways last weekend.

The Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 would install technology in cars that could help alert drivers to children behind their vehicles.

Nelson says such a law might have helped save the life of a 5-year-old Fort Myers girl who died Saturday after her 16-year-old brother backed into her while parking the family car. Or it might have saved a Hollywood 3-year-old girl who died Friday because she wandered behind her father's car as he was backing out of the driveway.

“There’s been a 138% increase in the last six years in the number of children killed in these non-crash fatalities in which people back over a child because they can’t see the child.”

Nelson says this month alone 11 children nationwide have been killed in this manner.

The Act would also require a vehicle’s service brake to engage while parked to prevent cars from rolling backwards. And it would mandate power windows automatically reverse direction to prevent a child from getting stuck as the window closes.

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Two children died in Florida last weekend after being run-over by cars driven by relatives in their own driveways. One was a 5-year-old Fort Myers girl killed by her 16-year-old brother as he parked the car.

This prompted U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida to push the bipartisan Kids and Cars Act in Congress today (Tuesday). Nelson says the law would reduce the number of deaths and injuries by alerting drivers to the presence of a small child, or any object, behind a vehicle.
He says in the last six years, there’s been a 138 percent increase in the number of children killed this way.

“This month alone, April, there have been 11 children backed over and killed in this country. These injuries and deaths continue to occur even though we have the technology to prevent many of them but we need legislation to put this technology to use.”

The legislation would also ensure power windows reverse direction to prevent a child from being trapped and provide for a car’s service brake to engage to prevent it from rolling backwards down an incline.