A bill introduced in the New York State Senate proposes mandatory speed and safety enhancement technologies, as well as strict visibility rules for large SUVs to help reduce pedestrian injuries and deaths.
Manhattan State Senator Brad Hoylman’s legislation will mean that all passenger cars sold from 2024 will be equipped with the same Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) equipment that the European Union recently made mandatory for cars in its region.
“Hoylman wants to ensure that safety equipment, such as automatic emergency braking and lane keeping assistance, which is currently available or included as standard in some vehicles, becomes mandatory for every vehicle.”
But the most interesting proposal is one that potentially affects many popular SUVs and pickups. Hoylman wants the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish rules guaranteeing drivers of vehicles weighing more than 1,360 kg “direct visibility of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users from the driver’s seat.”
Full-size SUVs and trucks have been criticized for numerous injuries and fatalities among pedestrians. The restrictions will make it so that almost every car, with the exception of small cars, will have to comply with the visibility rules. Unlike emission standards, which again can be set at the state level, safety functions are regulated at the federal level.
Source: carscoops.com