A Quad City mom's fight is paying off as a big change comes to nearly all new cars and trucks. However, her work is far from over.
A little more than a year after Karen Pauly's son Jack passed way, balloons flew in the air, as family members dedicated a memorial in Jack's honor. Now two years later she has something else to celebrate.
"I wasn't just going to sit there and cry in my room all day, everyday. I needed to make something positive come out of it," said Pauly.
Leaving her house one day, Pauly accidentally ran over her 19 month old son Jack, after he ran out of the house. Karen didn't see her son behind her car.
"I had the censors and they were not effective," said Pauly.
It's the reason why Pauly along with parents all over the country have been fighting for all vehicles to have rear-viewed camera's. They even traveled to Washington to speak to lawmakers.
"I feel like some of us as parents who have gone through this did make extra steps to try and make sure this gets passed," said Pauly.
On Monday, March 31, 2014, Pauly received the news she's been waiting for. All vehicles under 10,000 pounds and made on or after May 1, 2018, will be required to have the camera.
"It's been kind of an emotional day. I've been really happy at times and I've been you know crying a lot throughout the day, but I'm happy," said Pauly.
While it's a big victory for Pauly, she says the fight is not over.
"Now we need to not just be happy with what happened and say okay 'we're done, you know we did it'. We need to urge car manufactures to get it done before then," said Pauly.
On average, more than 200 people die every year, 15,000 are injured by backover accidents.