Monthly Archives: July 2016

“Victims of underride collision demand Vision Zero and an independent Traffic Safety Ombudsman”

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , , ,

Less than a week ago, I woke up thinking, “I need to start a petition on the White House website asking President Obama to appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman.” The idea of such a position/role had come to me a month earlier, but nobody was responding to my request to appoint one.

Now it seemed like I needed to take action. Since the petition site indicated that if we got 100,000 signatures in 30 days, then they would respond to it, it seemed like good timing to start July 1–with July 31 as the target date.

The first step was getting the ball rolling and it has been torturous watching the number of signatures slowly creep up. Once it reaches 150, then the petition will become searchable on their website. Meanwhile. . .

Maybe we’ll get a boost from an article published today on treehugger.com by managing editor, Lloyd Alter. I had commented on his article last weekend on the Tesla crash and Tweeted a message to him.

Today he published an article about our crash story, our advocacy efforts, and our Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition and Vision Zero goals. Perhaps this will give us a good jumpstart on the way to our 100,000 goal–and ultimately our goal of SAVING LIVES.

Victims of underride collision demand Vision Zero and an independent Traffic Safety Ombudsman

End Crash FatalitiesPetition TSO

SIGN  & SHARE the TRAFFIC SAFETY OMBUDSMAN Petition:

 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/

Very cool Youtube video of Aaron Kiefer’s innovative side guard with specs, test drive & crash test video.

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

Very cool Youtube of Aaron Kiefer’s innovative side guard with crash test video.

Stand up and be heard. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people: Tesla crash fatality could have been stopped by side guards. Tell NHTSA to require them on trucks.

Crash test 045 Mandate Side Guards

Tesla crash fatality could have been stopped by side guards. Tell NHTSA to require them on trucks.

AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

The U.S. has been talking about the tragedies of side underride and the possibility of using side guards on trucks since 1969.

The recent Tesla S underride crash fatality could quite likely have been prevented if there had been a side guard on the tractor-trailer it collided with.

So why is NHTSA still not requiring side guards on trucks? Why is the trailer manufacturing industry still opposing them? Why have so many years gone by with needless, preventable deaths continuing to occur?

Let’s change that, people. Make use of the federal rulemaking process which provides a way for the public to make comments on issues of national importance. Right now, the federal government is working on a rule to upgrade the regulation of truck underride guards; it addresses the rear guards for tractor-trailers–but not side guards.

YOU CAN HELP GET THE RULES CHANGED: Go to the Federal Register and hit the Comment Now button to tell them that you want trucks to be required to have side guards to prevent people from dying. It will then ask you to choose a CATEGORY; choose PUBLIC COMMENT.

Note: It will say that the Public Comment Period is closed as of February 16, 2016. Don’t worry; they will continue to look at Public Comments submitted after that date because the Final Rule is not yet issued.

Stand up and be heard. Government of the People. By the People. For the People.

Side Guards Save LivesMandate Side Guards

Now tell other people that they can do it, too! Thank you.

Note: See a Youtube video from Aaron Kiefer, a North Carolina crash reconstructionist, who has recently designed an innovative side/rear underride guard:

Crash reconstructionist (inventor of an innovative side guard) tallies side underride crashes he has seen

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

Aaron Kiefer has designed an innovative combination side/rear underride guard for large trucks. Recently, he tallied up the number of side underride crashes which his crash reconstruction firm has investigated.

This is what he found:

-39 passenger vehicle/commercial vehicle underride accidents in 2014, 2015, 2016 YTD (16 average annual cases*) *Approx 90% of cases were sampled

-26 side, 13 rear

-19 into dry van trailers, (13 side, 6 rear)

-10 into flatbed trailers

-10 into other trailer types/other commercial vehicles

See one of his side guard crash tests:

Here’s my report on the first crash test of Aaron’s side guard prototype on March 13, 2016: Witnessed safety defect in action at underride crash tests; this is what snuffed out my daughters’ lives.

WethePeople, exercise your right to petition your gov’t to protect its citizens from vehicular violence

Safety Advocacy, , , ,

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/

We are exercising our right to petition the White House, via their petition website, to end preventable crash fatalities by appointing a National Traffic Ombudsman to act as advocate for all of us who are vulnerable to vehicular violence.

SIGN & SHARE our TRAFFIC SAFETY OMBUDSMAN Petition: https://wh.gov/i6kUj

About the White House We the People petition website:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
—The First Amendment, United States Constitution

The right to petition your government is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. We the People is a platform that empowers the American public to take this action like never before – it’s a way for anybody, anywhere, to speak directly to the government and become an agent for change.

With We the People, you can easily create a petition online, share it, and collect signatures. If you gather 100,000 signature in 30 days, we’ll review your petition, make sure it gets in front of the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.

Petitioning has the potential to enact real change – just check out some of our petition creator’s success stories – but it’s also your fundamental right as an American citizen, and an opportunity to connect with a community of like-minded people who are invested in making a change. Ideally, running a petition on We the People is just the start of something bigger — a long-term, robust form of civic engagement.

Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition

Be inspired to exercise your right as a citizen to petition the government. Listen to these kids sing their hearts out:

 

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

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

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?

  1. Share the Petition link itself: https://wh.gov/i6kUj
  2. 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
  3. Share other posts so people can learn more about why a Traffic Safety Ombudsman is needed and what it is: 
  4. Share MEMES to get the message across in an emotion-packed visual way:

Traffic Safety Ombudsman PetitionSerenity PrayerIrreversible & RegrettableOmbudsman for Traffic SafetyPresident ObamaCost.Benefit AnalysisTired Trucker RoundtablePetitionHeader_option2CBA Victim Cost Benefit Analysis VictimTSO PETITIONPetition TSO

  1. 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.
  2. Share videos to get the message across in another way: 

Thank you for being part of our team! Mary would have said, “Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

31 Picture 546

Questions? Comments? email me: marianne@annaleahmary.com

 

Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2015: Up from 2014

Safety Advocacy

People continue to die on our roads daily and it looks like more did so in 2015 than 2014.

 A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for 2015 shows that an estimated 35,200 people died in motor vehicle traf­fic crashes. This represents an increase of about 7.7 percent as compared to the 32,675 fatalities that were reported to have occurred in 2014.

If these projec­tions are realized, fatalities will be at the highest level since 2008, when 37,423 fatalities were reported. Preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) shows that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in 2015 increased by about 107.2 billion miles, or about a 3.5-percent increase. The fatality rate for 2015 increased to 1.12 fatalities per 100 million VMT, up from 1.08 fatalities per 100 million VMT in 2014. NHTSA: Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2015

Sign and share our petition asking President Obama to end preventable crash fatalities and appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to advocate for safer roads:  https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-appoint-national-traffic-safety-ombudsman

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/

Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition

whitehouse.gov PETITION: End preventable crash fatalities/Appoint Nat’l Traffic Safety Ombudsman

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , , ,

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/

We are asking for 100,000 Americans to sign our new petition on WhiteHouse petition site. Once we get 150 signatures, it will become searchable on their website.

If we are able to get 100,000 signatures in 30 days — by July 31, then the White House has promised that they will respond to our new petition, which calls on President Obama to appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman, who will be an Advocate for Safer Roads.

SIGN  & SHARE the TRAFFIC SAFETY OMBUDSMAN Petition:  https://wh.gov/i6kUj

PLEASE NOTE: If you sign the petition, be sure to go to your email. We the People will send you an email which you have to reply to in order to confirm your signature is valid.

What the Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition says:

Every average day in the U.S., 100 of our loved ones die in crashes and 400 more suffer serious crash injuries–along with $2 Billion in crash losses.

We propose that the President establish an independent Office of National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to be an advocate to eliminate preventable crash deaths and serious injuries.

We need someone who has a mandate to advocate on behalf of the victims, someone who is not compromised by competing interests. We call on the President to take this action to protect our families and loved ones from one of the leading causes of preventable death.

Traffic Safety has not been a national priority. Without this Presidential action, too many lives will continue to be lost to vehicle violence.

Please SIGN the Petition: https://wh.gov/i6kUj. Then, SHARE this post. We have to get 100,000 in 30 days! July 31 is the target date.

 Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition
Read this post for Memes & Videos to help you raise awareness & promote this petition: Memes & Other Tools to Spread the Vision of a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to Advocate for Safer Roads
Read more about how a Traffic Safety Ombudsman could help us move more quickly toward ending tragic and preventable crash fatalities and life-altering crash injuries:

A grieving mom appeals to the President (short version):

A grieving mom appeals to the President (longer version):

Let’s demand safety, America, for We the People:

SIGN  & SHARE the WhiteHouse.gov TRAFFIC SAFETY OMBUDSMAN Petition:  https://wh.gov/i6kUj

Questions? Comments? email me: marianne@annaleahmary.com

Could Tesla crash fatality have been prevented if trucks were required to have #sideguards?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

“The driver of a Tesla Model S sedan using the vehicle’s self-driving mode has been killed in a collision with a truck, federal officials said Thursday, the first U.S. fatality using the new technology.

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the Tesla at a highway intersection.”

Tesla driver killed in crash while using car’s ‘Autopilot’

The problem was that the car went under the side of a truck. Trucks are not required to have side guards. There was nothing for the car’s sensors to detect.

Side guards save lives.

Aaron Kiefer underride design prototype photo

Update, July 2: I’m not the only one who thinks so. . . Tesla driver killed in autopilot crash might still be alive if trailers had side underride guards

July 3, saw another article: Tesla Autopilot Fatality — Timeline & Facts and this one: Why the Tesla accident had nothing to do with the safety features of the Model S

Tesla crash fatality could have been stopped by side guards. Tell NHTSA to require them on trucks.

Featuring our story and questions: Victims of underride collision demand Vision Zero and an independent Traffic Safety Ombudsman

Save Lives

August 8, 2016 UPDATE: We have launched a petition calling upon NHTSA to issue a rule to require large trucks to have side guards to protect against deadly side underride crashes. Please sign & share: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/104/026/213/mandate-side-guards-on-large-trucks-to-end-deadly-side-underride-crashes/

JANUARY 2017 Update: Just launched a new SIDE GUARD Petition. Please sign it! End Deadly Truck Side Underride Crashes: Mandate Side Guards

Aaron Kiefer’s TrailerSafe System: