I have been thinking about this for some time now. Having lost my two youngest daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), two years ago due to a truck crash, I have thought a lot about things like drowsy driving and distracted driving. What it has gotten me to also do is think a lot about the answer to these problems.
Actually, I don’t think that there is just one answer to decreasing these behaviors that are all-too-often resulting in people dying. I think that the answer lies in a combination of personal and social responsibility.
Yes, people need to wake up and realize that they could be the next one responsible for someone dying. Not that they would have ever meant to. Not intentionally. But a behavior that could have been avoided is reckless when it leads to a death that could have been prevented.
Unfortunately, the law is not so easily changed to reflect that and so, all-too-often, there is not a legal deterrent with teeth to change behavior–in time to make a difference for someone’s loved one. Distracted driving and drowsy driving are not usually defined as RECKLESS and therefore do not receive a stiff penalty. (After all, it could be me or someone I know that could end up in jail.) I wrote about this in great detail here: https://annaleahmary.com/2014/08/law-enforcement-with-justice-for-all-balancing-truth-love/
Yet, I have also given much thought to the fact that it is foolish to put all of our eggs in one basket and depend on the individual to always do the right thing. This is why it is also important to address this as a social issue with multiple solutions, including changing laws, law enforcement, safety technology, and holding the manufacturers of products accountable for doing their part to make us all safer on the road.
I have not actually delved into the possibilities very thoroughly. But I want to throw out this question: Should the producers of electronic communication devices bear some responsibility for innovatively contributing to making them less easily abused when it comes to matters of life and death?
Remembering AnnaLeah and Mary Lydia Karth two years after their second funeral in Grand Rapids, Michigan–where they spent the first half of their lives–on June 8, 2013 (the first being in Midland, Texas on May 18, 2013). A truck crash ended the chance for AnnaLeah and Mary to make new memories. But it cannot take away our memories of them.
In this video, our pastor shares his perceptions of AnnaLeah and Mary as he had come to know them in the months before those memory-making opportunities came to an end–shared with our family and friends as we said a final farewell here on earth to Mary and AnnaLeah.
Photos and video clips of Mary & AnnaLeah accompany the sermon at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church by Pastor John Drosendahl from North Carolina, who would have been confirming Mary in late May or early June. It ends with a video clip of AnnaLeah at her confirmation on December 28, 2008, confessing her faith, “…and I believe that I, and all true believers, will one day join Him in heaven.”
Hardly a day goes by without everyday occurrences bringing AnnaLeah and Mary to mind. Take yesterday for example. . . We went rock hunting at an “emerald mine” in North Carolina. It was great fun and I might have even found a small emerald in the rough. I had the advantage of having done that sort of mining in a sluice before as a teenager when I found a ruby (now in my ring) in Cowee Valley, North Carolina.
Yesterday’s experience reminded me of the time our family (with only the youngest AnnaLeah, Caleb, & Mary still living at home) went agate hunting in Minnesota in the Fall of 2012–not too long before we lost Mary and AnnaLeah in May 2013. They had humored me and spent Sunday afternoon doing rock hunting with me on Lake Pepin because it was something I had done as a child and hadn’t done in years. I am so glad I have those memories.
Mary, for some reason, always had to take a photo when she found a dead animal on the ground. In fact, that is how she found the Beanie Baby bear on the shores of Lake Michigan–looking for a dead fish that had been washed up on the shore. (https://annaleahmary.com/bears-adventure-with-mary/ )
Memories of times gone by, of experiences shared, of expressions and habits and unique characteristics of those we have come to know and love. . . those can never be taken away from us. Though thoughts of Mary and AnnaLeah may stir up bittersweet feelings, I am grateful for their place in my heart and for the opportunity they had to live–here on earth and forever.
Feel free to jump in the conversation. I think that I will need to chew on this one for awhile and figure out where to go next with this.
Check out Tilden Curl’s (an independent owner-operator trucker) thoughts on Minimum Liability Insurance and see what you think: Tilden Curl Paper on Trucker Insurance
My parents grew up in a relatively small town. After they married, they moved to a bigger city. But my dad’s brother married my mom’s sister, and then my aunt and uncle took over a dairy farm which was in the family. For years, my family drove an hour north on many Sundays of the year to have a big family meal with two sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and lots of cousins.
I often spent vacations there, including a few weeks in the summer when I helped with the haying, feeding the chickens, gathering eggs, playing in the hayloft, cutting the big country lawn, chasing the cows out of the cornfield, repairing the fences, and picking strawberries from the patch.
Now it is no more. For one thing, the government bought them out to put an expressway through the old farm. They moved into a new house which they built nearby next to the family sugarbush. These days, it seems odd to shop at a major grocery store where I used to pick apples, explore old family outbuildings, bale hay, and hide in the tall, waving grass.
Two of their sons–my double cousins–bought some property a few miles away and managed a dairy farm of their own. They took out some loans to build a new barn and get new milking equipment. It got to a point where it was no longer affordable to run the small family dairy farm and make a living wage.* They sold the cows. And now they have sold the farm. An era is over.
I thought about all of this, on a recent trip “back home”, as I reflected on the plight of small trucking companies and independent owner-operator truck drivers. Are the costs of owning a company and the pressure to drive many miles creating a situation where they won’t be able to stay in business?
Frequently, I hear that changes of one kind or another in the trucking industry–in order to improve safety (i.e., reduce crashes, injuries and deaths)–will result in increased costs for the trucking companies. I hear that it will put them out of business.
Is this true? According to whom and based on what information? If it is true, then does something need to change in the trucking industry itself in order to allow for the beneficial work, which trucking provides, to continue but to also allow for truckers to make a decent living wage–without jeopardizing their health and the safety of travelers on the roads?
Will this someday be an era that is over, or can we fix the problems for the benefit of all? Who pays for Safety? And can we figure out how to fairly and logically spread the increased costs around? The alternative seems to be unacceptable: Forget safety and let the cost be spilled blood.
(* I might not have gotten all of the details of the family farm history exactly correct, but I hope you can see the picture that I am trying to paint.)
Cost of Electronic Logging Devices: http://www.vdoroadlog.com/products/electronic-logging-devices-eld/roadlog-eld/ “As you probably know, the fees for other manufacturers’ electronic log systems can add up to thousands of dollars in just a few years time, and that’s a real roadblock for many Owner Operators. RoadLog is available with no fees and no monthly contract.”
OOIDA contends that an increase in insurance would be a death nail for the small businesses that comprise over 90 percent of the trucking industry.
In response to OOIDA’s comment about “fewer than one percent,” our son Peter made this observation prior to our meeting with FMCSA on May 5, 2014,
The 1% issue is at best a red herring. Refusing to raise a limit because such a small percentage reach the limit only indicates that the increase in cost should be minimal. It can’t be both ways, either this increase should raise the cost of doing business or the effect should be minimal.
This isn’t life insurance where all the money is always paid out. Nor is this homeowner’s insurance in which you have a set amount of house that can be destroyed. This is liability insurance in which the amount paid out is based on the amount of damage being done. If such a small percentage of claims reaches the limit, then greedy lawyers, increased costs, and mythical “windfall” payments are all proven absurd or irrelevant.
We are a 23 truck fleet and carry 25 million in liability insurance. We carry that much to protect not only us but our customers. The argument that only 1 % of the claims exceed the current threshold for insurance makes no sense. You carry insurance to cover you no matter what happens. 1 % exposure is too much. The fact that it seldom happens makes the coverage cheap. The actuaries price according to probability. I don’t believe that this coverage will be cost prohibitive unless the carrier has a dismal safety rating in which case they shouldn’t be in business. When carriers don’t carry enough coverage the expose responsible carriers, shippers and the general public. We need responsible carriers, pricing their services correctly to cover all costs and excepting responsibility for the liability created by their business. Skirting this liability and charging for services is deceptive to shippers and puts the public or state at financial risk in the form of a claim that is part of a service they get no remuneration for. When you provide a service, charge fees and profit you must also be responsible financially which means carrying adequate insurance.
“. . . many of the truck drivers/companies which I see making comments complain about how the premiums will skyrocket. But on what are they basing that opinion?
John Lannen, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, has shared background information with us which he has gathered from numerous sources, presentations, and conversations regarding the economics of additional insurance coverage for motor carriers. It turns out that the first million dollars’ worth of trucking insurance is the most expensive and each incremental amount is cheaper. . . . ” (For more details, go here: https://annaleahmary.com/2015/06/trucking-minimum-liability-insurance-trucker-wages-a-facebook-conversation/ )
The Cartwright Amendment, which would allow FMCSA to continue the process of updating trucking minimum liability insurance–to protect both trucking company and crash victims–was defeated in the House today:
We were surprised and overwhelmed and grateful to receive a letter from the Georgia Regents Tissue Donors Services today. They were letting us know that they had received a card from one of the many recipients of Mary’s donated tissues. She was thanking us for the gift which was given to her.
This is what her letter said:
April 16, 2015
Dear Donor Family,
I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am about the loss of your loved one and how grateful I am to receive the beautiful gift of their tissue. This gift means a lot to me because it will allow me to continue the activities that I love and that make my life meaningful. I injured my knee skiing, which is one of our favorite family activities.
The tissue I received replaced my ACL so that I can ski and hike again. These activities are very important to me and my family because we once shared them with our older son who was killed in a car accident while he was attending college. He was not a donor, but the other boy killed in the same accident was a donor, and we learned about the importance of this program through his generous gifts.
We understand how difficult it is to lose a beloved member of the family and thank you again for honoring their wishes at such a difficult time. Your family member and your family are in my thoughts and my hope is that you are able to find moments of peace and comfort, especially knowing how their death has made a positive impact on others’ lives.
Your loved one will always be part of me, just as my son will always be in my heart, and for that I will always be grateful.
Sincerely,
Christine
I hope that she is able to learn that it was Mary who gave her that gift and that she will come to know Mary through our recorded memories of her.
The letter which we received today from Georgia Regents Tissue Donor Services. . .
Jerry and I were able to spend some time last week with Sam and Naomi at the cottages on Lake Michigan where our family has enjoyed vacations since Mary was three years-old. Shortly after we arrived, I was overcome with a wave of grief at the thought that here we are where they would no longer ever be again.
Amidst the bittersweet memories, I was able to enjoy the time — what’s not to like about a peaceful time at the shore? The waves crashing. The red hot coals glowing. The wind blowing in the trees. Good fellowship.
In particular though, I was caught up in two memories of Mary and AnnaLeah. The first night, I found a blue ribbon on the beach — buried slightly in the sand and tied to a broken balloon. Of course, it reminded me of the time when Mary — at that very spot in 2010 — had found a Beany Baby Bear on the sand with a green ribbon attached to a balloon.
Later in the week, I found a green ribbon in the sand. So I tied them to a driftwood stick and let them blow in the breeze on the beach.
Also, while there, I noticed that by the “porch swing” was a blooming lilac bush–my favorite spring fragrance. I had never noticed that before because we normally would stay at the cottages the week after Labor Day–when, of course, it wasn’t in bloom. It brought to mind the photos of AnnaLeah which I treasure–sitting in that very swing, looking out at the shore, and building sand castles on the beach.
I put together a Youtube video to capture the essence of the bittersweet memories of AnnaLeah and Mary, which that special place will always evoke in my thoughts and heart.
A Facebook Conversation on Trucking Minimum Liability Insurance AND Trucker Wages. . .
Truckers United Just got off the phone with my Congressman’s office. Have all of You made that call yet? Us Capitol switchboard; 202-202-3121
Higher liability insurance is not needed as only 1% of claims today exceed the current $750,000 minimum. Company Drivers, This affects you also!!!
What is the answer to making sure that truck drivers are not driving TIRED? I tend to think that it is a multifaceted problem and needs to be addressed accordingly.
Take a moment to read what these truck drivers have to say about this life & death matter.
An underride guard–adequately designed, installed, and maintained–can mean the difference between life and death.
This JJ Keller Annual Vehicle Inspection Form does NOT list underride guards as an item for inspection. But, truck drivers, please make sure that your underride guard is in good condition!
Jerry and I recently went on a road trip and I could not resist photographing a few of the underride guards we saw en route!
This single unit truck is not currently required by DOT to have an underride guard. But look at what it does have at the back: a piece of metal that is highly unlikely to prevent a car from riding under it upon impact.
We have petitioned Secretary Foxx to require this kind of truck to have a rear impact guard.
