Today’s news that a man is charged with killing his wife on a cruise ship off the coast of Mexico is a grim reminder that cruise ship passengers are far more vulnerable than cruise lines’ carefree and romanticized marketing suggests.

A cruise, after all, is supposed to be about fun. Yet from murder, robbery and sexual assault to food poisoning, medical maladies and slip and fall accidents, a cruise ship can be a risky place.

That’s why new legislation is being proposed in Washington, D.C. to enhance cruise ship safety and accountability. Introduced by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.),  the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009 would require cruise lines to report on-board crime allegations to the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard.

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Again, an innocent human being — this time a 7-year-old boy — has died — lost a lifetime — due to momentary driver distractions or inattentiveness.

In this case the boy, Cameron Dumore, was walking to school in Lithonia, GA. He was crossing the street within a crosswalk. A crossing guard was present, waving a handheld stop sign and alerting vehicles to stop. And they were, of course, in a school zone.

No matter. Despite all these things, an SUV driven by a 40-year-old woman disregarded the cross walk, the school zone, the crossing guard, the handheld stop sign and every other indicator to stop — including the boy himself — and, without slowing down, struck the boy and killed him.

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