Stifled Grief: How the West Has It Wrong Huff Post (Common Grief)
It is my grief — my ongoing heartfelt loss — which compels me to ask these questions.
Is Cost/Benefit Analysis Appropriate for Life & Death Matters? Were their lives worth saving?
Monthly Archives: June 2016
Send @POTUS a D-Day Message: End 33,000 crash deaths/yr. Make Traffic Safety a National Priority
I received an email from President Obama this week in response to a message which I sent to him in March on the whitehouse.gov Contact Form–asking him to read the Vision Zero Petition Book 3rd Edition which we had delivered to him. The news is not really that great. This is what he said: Email from President Obama
He expressed sympathy and thanked me for writing, but he did not say that he would do anything about the problem or the requested solution/action/strategy. Please help me make sure that he knows that the people of this country want him to make Traffic Safety a National Priority.
On D-Day, Monday, June 6, 2016, STARTING at NOON (EST), help me flood the media with this message in reply to President Obama (see the sharing links below):
- Share on Twitter: @PresidentObama @POTUS Do something about 33,000 crash deaths/yr. Make Traffic Safety a National Priority! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX-3CPyGA7c
- Send a message to @President Obama on Facebook: President Obama, Make Traffic Safety A National Priority
- Share this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/dOP9H_rOi4w
For more information, see previous post: I got an email from President Obama this week.
President Obama, Do something to help us move more quickly toward zero crash deaths! Make Traffic Safety a National Priority.
Last night, Pres. Obama referred in the past tense to crash fatalities as a public health problem.
And don’t forget about the crash injuries. In 2013, approximately 2.31 million people were injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes.
Last night, Pres. Obama referred in the past tense to crash fatalities as a public health problem.
Apparently, President Obama is okay with the current state of traffic fatalities. Anyway it sounds as if he thinks that we have already done all we can to reduce crash deaths.
At least that is what it sounds like to me from last night’s PBS News Hour video of President Obama speaking at a Town Hall (June 2, 2016):
“We used to have really bad auto fatality rates. The auto fatality rate has actually dropped precipitously, drastically since I was a kid. Why is that? We decided we had seat belt laws. We decided to have manufacturers put air bags in place. We decided to crack down on drunk driving and texting. We decided to redesign roads so that they were less likely to have a car bank.
“We studied what is causing these fatalities using science and data and evidence. And then we slowly treated it like the public health problem it was. And it got reduced.”
See President Obama talking about this, starting at 1:57 on this video: https://www.facebook.com/newshour/videos/10154247237078675/
Interesting. This is what I noticed about what he said:
- He identified auto fatalities as a public health problem.
- He referred to it in the past tense.
- He did not acknowledge that there is still a long ways to go and that there are still way too many preventable crash deaths occurring every year.
- He did not mention that 33,000 people — like AnnaLeah and Mary, real people, whom someone will miss — are still dying every year and that we should make it a national priority to work on them.
- He also did not mention that more than 2 million people are seriously injured in crashes each year.
- He did not take that opportunity to say let’s set a national vision zero goal and work on this together.
President Obama, are you aware that over 20,000 people have asked you to set a Vision Zero Goal and to sign a Vision Zero Executive Order. We need a Vision Zero Task Force to address specific traffic safety issues and we need Vision Zero Rulemaking policies and we need a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to over see this ongoing public health problem–in ways that are not now being done.
Could we please sit down and talk about this so we can get on the same page?
Marianne
p.s. I, for one, daily face the loss of my two daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13). And I know for a fact that more could have been done — but wasn’t — to prevent their deaths.
“Growing Momentum for Self-Driving Cars Worries Safety Advocates” Fair Warning
Growing Momentum for Self-Driving Cars Worries Safety Advocates – See more at: http://www.fairwarning.org/2016/06/self-driving-cars/#sthash.V6EZIQZe.eVIkkjWL.dpuf
Other related articles:
I got an email from President Obama this week.
I received an email from President Obama this week in response to a message I sent to him in March on the whitehouse.gov Contact Form–asking him to read the Vision Zero Petition Book 3rd Edition which we had delivered to him. This is what he said:
Dear Marianne,
Thank you for writing. There are no words to ease the pain of losing a loved one, but I hope fond memories help temper the grief you must feel.
At this difficult time, please know I will keep fighting for people like you every single day I hold this office. You and your loved ones will be in my thoughts and prayers in the days ahead.
Thank you, again, for taking the time to write. I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
On D-Day, Monday, June 6, 2016, STARTING at NOON (EST), help me flood the media with this message in reply to President Obama (see the sharing links below):
President Obama,
Thank you for your sympathy and kind words. But what I, and over 20,000 Vision Zero Petition signers, want is for you to do what no one else in this country can do: Make Traffic Safety a National Priority!
- Set a National Vision Zero Goal to move us toward zero crash deaths.
- Establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force.
- Sign a Vision Zero Executive Order; and
- Appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to oversee our progress in making our roads safer.
Looking forward to hearing from you again soon,
Marianne Karth
Please share this Traffic Safety Virtual Flash Mob Game Plan with others before Monday, June 6, D-Day:
- Read this post.
- Put this Virtual Event on your calendar.
- Share this blogpost with others who you think might want to help.
- On Monday, June 6, 2016, D-Day starting at noon EST, post this vital message –using every form of social media at your disposal:
- Share on Twitter: @PresidentObama @POTUS Do something about 33,000 crash deaths/yr. Make Traffic Safety a National Priority! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX-3CPyGA7c
- Send a message to @President Obama on Facebook: President Obama, Make Traffic Safety A National Priority
- Share this YouTube video: https://youtu.be/dOP9H_rOi4w
On Monday, June 6, we will remember the sacrifice of the armed forces as they fought to bring an end to WWII.
On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” https://www.army.mil/d-day/
President Obama, we will accept nothing less than a full-fledged, national effort to move toward zero crash deaths & serious injuries. Lead the way!
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Prayer on D-Day, June 6, 1944
In memory of AnnaLeah & Mary, precious ones whose lives were cut far too short:
“The Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act is now the law of the land!”
A GOOD NEWS Report from Lou Lombardo:
June 1, 2016
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Great news from Cally Houck:
WE WON!!! Thank you, everyone!
cally houck
Ojai, CA
Jun 1, 2016 — The Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act, named for my beautiful and talented daughters, is now the law of the land!!
Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make this happen. We still have work to do, to close the car dealers’ loaner-car loophole. But meanwhile, this is a huge victory.
To their credit, the rental car companies themselves worked with me and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, and Dr. Rosekind, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, our champions in Congress, and other consumer groups to get the law enacted.
Good to know that we the people can change the law to protect precious lives, when enough of us speak up.
Cally Houck
The Detroit News reports:
Washington — Rental car companies are prohibited from distributing vehicles that have been recalled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under a new federal law that took effect Wednesday.
The new law requires rental companies with fleets of more than 35 vehicles to pull recalled cars from their rotations until they are repaired.
The prohibition was included in a $305 billion highway bill that was approved by Congress last year. It was originally introduced as a bill that was named after Raechel and Jacqueline Houck, sisters who were killed in a 2004 crash in California that involved a rental car that had been recalled. Their mother, Cally Houck, lobbied Congress for years to approve the change.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said he is happy to enforce the ban now that has Congress has codified the prohibition in federal law.
“When a family picks up a rental car on vacation, they should be able to expect it is free of any known safety defect,” Foxx said in a statement. “I thank Congress and the safety advocates who helped turn this common-sense idea into law.”
The ban on recalled cars does not apply to used car dealerships, despite a push from safety advocates to also apply the prohibition to them.
Backers of the ban on rental companies distributing recalled cars said it is a major victory that the ban is taking effect today, even as they vowed to continue pushing for a wider prohibitions including the sale of recalled used cars by dealers.
“I’m thrilled that the Safe Rental Car Act named for my beautiful, treasured daughters, Raechel and Jacqueline, is now the law of the land. But I’m worried about the loaner-car loophole for car dealers and remain committed to closing that dangerous safety gap,” Cally Houck said in a statement distributed on Wednesday by the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety group.
“If this law was in existence when my cherished, beautiful daughter Jewel rented a car, she would still be alive today,” added Alexander Brangman, whose 26-year-old daughter Jewel died in a 2014 crash while she was driving a rented 2001 Honda Civic.
Lawmakers in Washington who pushed for the inclusion of the recalled rental ban in the massive highway funding law that was approved last year also touted the implementation of the prohibition on Wednesday.
“I am so proud that the Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe Rental Car Act takes effect today so that the public can be assured that when they rent a car, it cannot be under recall,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who introduced multiple bills contain the ban before it was added to the 2015 highway bill.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., added: “This law is going to save lives, period. Families heading out for vacation or businesspeople on travel should never have to wonder if their rental car is under recall when they drive it off the lot. Thanks to this bill, the millions of people who rent cars every year will have peace of mind that rental companies can’t rent or sell cars that they know are unsafe.”
NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind agreed, saying the recalled rental ban gives his agency “one more tool to protect the safety of U.S. motorists,” although he lamented the fact that there are currently more than 900 active auto recalls.
For more on the history of this safety victory see the book Death by Rental Car available at
https://www.amazon.com/Death-
Great safety advance!
Lou Lombardo
