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Regulatory Oversight And Recall Of President Lyndon B. Johnson Essay

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Regulatory Oversight and Recall Congress began to hold high-profile hearings on automobile safety in 1965. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed both the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway Safety Act into law. The two bills gave the federal government authority to set and enforce safety standards for vehicles and roads. The NTMVSA was the first legislation mandating federal safety standards for motor vehicles. Although the safety standards in the NTMVSA were watered down in response to industry lobbyists, it required important safety features that the current generation of car drivers would never expect to be absent from a vehicle: “seat belts for every passenger, impact-absorbing steering wheels, rupture-resistant fuel tanks, door latches that stayed latched in crashes, side-view mirrors, shatter-resistant windshields, windshield defrosters, lights on the sides of cars as well as the front and back, and ‘the padding and softening of interior surfaces and protrusions.’” (History.com) Also in 1966, two new government agencies—the National Traffic Safety Agency and the National Highway Safety Agency—were created to carry out the safety programs authorized under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway Safety Act. The two agencies were consolidated in 1970 and became the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”). NHTSA is responsible for reducing deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from

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