WASHINGTON -- Glasgow resident Aaron Chatten is rejoicing over passage of a bill he helped push to prevent other children from suffering the fate of his daughter Madison, who died in 2005 when a car accidentally backed over her.

On Valentine's Day, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a measure that should reduce deaths and injuries of children in back-overs, runaway cars and power window accidents. President Bush is expected to sign into law the bipartisan measure, which has the backing of industry as well as safety and consumer groups.

"There aren't words to express my feelings," Chatten said. "I couldn't help but think Madison was smiling down at that point, that's for sure."

The Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007 is named for a 2-year-old who died when his father, a pediatrician, accidentally backed over him in their driveway in New York. Chatten said he spoke to the father the night Congress passed the bill.

"We both were pretty emotional on the phone talking about it because we obviously both have lost children," Chatten said. "I've gained so many close relationships with parents who understand. It's been really great for me to have this network."

Chatten didn't know much about the political process when he started pushing for the measure, but learned quickly. He traveled to Washington, D.C., on his own dime three times to lobby for the bill.

"It was frustrating," he said. "You'd go to these committee meetings, you're emotional, you're talking about this and some senators wouldn't show up."

He faxed letters to every member of Congress, met with TV and print reporters and met in person with several senators.

"It really helped me with my daughter's death to know something good came out of it," he said. "I spent a lot of hours doing this, it felt good to see the bill all the way through."

Chatten repeatedly heard the argument that human mistakes caused the accidents. But he notes that parents and relatives try to keep their children as safe as possible and that car designs simply leave blind spots. "These things are blatant flaws in the vehicles and we're just trying to get them fixed."

Automakers at first opposed the bill, but came to support it after negotiations produced a compromise. Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John Sununu, R-N.H., were the bill's main sponsors. Chatten said Montana's members of Congress all played an active role in pushing the bill.

The bill requires new vehicles by 2010 to have brake interlock systems to prevent cars from accidentally rolling away.

Some safety advocates had wanted the bill to mandate back-up cameras. Instead it calls for new requirements to expand drivers' "field of view" behind their car through the use of additional mirrors, sensors, cameras or other technologies. The new rules would be phased in over four years. The government could establish different requirements for different types of vehicles.

The act originally would have required power window sensors that reverse a window's direction if they detect something in the way. In rare instances, children have been strangled by power windows. As passed, the measure gives the Transportation Department 18 months to consider whether to require manufacturers to install the devices.

If it decides not to, the department must publish a list of the vehicles that do and don't come with the devices. "This will slowly address these things over time," Chatten said.

The measure will also create for the first time a database of nontraffic vehicle death and injuries. "Once these numbers really get kept track of, it's going to be mind-boggling and very tragic to see the numbers of accidents that happen every year because of this," he said.

He has begun talking to driver education groups and founded the Montanans for Children Foundation. Chatten, who works for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers training as a power plant operator, says "they've been great about supporting me in this."

Chatten lost his 14-month-old daughter, Madison Faith Chatten, in May 2005 when a driver who couldn't see her in the driveway of her daycare center backed over her.