> driveway deaths involving little children,

This leaves me with so many questions:

* Why is this not an (actively discussed) issue in the EU?

* Does this issue exist in other countries than the US?

* If the problem is real, is a camera the only, or even best solution?

The reason actually ties into another US problem - the proliferation of very large SUVs, Crossovers and Pickups.

These gigantic cars have a significant problem seeing things close to them, especially if they're small like little kids.

This is why backup cameras are so crucial in the US, but not nearly as much in other countries. Those huge cars need them for safety.

For smaller cars (sedans, coups, hatchbacks) the benefit is a lot less.

There's still too many involving normal sedans, at least in Australia. And modern sedans are sacrificing visibility for aerodynamics / fuel efficiency. So having them being blanket mandatory is the only sane thing.

They are still not a guarantee against these incidents, I personally added backup sensors to my previous car - a Subaru Outback. They saved me from reversing into another car that had kind of snuck up on me once.

The Tesla Model 3 (Ryzen '22 w/radar edition) is far, far superior in all aspects of safety when reversing now. Both a huge responsive massive FOV screen with side displays and the ultrasonic sensors beeping.