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As a Mainer, car crash survivor and young woman, I write today to thank U.S. Sen. Susan Collins for co-sponsoring the bipartisan She DRIVES Act and helping to finally make cars safe for women.
Under current Department of Transportation standards, American cars are safety tested without accurate female crash test dummies. This disparity has fatal consequences — in the same crash, women are 17 percent more likely to be killed and 73 percent more likely to be severely injured than men. In Maine, nearly 500 women died in car crashes between 2011 and 2021.
The She DRIVES Act, S. 4299, was introduced by U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska, Patty Murray, D-Washington, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, in May; U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, have since co-sponsored. This common-sense bill requires that the Department of Transportation test new cars with the most technologically advanced female crash test dummy available, and that they use it equally as the male.
Collins’ support for the bipartisan She DRIVES Act is monumental, and demonstrates her dedication to protecting all Mainers on the road. Thank you, Collins, for making cars safer for everybody. Your choice will save lives.
Maria Weston Kuhn
Falmouth
