Jerry asked our family yesterday, “If money were no object, what could be done to get 1 million signatures on our petition?” Like me, he is frustrated with the lack of response our 20,000 signatures seems to have gotten from the powers-that-be.
Perhaps they are working furiously behind closed doors to prepare a response. Or, on the other hand, maybe they think that they are already doing everything they can (not true) to help us move Toward Zero traffic fatalities.
Vision Zero is a difficult concept to grasp–possibly because we have grown accustomed to accepting traffic deaths as “accidents” instead of understanding that there are many things which could be done to prevent them.
Yet, our Vision Zero Petition has outlined some very specific courses of action which our country’s leadership could take which would make a much bigger impact than is currently being made to reduce the number of crash deaths.
Our kids asked, “What’s the target group?” The consensus seemed to be that the people most likely to respond to our message would be those that fear having a child die before they do.
This morning, I listened to a brief bit of the girls’ funeral sermon. On that dreadful day, Pastor Pase talked to us about the challenge a parent has in keeping a fragile child safe and the pain that comes when they are unable to do so.
“‘Take me instead, Lord,’ frustrated parents can say.”
If you are a parent (or even if you are not, but our story moves your heart), please share our story with at least one another person. Maybe we can reach that 1 million people Jerry is hoping for. And just maybe the president’s heart will be like a stream of water in our Father’s hands. (Proverbs 21:1) Pray for it to be so.
I would like to be able to write hopeful things, on this hopeful day of Resurrection remembrance, about our chances of being able to save lives. But the fact of the matter is that, unless a miracle occurs, it is likely to be Second Verse Same As The First, A Little Bit Louder And A Little Bit Worse. Followed by Third Verse and so on. . . ad nauseam.
The day after Easter in 2013, just a month before our crash, I shared a song with friends. I wrote about it a year later on facebook:
One of the really true and hopeful things about that song is in the last verse:
No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand!
But, as true as that may be in the spiritual sense (because AnnaLeah and Mary will be with their Lord and Savior forever to infinity and beyond; they are where they belong), it is most certainly also true that sin, death, and the devil can wreak havoc in our lives here on earth–including the careless and callous attitudes and actions that contribute to traffic crash deaths.
Oh, I understand that by the grace of God I can endure the pain and grief which has come upon me as a result. And maybe I can even be a tool in His hand to ameliorate the situation just a little.
But the forces of darkness that rage against genuine efforts to end senseless traffic deaths are truly powerful and scheming. It is only because I believe that it is not by might nor by power but by His Spirit that we could ever prevail that I press on boldly calling ever more loudly:
Our stories show the world that this violence has to end. But the forces up against us make it hard to score a win. Yet we’ll climb up this mountain of grief once again. Weeping is our strength; let this battle begin.
Fight then, wherever you may be, To protect us all From the end-that-shouldn’t-be. As we join together against this enemy, We will find the way to victory.
Lyrics: from the broken heart of a mother (remembering the peace and joy of AnnaLeah and Mary)
If you are a parent (or even if you are not, but our story moves your heart), please share our story with at least one another person. Maybe we can reach that 1 million people Jerry is hoping for. And just maybe the president’s heart will be like a stream of water in our Father’s hands. (Proverbs 21:1) Pray for it to be so.
I’m thankful for their site which has allowed us to raise awareness about traffic safety and Vision Zero. We have gained the support of many individuals through our Vision Zero Petition hosted there.
This week, I received a letter from Vice President Joe Biden in response to my December 9, 2015, letter to him asking that he champion our efforts to reduce the traffic safety tragedies in our country. I asked him to back our petition to President Obama requesting a Vision Zero Executive Order.
I truly appreciate his heartfelt letter expressing compassion for the loss of our daughters in a truck crash, and his promise to keep us in their prayers. He also mentioned that my commitment to the issue is inspiring.
Please pray that he is inspired to the extent of actively promoting our petition requests with the powers that be in Washington.
March has historically been a momentous, memorable month for truck underride safety advocacy. Not that other months are totally devoid of such activity, but I have observed a noticeable pattern:
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has studied and reported on the truck underride problem for many years. After our underride crash on May 4, 2013, we discovered that they had published a report on this issue just a few months earlier on March 14, 2013, as well as a prior report on March 1, 2011.
On the 37th anniversary of our marriage, our family launched the AnnaLeah & Mary Stand Up for Truck Safety Petition on March 19, 2014, with one of the petition requests being to improve truck underride protection (rear, side, and front on tractor trailers, as well as for Single Unit Trucks).
Later that week, on March 23, 2014, I published a Youtube video to explain why we had launched the petition and what we were asking for–including an upgrade of the weak, ineffective federal underride standards.
During the almost three years which have passed since that terribly tragic day in May, we continue to uncover new (to us) information which surely should have led to improved underride protection long before now. For example, about a month ago, I became aware of a March 16, 1977 (when I was 21–just a few days from my wedding) Senate Investigative hearing, which was reported on in the March 29, 1977 IIHS Status Report.
This is how that report began: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released the results of a crash test program focused on the deadly problem of car-into-truck underride crashes. Appearing as lead-off witness at a March 16 Senate Investigative hearing, the Institute’s president, William Haddon, Jr., M.D., presented crash test films and analyses showing that: The 25 year-old federal “rear end protection” standard for devices on the backs of tractor-trailers and trucks is “a sham.”
Further, Haddon warned Senators, “Blood has been shed, heads literally have rolled and countless thousands of Americans have been injured because these agencies did not act. Further inaction would be inexcusable.”
On March 5, 2016, we delivered our second petition to Washington, DC, when we took our Vision Zero Petition Book with 20,000 signatures to the Department of Transportation and President Obama. We asked for a Vision Zero Executive Order to pave the way for Vision Zero Rulemaking policies so that a truly effective and comprehensive underride standard can be issued.
On March 10, 2016, the Vision Zero Petition Book and 20,000 signatures were posted as a Public Comment on the current rear underride rulemaking.
On March 12, 2016, Jerry and I were privileged to participate in a successful side guard crash test in Hillsborough, North Carolina. This innovative side/rear combination can be retrofit to existing trucks on the road. Imagine the potential for saving lives!
On March 2, 2016, just three days prior to our recent delivery of the Vision Zero Petition, I discovered a March 19, 1969, Federal Highway Administration underride rulemaking document on the Federal Register which indicated that their intent was to extend underride protection to the sides of large vehicles! Eight years before my wedding day, when I was 13 years-old, DOT was intending to call for stronger underride protection. And yet, 44 years later, when my daughter Mary was 13 and AnnaLeah was 17, we still had not gotten it right! That’s just wrong!
It is my fervent hope that, when March2017 rolls around, we will be celebrating a vastly improved federal standard–enthusiastically and immediately adopted by the trucking industry–for all-around-the-truck underride protection at higher speeds, including now-exempt single unit trucks as well as retrofitted to existing trucks and trailers.
If this seems like a costly venture, try comparing it to the price paid by thousands upon thousands of individuals and families during the past decades of ineffective underride protection–added to the countless precious people who will be saved in the years to come from tragic, preventable death by underride.
So many things are running through my head that could make up multiple posts. But I will summarize them all here and see what happens with it.
First of all, in regards to the condition of the underride guard on the trailer crash tested on Saturday. At the time when it was purchased for use in the crash test, the underride guard was already in sub-standard condition. Had it been in a collision, it is quite likely that underride would have occurred. And how many other trailers on the road are in similar condition? Something’s wrong with this picture. Witnessed safety defect in action at underride crash tests; this is what snuffed out my daughters’ lives.
In that same post, I asked forgiveness of those who have lost loved ones in underride crashes. I don’t want to be misunderstood. I was not confessing any particular personal failure to address the underride problem because I have done nothing but pursue a solution ever since I found out about it. (Although I, too, have part of the problem by putting my head in the sand regarding traffic deaths in general.) What I was doing was speaking on behalf of this nation and society and industry and government. I was repenting for our country’s great sin of omission in not doing something to prevent this murderous Death by Underride — especially when it has been known that it needed to be addressed and research has shown that it can be addressed. I was following Daniel’s example when he confessed and repented before the LORD for what his people, the nation of Israel, had done.I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
The other thing which I just wanted to mention again is the idea of a nationwide network of Vision Zero Traffic Safety Community Action Groups. I have observed through my involvement in social media safety advocacy that there are a multitude of individuals and organizations attempting to impact the traffic safety problem. Unfortunately, with a likewise multitude of specific issues upon which they are focusing, efforts to address the problem are fragmented and scattered. It seems to me that if we all come together, at least on some level, we could be more effective.
I firmly believe that, in order to move as a nation Toward a Vision of Zero Crash Deaths, it will take a commitment to a National Vision Zero Goal and a coordinated endeavor of government, private industry, workers of every skill imaginable, and informed citizens. Anything short of this will be disjointed and less effective, which translates into — not simply unmet project goals but — people dying. It is not an impossible dream but it will require sacrifice and will be well worth the effort.
Among other things, I also believe that it will take listening to the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones due to traffic crashes and apologizing, as a society, for letting them down–for not addressing it as the priority it should be.
Bring a deeper measure of healing and hope by acknowledging their frustration and anger and grief. Let them know that they are being heard and that their petitions for change are being taken seriously.
Set a National Vision Zero Goal and then give these motivated people a voice. Launch a nation-wide network of Vision Zero Traffic Safety Community Action Groups which can channel their zealous energy in positive ways. In concert with a White House Vision Zero Task Force and a Cabinet which is authorized to conduct Vision Zero rulemaking, these groups could work at the local level as a powerful tool for changing the future and moving us more surely Toward Zero Crash Deaths, Serious Injuries, and Fear of Traffic.
Do it, President Obama, for We the People of this United States of America!
We have been following the progress of Aaron Kiefer’s development of an innovative side/rear underride guard, which he has designed on his own time when not working as a crash reconstructionist or spending time with his family. So we eagerly welcomed his invitation to help out in his MacGyver-style crash test this past Saturday. (By the way, I am a big fan of MacGyver–watched every episode on DVD with Mary & AnnaLeah.)
Aaron wanted to take this opportunity to test his design and find out what changes might be needed to make it a marketable and affordable option for trailer owners to install as a retrofit safety improvement. We joined a crew of his family, friends, and fellow crash reconstructionists at a junkyard in the Triangle area.
The morning was for set-up. Then we took a break for some brats and chips before devoting the afternoon to three crash tests. I had been unsure before arriving as to how a pick-up could tow a car and make it crash into a trailer. It became clear to me when I saw Aaron’s pulley contraption.
Test 1 was a side crash. The collision of the car into the side guard caused the innovative side guard to pop off its brace. But, as Aaron and Jerry said, the test was successful because the side guard stopped the car from going under the trailer beyond the windshield; it prevented Passenger Compartment Intrusion (PCI). People in the car could have walked away alive.
Test 2 was a second side guard crash with the same car. Again, the car did not go under past the windshield and there was no PCI. The guard would have protected the people in the car from death and/or severe injuries. This time the added aluminum brace at the rear sheared off. Aaron thinks that he will have to go back to the drawing board and make a stronger brace.
Test 3 was a rear crash test. This time the side guard got rolled up and set aside. The trailer was turned around and the test car set up to aim at the rear of the trailer. The original rear underride guard on the trailer had actually been damaged at some point in the past and only had four of its original eight bolts. (That was the condition the underride guard was in when Aaron purchased the trailer, which had sustained damage from collision with an overpass. The guard had clearly not been properly maintained.)
In this crash, the underride guard failed and the car rode under the trailer. There was PCI and, if there had been people in the car, they would not have escaped unharmed. The added brace on the outer edge did not hold up. In fact, it was still fastened on (come to think of it, as it took a lot of work to unfasten it from the trailer afterward), but the original underride guard popped entirely off and flew to the side — doing nothing to stop the car from going under the truck.
Aaron had actually aimed the car to hit the left outer edge of the trailer, which he had reinforced with some aluminum braces. (Note: The current federal standard, as well as the proposed improved rule, does not require this area of the trailer to be protected against underride.) Instead, the car hit the vertical bar of the guard; the entire original guard then popped off and the car went under the truck.
It’s back to the drawing board for Aaron to find a way to improve his design. It was definitely a great success in that it prevented deadly side underride. On top of that, the trailer was not damaged by the collision (except for a few little nicks). But the bracing needs to be made stronger.
From what I could see, the day’s events only served to strengthen Aaron’s resolve to put a stop to senseless deaths, which he sees all-too-often in his work. I for one am truly thankful for the wonderful work he is doing, along with the group of people who willingly set aside a Saturday to support his effort.
The day gave me a deeper appreciation for all who take the time to solve the problem of preventable traffic fatalities. This includes the Virginia Tech Senior Design Team and Wabash and Manac and many researchers for decades, such as George Rechnitzer and Raphael Grzebieta in Australia and Luís Otto Faber Schmutzler in Brazil, and countless other un-named individuals.
It was also personally very intense. As one participant commented, “That was violent!”
Indeed, it was very violent. All three crashes gave me a jolt. But after the third crash, which resulted in deadly underride, I found myself standing still in the aftermath. Others were busy finding tasks to measure the results and get the clean-up started–including getting the car unstuck from under the trailer. But all I could do was stand there and stare.
Not until the next day really did it all begin to sink in: how I had witnessed from observing from afar what I and my children had gone through ourselves (although with a different crash scenario). I had watched, as an onlooker, the instantaneous destruction of a vehicle and how it was that AnnaLeah’s life had been inconceivably snuffed out in the twinkling of an eye and how, in a matter of mere seconds, Mary’s body had been broken beyond repair by just such a tragically-unresolved traffic safety problem.
It seemed like my own body experienced whiplash as it tensed up and relived, through traumatic muscle memory, what I had gone through. Meanwhile my heart continues to break with the grief that knows no end even as I process this experience.
It is beyond my comprehension how we, in this country, can allow such things to occur year after year without moving heaven and earth to learn how to prevent these tragedies. I can only ask forgiveness, and apologize to the countless families who have lost loved ones through violent death by motor vehicle, for letting them down–for not addressing it as the priority it should be. As a society, we have dropped the ball.
Jerry said several times, “It’s not every day you get to see a dream become a reality–kind of a humbling experience actually.” May there be many more such days.
Today, I watched some of the live streaming of NHTSA’s conference, Driving Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety. As I listened to the various speakers and panel discussions, many thoughts and questions went through my mind. . .
The basic question is: What will it take to make a significant reduction in the number of people who die on our roads?
It will take all of us working together.
It will take facing the problem head on.
It will take acknowledging that there is a problem–and the full extent of it.
It will take recognizing that we are all a part of the problem.
It will take talking about it openly.
It will take understanding that crash deaths are not just an expected risk of driving on the road but are to a great extent preventable.
It will take accepting that risky driver behavior is not a personal right but a violation of other people’s right to be protected from reckless behavior.
It will take calling risky driver behavior what it is: RECKLESS.
It will take classifying a vehicle as a weapon and reckless driver behavior as an act of violence.
It will take enacting laws that prohibit a full range of reckless driving behaviors and then enforcing those laws with stiff consequences.
It will take understanding that changing personal behavior is not the only way to reduce crash deaths and learning how to work with others who are addressing vehicle and environment risk factors.
It will take recognizing and embracing that preventing crashes from happening is not the only thing which needs to be addressed but that we can also reduce the severity of those crashes so that death is not the end result.
It will take manufacturers and employers and consumers and law enforcement and engineers and countless others to recognize how their individual decisions and actions contribute to not just crash statistics but to the unnatural ending (or saving) of life for people with names and faces and hopes and dreams and other people who care about them whose lives will be changed forever.
And it will take us all realizing that someday soon one of those names and faces could very well be ourselves or someone whom we love and will miss dreadfully. And that it could have been prevented.
It will take listening to the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones due to traffic crashes and apologizing, as a society, for letting them down–for not addressing it as the priority it should be. Bringing healing and hope that their frustrations and anger and grief are being heard and that their petitions for change are being taken seriously. Giving them a voice and channeling their zealous energy in positive ways which can in fact be a powerful tool for changing the future and moving us more surely Toward Zero Crash Deaths, Serious Injuries, and Fear of Traffic.
And beyond that, I firmly believe that, in order to move as a nation Toward a Vision of Zero Crash Deaths, it will take take a commitment to a National Vision Zero Goal and a coordinated endeavor of government, private industry, workers of every skill imaginable, and informed citizens. Anything short of this will be disjointed and less effective, which translates into — not simply unmet project goals but — people dying. It is not an impossible dream but it will require sacrifice and will be well worth the effort.
I kept writing down ideas as they came to me during the various presentations and discussions and emailing them to the event coordinator. I did not hear my questions being addressed. But I am going to record them (in their raw intensity) here:
After losing my 2 youngest daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), due to a truck underride crash on May 4, 2013, I have been calling for a National Vision Zero Goal (along with over 20,000 Vision Zero Petition Signers):
Set a National Vision Zero Goal (it is not listed as an issue on whitehouse.gov)
Establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force
Sign a Vision Zero Executive Order to authorize Vision Zero Rulemaking Policies
These are the questions which I have been sending to the event coordinator today:
What are you doing to address the reality (which I learned in 1979 at the University of Michigan/School of Public Health,Health Behavior/Health Education) that fear is not always the best motivator? The attitude that “it will never happen to me”?
Will the addition of more and more technology for collision avoidance give people the false idea that they don’t have to pay as much attention, i.e., counteract attempts to focus on driver behavior?
How about an equivalent of Volunteer Firefighters? Can we train and deputize citizens to pull over unsafe drivers?
For motor vehicle-related injury prevention. What about Second Collision problems? Like auto safety defects or truck UNDERRIDE deaths and serious injuries? Is the Task Force addressing this? What role could they play to prevent these preventable deaths?
Not only does traffic safety involve the driver, vehicles, and environmental factors, but it does so in three phases–pre-event, event, and post event. Every one of these factors can be addressed to prevent or reduce the severity of the event. Remember Dr. Haddon’s matrix which Adrian Lund (IIHS) shared (similar to this one, Haddon Matrix) (also, see Care for Crash Victims):
How about requiring driver training programs to set up volunteer coaches or mentors for drivers with permits to aid parents in this vital life skill development?
How about change DMV written tests for driver license and renewal? Ours in NC was FULL of numbers and statistics regarding DUI consequences . How about make it more graphic and stick-in-the mind friendly? I spent my time preparing for it by memorizing numbers.
Take a tip from 1954 and Jimmy Stewart. Start training at elementary level only update it to use the technology that the youngest generation is immersed in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj9Iuxw2_wk
How about design electronic games to raise awareness and teach safe driving behavior?
How about clear up the confusion about whether Marijuana IMPAIRS driving?
How can we find ways to remind people that driving choices can lead to forever results? Find ways to touch not only the head but the heart.
Never Come Back Once a loved
one becomes a motor vehicle crash statistic, it will be too late–they will
How about using interactive learning methods of raising awareness?
When I interviewed my 9 and 6 year-old grandchildren about how they thought underride guards could be stronger, they showed amazing awareness and creativity.
Put people in situations where they are faced with thinking through the results of driving choices and also purchase of safe equipment and increase their demand for affordable safer vehicles from the automotive industry.
In group settings. In game apps. Make use of church youth groups to address these issues.
REQUIRE phone manufacturers to advertise safe driving behavior
Why not set a National Vision Zero Goal to raise American awareness?
People need to know that Death by Motor Vehicle is a preventable problem but it will take us all to work together to defeat it.
They should be just as concerned, if not more, about the Violent Weapon of Destruction that is put into the hands of drivers everywhere 24/7.
What about the use of more electronic road signs to alert drivers to upcoming traffic situations? And more things like rumble strips?
People need to know that they are not in control so that their driving behavior reflects that knowledge.
Use Cass Sunstein’s idea for example for phone usage. Default Setting. Turned off when in a moving vehicle. Not sure if that is technologically possible but something like that.
Default RULE/traffic law. If caught texting or talking on cell phone while driving, get a point on record.
Set up a Consequence. Have their TICKET posted on social media.
Loss of Reputation/Respect.
ILLUSION OF CONTROL
Make salient and visible How can we give visibility nationally and locally the extent of the Traffic Safety Problem?
Electronic signs on highway to alert drivers to traffic conditions
Choice architecture: use existing social groups to create localized indication of traffic safety norms, church youth groups, MOPS groups, Preschool parent groups LET them hear from families of crash victims. Give these people visibility.
Can we get TRAFFIC SAFETY as an issue on whitehouse.gov?
Can we get President Obama to set a Vision Zero Goal, establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force which would include an interdisciplinary group, and sign a Vision Zero Executive Order?
Why not set up Community Vision Zero Activist Groups?
Are there strategies raising awareness about MICROSLEEP?
MAKE IT A NATIONAL Vision Zero Goal!!!! Apply the resources.
Put a face to the problem!!!!! Let the victims and their families be honored and remembered on a regular basis. We are ALL vulnerable.
Create a National Vision Zero Goal using social media and modern technology.
I know someone who could design immersive reality simulation models to show immediate negative consequences of reckless driver behavior choices (as suggested by Dr. David Abrams).
Could this group of people gathered together in Washington at this conference please, please, please call upon President Obama to set a National Vision Zero Goal, establish a Vision Zero Task Force, and sign a Vision Zero Executive Order? If he does not do those things, who else will lead us in such a United Effort? Without such a vision, the people will indeed perish.
