Photo by Frank Rogers
David Garcia (top) was 29 when he was in a rollover crash that left him a quadriplegic. On Wednesday, he spoke before a U.S. Senate committee to urge Congress to come up with a stronger roof crush standard for vehicles. A new standard proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is so inadequate it makes you wonder whether anyone at the agency has a clue. The proposal, which automakers would have to meet when they design their vehicles, is barely an improvement over the existing rule — and that hasn’t changed in some 30 years. David Shephardson of the Detroit News quotes Sen. Mark Pryor as commenting that if the NHTSA proposal doesn’t save a significant number of lives then the feds “really haven’t accomplished much.”
