National Vision Zero Goal: Unifying Force in Development of Automated Vehicles https://t.co/kIZkKXUJc8 https://t.co/5WlIt1yAMV
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) April 10, 2016
Mom Continues to Fight for Truck Safety After Daughters’ Tragic Death
Voices clash at first public hearing on self-driving cars https://t.co/BaJI9VOjIF pic.twitter.com/PpRZVgp0Xl
— Andrew J. Hawkins 🚇🚌🚲🛴 (@andyjayhawk) April 8, 2016
Tonight I just happened to find a great article written by Roger Lanctot on the topic of driverless vehicles and crash avoidance and other good things like that. He said it with much more technical expertise than I ever could. Read it here: NHTSA: Driverless, Directionless in DC
Voices clash at first public hearing on self-driving cars
Thank you, Roger, for clarifying the issues and throwing out a challenge. Let’s hope that we as a nation can take up that challenge in a wise and timely fashion.
Here we have the opportunity to pull together the creative intelligence and technological resources of our country. Will we be able to look back, in years to come, with gratitude for being able to plan ahead in a non-competitive way to develop a workforce which creates useful products–all the while protecting health and life?
Here’s my idea–in keeping with Roger’s suggestion of a Vision Zero objective related to this technological challenge. Let’s say that a Vision Zero objective would mean that the guiding light/the plumbline would be a continual focus on safety–always asking the question at each step along the way, “How will this impact safety?”
And how would this be accomplished? By President Obama setting a National Vision Zero Goal–because who else would do it? It is an issue much broader than the Department of Transportation–and should include Labor, Commerce, Public Health, among others.
And then President Obama needs to establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force with Committees made up of resourceful people to take up challenges such as Roger Lanctot has suggested: “the development and adoption of technology that could start reducing the alarmingly high rate of crash-related injuries and fatalities in the U.S. and abroad – while also stimulating the economy and ultimately reducing the cost of vehicle ownership – or possibly eliminating vehicle ownership.”
Finally, President Obama needs to sign a Vision Zero Executive Order which will pave the way for rulemaking to actually make safety The Priority and other priorities would then fall in place subsequent to saving lives.
Can you imagine how effective and efficient such a process could be? Working together toward a common goal for the common good. Making good use of our resources and skills to meet needs.
Towards Zero Crash Deaths & Serious Injuries. A vision worth pursuing, a guiding light to keep us on track. Let’s do it, people.
What will it take to make a significant reduction in the number of people who die on our roads?
Save Lives Not Dollars: Urge DOT to Adopt a Vision Zero Policy
Adopt a Vision Zero goal and sign an Executive Order to Save Lives Not Dollars
My kids introduced me to Leverage a few weeks ago. So, lately, my husband and I have been watching episodes of the program nightly with them.
This is a description of the television series: Leverage is an American television drama series, which aired on TNT from December 7, 2008, to December 25, 2012.[2] The series was produced by Electric Entertainment, a production company of executive producer and director Dean Devlin. Leverage follows a five-person team: a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist, led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, who uses their skills to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens.
Last night, after watching a couple of episodes, I was thinking about our nation’s careless negligence of, and seeming indifference to, the senseless, preventable crash deaths which occur every day. It made me wish that the Leverage team could join us in taking on the hard-to-pin-down conglomeration of traffic safety factors*–many of which could be overcome or prevented and which result in the devastation of individual and family lives. Changed forever. No coming back.
*Underride crashes are a prime example of a problem which can be solved, but for which no one has truly been held responsible/liable/accountable for decades.
Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Christian Kane, Beth Riesgraf, and Aldis Hodge
Dear Leverage team,
I am asking you to champion a National Vision Zero Goal and Strategy to reduce crash deaths and serious injuries. Traffic safety is of great interest to me following the deaths of my two youngest daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), due to a truck underride crash on May 4, 2013.
My kids introduced me to Leverage a few weeks ago. So my husband and I have been watching it nightly with them. Last night, when I was getting ready for bed, I was thinking as usual about the frustrations of corporate negligence and indifference to the senseless, preventable crash deaths which occur every day. It made me wish that your Leverage team could join us in taking on the Goliath which ignores the problem and perpetuates the devastating impact on individual and family lives.
Since our horrific crash, my family and I have become vocal advocates for highway safety improvement, including a petition signed by 11,000+ people which we took to DC on May 5, 2014. Following that meeting with NHTSA and FMCSA, a rulemaking was initiated in July 2014 to study the need to improve rear underride protection on tractor-trailers, as well as additional proposed rulemaking in July 2015 for underride protection on Single Unit Trucks.
We are not stopping at that but are collaborating with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition to plan an Underride Roundtable to be held at the IIHS’s crash testing facility in Ruckersville, Virginia, on May 5, 2016. We hope that by bringing together the trucking industry, regulatory officials, law enforcement, attorneys, truckers, engineers, and safety advocates, we can bring about more effective underride protection. https://annaleahmary.com/2015/10/underride-roundtable-save-the-date-may-5-2016/
In addition, we believe that it is not enough to seek improvement through rulemaking but that there needs to be an overhaul of how rulemaking is handled. In light of that, we have launched a Vision Zero Petition online to request that DOT/OIRA approach highway safety rulemaking with a Vision Zero policy. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/
Furthermore, we think that the regulatory approach to highway safety rules should not be strangled by cost/benefit restraints that hold up human life and health dollar for dollar against corporate profit and economic stability. That is why we are asking you to back our petition to President Obama for a Vision Zero Executive Order which would modify President Clinton’s Executive Order 12866 and pave the way for stronger safety measures to be established in a more timely manner.
Please let me know at your earliest convenience if this is a cause which you can champion.
In memory of AnnaLeah & Mary–who occupy our thoughts daily,
Marianne Karth
Contact me at: marianne@annaleahmary.com
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not looking for vengeance or ruin. I’m looking for justice — for accountability in matters of personal and corporate actions which can make the difference between life and death for someone and can ravage someone else’s life. . . forever.
Nothing will ever, ever bring AnnaLeah and Mary back in this life. No way, can’t happen. Not in this life, but only in the life to come. (Hang in there.) And that hurts so freakin’ bad. Every single day.
But I know that more, much more, can be done to ensure that other people don’t go through the same (and thankfully they will never really realize it). And there are forces that are working against our attempts to truly make saving lives matter more than saving money. Hard to believe, right?
Whereas I feel powerless right now to bring about lasting, far-reaching change, I know that it does not depend on me. And so I am hoping that all the right pieces will fall in place at the right time to open eyes to the truth and a better way to protect ourselves and our families.
@timhutton @Ginabellman @ChristianKane01 @BethRiesgraf @aldishodge #Leverage needed to fight crash death injustices https://t.co/gucGc6eAy3
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) April 9, 2016
So, apparently, in 1938, Washington DC used two flags to announce the city’s progress in traffic safety: a white one was put up on Deathless Days and a black skull & cross bones when a traffic death was reported.
What might it do to help promote a safety culture if we give honor to victims and visibility to progress (or the lack thereof) in moving Towards Zero Crash Deaths & Serious Injuries.
Back in 1938, the DC government & the @washingtonpost ran death flags up a pole if someone died in a car crash #TBT pic.twitter.com/B5LpLV5PXp
— Council of DC (@councilofdc) March 31, 2016
Also, see this article: When D.C. Flew the Skull and Crossbones For Every Traffic Death
And, today, Traffic Safety/Deaths is not even an issue on whitehouse.gov. See for yourself.
Do it, President Obama, for We the People of this United States of America! #VisionZero
NHTSA plans to revolutionize the way they crash-test cars and rate vehicles. Good. But they better do the same for tractor-trailers and single unit trucks. Unless truck underride protection is drastically improved, 5-star cars will protect no one in way too many collisions with trucks.
Since 1978, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) 5-Star Safety Ratings have helped consumers buy vehicles that better protect them on the road. We crash-test vehicles, then assign ‘star’ ratings on how they perform, giving extra credit for vehicles that offer advanced safety features. One star is the lowest rating, and five stars is the highest. More stars means safer cars.
But, in a time when vehicle technologies advance at lightning speed, NHTSA must constantly innovate to stay ahead of the pace of change. That’s why, today, we’ve announced a plan to revolutionize the way we crash-test cars and rate vehicles. Our goal –as always– is to promote an even higher level of safety and put that knowledge to work for consumers.
Strengthening NHTSA’s 5-Star Safety Ratings for the Future
U.S. DOT brings 5-Star Safety Ratings into a new safety era
. . . when we were in Washington [March 5], we met at IIHS with some of the members of the planning group for the Underride Roundtable (Russ Rader, IIHS; John Lannen, TSC, Andy Young, truck litigation attorney/truck driver/truck company owner; Jerry, Isaac, and myself)–taking the opportunity to get some work done in person. One of the ideas, which we were throwing around when brainstorming about how to shape our Panel Discussion, was the need for creating Best Practices for Underride Protection and re-visiting the issue on an ongoing basis.
Byron Bloch had joined us for the meeting. One suggestion he made, during our Roundtable planning meeting, was that IIHS, who is well-known for that crash rating safety program for the automotive industry, develop a 5-Star Crash Rating Program for truck/trailer manufacturers as well.
That idea has grabbed our attention. After all, the IIHS crash testing of various major trailer manufacturers prior to our crash and continuing in the years following, was a source of revelation to us about the extent of the underride problem and the reality that it was/is a solvable problem. Delivery of a Vision Zero Petition to Washington; What I have learned in our battle for safer roads
On top of that, so many other safety problems need to get taken care of in the trucking industry before we can rest easier on the road in our “safer” cars. So many.
Here’s one thing someone pointed out to me recently: Automatic Braking for Trucks Taking Longer to Develop than Cars – Research and Markets.
The Underride Roundtable will be one month from today. I am hoping that it will catalyze a breakthrough in underride protection. Please pray for it to be so.
SAVE THE DATE: Thursday, May 5, 2016
May 5, 2016: IIHS Vehicle Research Center (VRC)
Thomas Morrill Conference Room
Here is the agenda (and I will be announcing details for livestreaming when they are available):
8:00 Arrival at VRC
8:30 Continental breakfast – Thomas Morrill Conference Room
9:00 Welcome – IIHS Chief Research Officer David Zuby
9:05 Description of the Problem of Underride
10:30 Break
10:45 Research That Points to a Solution
12:30 Rear underride guard crash test
1:00 Lunch – Thomas Morrill Conference Room
1:45-4:00 – Identifying a Unified Approach to Implementing Solutions to the Problem
2. Where do we go from here?
“Real safety is finding and fixing defects before someone gets hurt, rather than just punishing after the damage is done,” DOT Secretary Foxx commented. NHTSA surrenders to automakers with prospective agreement on voluntary safety standards and Feds and 18 car companies team up to create new auto safety standards
I couldn’t agree with you more, Secretary Foxx. I hope to see that statement take shape in the adoption of a Vision Zero Rulemaking Policy — as we have petitioned you to do:
Save Lives Not Dollars: Urge DOT to Adopt a Vision Zero Policy
Voluntary standards might be compared to encouraging your child to do what is right but providing no tangible guidelines to which they must adhere. What does that teach the child except that there are no consequences to doing whatever they choose? What motivation is there to think of how their actions will impact others? Can you really count on your child to always put others first? Would you want to do that when a life is hanging in the balance?
Deaths become meaningless when accountability is not assigned. And Vision Zero [moving toward zero crash deaths & serious injuries] is not really the priority when undue weight is given to industry influence upon decision-makers rather than identifying and implementing proven traffic safety measures which would SAVE LIVES.
Is it?
Based on the series-produced Actros model, the three trucks are equipped with Mercedes’ Highway Pilot Connect software, which relies on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology to let the rigs travel in what Daimler calls a platoon. Data about the road ahead gathered by the lead truck is constantly transferred to the two other trucks via a Wi-Fi connection, so each vehicle knows precisely when to accelerate, when to brake, and when to turn without requiring any human input. However, the driver must remain alert and focused on the road ahead.
The trucks in the platoon follow each other in 50-foot intervals, which boosts gas mileage by up to ten percent by reducing drag. CO2 emissions are also slashed by ten percent. More efficient trucks are good for the environment, and they’re beneficial for companies that make a living by transporting goods.
Read more here: A TRIO OF AUTONOMOUS MERCEDES BIG RIGS IS HITTING THE ROAD IN EUROPE
What are the drawbacks? What could go wrong? What will it take to have this technology fully operational in the U.S.? Will it be regulated to ensure safety and oversee any defects?
How does this development compare to the caution at NHTSA over Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB):
Developing reliable automated safety systems for commercial vehicles and trucks is a greater challenge due to the vehicles larger size and heavier weight. It’s necessary to ensure that an AEB system would not cause the vehicle to flip or lose control in the event of rapid braking. The NHTSA is expecting it will take some time to develop the required technology, and while they have granted the aforementioned petition, no defined timeline has been set in place for when the change will be implemented.
Read more here: Automatic Braking for Trucks Taking Longer to Develop than Cars – Research and Markets
I was driving to Raleigh/Durham today and, shortly after I merged onto 64, a car passed me and then immediately proceeded to get back into the right lane–squeezing in front of a car and directly behind a tractor-trailer. Within less than 1/2 a mile, all three vehicles exited.
Why couldn’t the driver have waited patiently behind me and then exited?! An underride crash could so easily have occurred.
Do driver education programs teach about the dangers of truck underride? Maybe every written driver’s test should contain a question related to the avoidance of Death by Underride (when it is within one’s control).
