Memes & Other Tools to Spread the Vision of a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to Advocate for Safer Roads

August 3 UPDATE: The petition on the White House site is expired. Please sign our new Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition at Care2; http://www.thepetitionsite.com/384/321/600/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-appoint-a-national-traffic-safety-ombudsman/

So, I have launched this petition on the White House website with the hope that we can get 100,000 people to sign in support of asking President Obama to appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to speak on our behalf on a daily, ongoing basis so that we will be safer as we travel on the roads of our country.

But even the title, “Traffic Safety Ombudsman,” is a foreign concept. Ombuds is a Scandinavian word meaning representative or proxy, someone authorized to act for someone else. If you google the term (try it), you mostly get my posts about the topic. So why am I asking the President to appoint one?

Well, first of all, my first job out of college was as the director of a non-profit patient advocacy organization for nursing home patients–Citizens for Better Care. I learned all about the need and importance of advocating for the needs of vulnerable people who cannot necessarily speak for themselves. I, also, became acquainted with the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman (at the time, Doug Roberts). I learned a lot about being an advocate from Doug.

Secondly, and more recently and significantly, after my two youngest daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), were killed due a truck underride crash on May 4, 2013, I became fully aware of the many, many factors which lead to crash fatalities (and serious life-altering injuries) and, furthermore, that many of those tragedies could have been prevented.

That experience has unexpectedly catapulted me into a new volunteer role of safety advocate for road users (all of us). It has also made me gung-ho about being passionate to get to the bottom of things and not wait around for somebody else to do something about it. It has also made me want to make others aware of the problems and stir them up to be a part of the solutions.

Which brings us to the Petition to Appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to act on our behalf and who is not compromised by competing interests. Safety will be the person’s driving force and purpose. Without a position like this, SAFETY will continue to lose the battle to PROFIT.

And in order to force the White House to respond to our request to establish an Office of National Traffic Safety Ombudsman, we need to get at least 100,000 people on board with the vision. When that happens, the White House has promised to respond. Once we get 150 signatures, the petition will be searchable on the White House website.

So I have provided some tools here for you to use to raise awareness and light a fire under perfectly capable citizens who can help us accomplish this!

Be a part of the solution. WHAT CAN YOU TO DO TO HELP?

Share the Petition link itself: https://wh.gov/i6kUj
Share posts so people hear about the Petition: This website post: http://tinyurl.com/je2cm2c or my facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1051262074956306&id=464993830249803
Share other posts so people can learn more about why a Traffic Safety Ombudsman is needed and what it is:
Share MEMES to get the message across in an emotion-packed visual way:

Share all of these things multiple times and in multiple ways to inform, inspire, and motivate those who might be hearing of some of these things for the first time. I have been using them to thank people for their support and to encourage/equip them to be a part of the solution.
Share videos to get the message across in another way: