And like other things, when the effectiveness of a measure doesn't pan out, they enact more measures to fix it. NHTSA who's report on antilock brakes showed a essentially zero safety improvement was continuing to justify antilock brakes because they were an important part of electronic stability control (which has been mandated now too I think a couple years) and kept harping on electronic stability control showing great safety improvement.
So backup cameras now, when not effective it becomes rear collision warnings (which some cars have) and then automatic rear collision avoidance where it slams on brakes if driver doesn't after issuing the warning....then 10 years later a lawsuit will be filed against Toyota when this automatic system inadvertently slams on the brakes whenever someone tailgates generating accidents. And then people will intentionally slam on their brakes when police come close behind them and blame it on the vehicle.
Problem is now they have vehicles that are too safe, so the driver's just plain don't learn to drive. Those safety features only work sometimes, other times a good driver could control the vehicle just as well if not better than the electronic nannies. What on earth did people do before anti-lock brakes, cruise control, traction control, stability control, air bags, etc. Oh....they learned to drive. It goes right along with the 4WD and AWD debate. Yep the features are nice, but only for the people who know and understand the systems. Otherwise its a major wreck waiting to happen from those who think because they have these features it makes them either invincible or makes them think they can still do highway speeds in ice and snow
. Those are the ones you see upside down in the ditches every winter.
So why not mandate that people have to have their cars wrapped in bubble wrap as well? Same principle applies here. You just can't fix stupid people no matter what "laws" are made.
Its just like these devices that insurance companies have that plug into your vehicle's OBD2 port and tracks your every move to lower your insurance rates. OOPS how many of us out there have a vehicle that is too old for that OBD2 port? Same goes for any other safety feature. Sometimes the best safety is the person operating the vehicle. You can have a $1,000,000 car full of safety features but if the driver isn't paying attention it won't keep them from running into something in front of behind or to the side of them.
If laws were actually enforced on the distracted driving and inattentive driving many of these accidents wouldn't happen in the first place and many of those actually have involved parents running over their kids because that cell phone was so important they didn't bother to realize that their kid wasn't standing on the porch anymore before they flew out of their driveway and down the road, still not realizing they ran over their kid...this is more often the case, than the lame stories that keep coming up of oh my child just ran behind my car and I didn't even see them, last I knew they were watching tv type excuses that are all so common now. And some of these cases actually involve vehicles with backup cameras. Still nobody pays attention to what's behind them even though its plainly visible on a screen in the dash.