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Rear-facing cameras could be a legally mandated feature of all U.S. cars by 2014, if a proposal from the Department of Transportation becomes a reality.

The department announced its proposal today, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood urged Congress to act on its recommendations.

"There is no more tragic accident than for a parent or caregiver to back out of a garage or driveway and kill or injure an undetected child playing behind the vehicle. The changes we are proposing today will help drivers see into those blind zones directly behind vehicles to make sure it is safe to back up," LaHood said.

The proposed measure was itself a congressional requirement, being part of the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2007. Two-year-old Cameron Gulbransen was killed by a car backing out of his home's driveway when the driver – his father – was unaware of his presence.

New requirements would mandate the ability to see directly behind most commonly used passenger vehicles. The law would go into effect in stages, raising the proportion of cars on the road with such visibility from 10 percent in 2012 to 40 percent in 2013, and to 100 percent the next year.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which compiles statistics used by the government, auto insurance companies, and carmakers, says nearly 300 Americans are killed each year as the result of being backed into, and 18,000 are injured. Most of the deaths stemmed from accidents involving standard-sized passenger vehicles of less than 10,000 pounds. Small children – whose size may make them difficult to see – and the elderly, who may have limited mobility, are disproportionately the victims of such accidents, the NHTSA reports.