Opinion: This technology will save lives on the roads. It’s a shame we have to wait

Good morning. I’m Kerry Cavanaugh, assistant editorial page editor, and it is Wednesday, May 8. Let’s look at the week so far in Opinion.

Last week, amid college protests and police crackdowns, a low-key announcement from the Biden administration on new vehicle safety rules may have been overlooked. But make no mistake, the Times’ editorial board writes, the federal government’s decision to require automatic emergency braking in all new cars and SUVs by 2029 will save lives and make the roads much safer for drivers and pedestrians.

The technology uses cameras and sensors to detect when a collision is imminent and automatically applies the brakes, without the driver needing to act. Most automakers include some form of automatic braking in new models, but the capabilities vary. The regulation makes the technology mandatory and sets a higher bar for performance. All cars must be able stop and avoid contact with the vehicle in front of them when traveling up to 62 miles per hour. And, vehicles must be able to brake in time to avoid hitting a pedestrian when traveling up to 40 mph. That’s a big deal. The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles hit a 41-year high in 2022.

Even automatic braking to slow the car before impact can mean the difference between life and death. A person hit by a car traveling 58 mph has a 90% chance of being killed. At 32 mph, the risk of death drops to 25%.

To understand why this regulation is so important, consider the family of Derick Serrano. The 12-year-old was struck and killed by a car last month while walking home from school in the South Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. He lived just three blocks from Carver Middle School but had to cross a busy street with no crosswalk, crossing guard, signal or signage. It’s a travesty that the city allows such dangerous street conditions around schools. Far too many communities are designed for the convenience and speed of drivers, not for the safety of people walking, biking or just trying to cross the road. With the passage of Measure HLA this year, Los Angeles voters ordered the city to make street safety improvements, but the work will take time.

Safer streets demand an all-of-the-above suite of solutions. That includes redesigning roads to slow speeding drivers and adding crosswalks, signals and protected bike lanes. And when there is technology available that can save lives, such as automatic braking, it should be required in new vehicles as soon as possible. Walking home from school shouldn’t be deadly.

Since the Hamas attack, Israelis have begun arming themselves the American way. For nearly a decade, Jonathan M. Metzl, director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University, has studied why Israel, a gun-centric democracy like the U.S., has only a fraction of our gun deaths. In the aftermath of Oct. 7, with the Netanyahu government distributing thousands of firearms to civilians, the proliferation of guns could shape the future of the nation, Metzl writes. “If I’ve learned anything from studying gun politics in the U.S., it’s that an armed and internally divided nation is less able to negotiate, effectively legislate or meaningfully compromise.”

Break out the hook. This time Trump-Biden debates need tight rules of civility. Wanted: A moderator for the 2024 presidential debates who can deal decisively with nominees who bluster, bully, ignore time limits and engage in name-calling by shutting off their microphones. It would also help, the Times’ editorial board writes, to have someone with the steely fortitude of Juan M. Merchan, the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York City. “Debate moderators can’t hold candidates in contempt of court, levy fines or have misbehaving candidates physically removed, but they aren’t without the authority to keep participants on track.”

Is Biden a YIMBY? He certainly has good reason to embrace a pro-housing agenda. The housing shortage is a dark cloud over America’s otherwise sunny economic forecast, generating dissatisfaction and endangering Democrats and President Biden in the coming election, writes Laura Foote, executive director of YIMBY Action, which advocates for building more housing. “By publicly embracing YIMBYism as an ideology and an agenda, Biden can align himself with a bipartisan majority of Americans who believe in easing zoning restrictions to allow more housing to be built. And he can signal to those struggling with housing costs that he has their backs.”

Is the Los Angeles City Council serious about ethics reform or wasting an opportunity? The barrage of scandals at L.A. City Hall has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to clean up Los Angeles government. But a proposal to empower the Ethics Commission has gigantic loopholes, writes Sean McMorris with California Common Cause. The “overall package is less than ideal because the City Council will not cede enough of its power to ensure that the commission will have the independence it needs to do its watchdog job.”

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• Robin Abcarian: Don’t denigrate pro-Palestinian campus protests by claiming the Vietnam War protests backfired
• Jackie Calmes: Donald Trump’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad second term
• LZ Granderson: The chaos in Congress is more dangerous than the protests on campuses

From the Op-Ed desk

• Have we learned nothing? The protester’s taunt, ‘Go back to Poland,’ is grotesque
• What a quail taught me about grief by joining a flock of turkeys

From the Editorial Board

• L.A. Metro is doomed if it can’t keep bus and train riders safe
• To reach climate goals, L.A. needs action on its Green New Deal — not excuses
  

Letters to the Editor

• My son was viciously attacked at UCLA. We feel betrayed by the university
• Angelenos need to stop trashing the majestic San Gabriel Mountains
• Careful, college protesters — you may get Trump elected president