HitchCAM & Kids And Cars Promote SUV/Child Safety Synergy at SEMA 2003

COMMERCE, Calif., Oct. 31, 2003 -- America's insatiable desire for larger vehicles is not without cost. According to NHTSA reports, a backing accident occurs every 1.6 minutes in the USA resulting in costly damage to over 300,000 vehicles annually. Kids And Cars, a nonprofit child safety organization working to make vehicles safer for children reports at least one child per week is fatally injured by a backing vehicle. HitchCAM(TM) has been a leading proponent of rear view safety while developing products to provide solutions. In Booth 20052 at SEMA, HitchCAM will introduce 3 additional solutions that establish HitchCAM as the leading innovator and supplier of rear view camera systems.

On Wednesday, November 5, 2003 at Center Hall, Booth 20052 LVCC, Janette E. Fennell, Founder and President of KIDS AND CARS http://www.kidsandcars.org/ will join staff at the HitchCAM booth to discuss with visitors the issue of rear view safety and children. Janette Fennell has been a sought after speaker and frequent guest on television shows including CNN Daybreak, The Today Show and Good Morning America. Janette and her organization has been at the forefront of pending legislation including the NHTSA reauthorization bill to mandate collection of nontraffic, noncrash data and evaluation of technology to prevent such incidents. "This is a huge problem; in fact it should be considered an epidemic," Fennell said. "A lot of the problem is due to the change in our vehicle mix" that has more people driving wide and tall- profile vehicles, she said. Indeed, Fennell's research indicates that "in 60 percent of these tragedies, it's a truck, van or SUV that's involved," Fennell said. All vehicles have 'blind spots,' but rearward visibility is further reduced by the design and taller profile of SUVs, pickup trucks and vans. This means that drivers may not be able to see children as the vehicle is backing up.

Bob Goodman, HitchCAM's Director of Sales & Marketing, explained that "all HitchCAM products improve the visibility of large vehicles by exposing rearview blind spots. HitchCAM's products feature an innovative state-of-the- art color camera with wide-angle lens and 3.5-inch color LCD monitor.