Category Archives: Safety Advocacy

Society pay for Large Truck Crash Costs or Industry Pay for Safety Equipment as Cost of Doing Business?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

How do “we” want to handle it? Ask the trucking industry to pay for underride protection as a Cost of Doing Business or continue to force the society and victims to pay for the cost of large truck crashes?

Costs of large truck-involved crashes in the United States

Zaloshnja_Cost Truck Injuries USA[14648]

Is safety equipment (like underride guards) a legitimate “cost of doing business” for the trucking industry?

Underride Question: Litigation or Legislation?

Win/Win: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the STOP Underrides! Bill

My Underride Protection Win/Win List:

  1. Fuel Savings (aerondynamics when combined with side skirts)
  2. Return On Investment (see #1)
  3. Trucks get Back on the Road more quickly when a crash does not involve a fatality.
  4. Driver Benefit: less negative impact on their career and avoidance of PTSD from someone dying under their truck.
  5. Job Creation (design, manufacture, installation, and maintenance of underride protective devices).
  6. Trailer Manufacturers burden lifted if mandated; they no longer have to persuade customers to buy trailers with safer equipment/design.
  7. BTW, lives are saved and serious injuries are prevented
Incentives:
  • Sponsors of the STOP Underrides! Bill are open to discussing a weight exemption for added weight of safety equipment (so that payload is not impacted).
  • Section 179 of the IRS Tax Code allows for a tax deduction for safety equipment purchased by trucking companies.
  • Decreased insurance risk. Wouldn’t it be great if the insurance industry would play their part and provide incentives for use of this equipment (perhaps discounts for early adopters of this life-saving technology)?

Is safety equipment (like underride guards) a legitimate “cost of doing business” for the trucking industry?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

It’s a simple question:  Is safety equipment a legitimate “cost of doing business” for the trucking industry?

Here’s one opinion from Country Supply, Inc. (they service semi-trailers):

It looks like another rule/law is coming down the pipeline for the American transportation sector, specifically the trucking industry. In December of 2017 some members of Congress put forth legislation that will mandate new safety regulations for semis. This bill, introduced as S.2219 Stop the Underrides Act of 2017, would mandate front and side underride guards. It would also require the rear underride guards be brought up to higher and stronger standards. Safety of passenger vehicle occupants is the premise for this legislation.

If this law is passed, should we just consider it another cost of doing business for the trucking industry? If the past is any indication to what new regulations and laws will bear, then the answer is a definitive yes. For those who haven’t voluntarily installed these underride guards it might be wise to think about the ramifications of what the enactment of this law will bring and how this will potentially impact your future business costs. Hopefully, the mandating of any new requirements such as this will allow for ample time for compliance and implementation. Naturally, there are varied opinions about this bill. Not everyone is a proponent. Are You for or Against S.2219 Stop the Underrides Act of 2017?

Now wouldn’t that be wonderful if the entire industry embraced that attitude and we were all proponents of this life-saving technology? In fact, I’m chomping at the bit to organize a Third Underride Roundtable. My vision is to bring all the stakeholders back together again in order to collaborate and figure out how we can most effectively move ahead together to implement a mandate for comprehensive underride protection.

Society pay for Large Truck Crash Costs or Industry Pay for Safety Equipment as Cost of Doing Business?

 

Could effective underride protection on the school bus have changed the outcome?

Safety Advocacy, , , ,
A School Bus Underride Crash took place on September 5, 2018: 
Two issues here: Distracted Driving and Underride. If distracted driving was a factor in the crash, that is so regrettable (and how many of us might be guilty of such foolish behavior?). But could effective underride protection on the school bus have changed the outcome?
 
Here’s a February 2000 article about the problem (unresolved) of School Bus Underride Tragedies: http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/article/610153/should-school-buses-have-rear-underride-guards
My post in May about multiple school bus underrides in the last year: https://annaleahmary.com/2018/05/four-separate-school-bus-underride-crashes-in-the-last-six-months/

Is neglecting preventable underride the same as shedding innocent blood?

Safety Advocacy

The moral law of God requires us to love our neighbor by doing all in our power to safeguard his life and by refraining from any action that may endanger his life. The Guilt of Innocent Blood

So what does it mean when “we” are not doing all that is in our power to safeguard people from preventable underride?

[Shedding innocent blood, 2 Kings 24:4]

“we” = anyone who could take action to make sure that trucks have the best possible underride protection. Who might that include?

 

“Up against [a tobacco] industry that has just completely disregarded human life”

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Fair Warning recently published an article on litigation related to the tobacco industry. Do you detect  startling similarities to the disregard for human life by the trucking industry’s inaction on the underride problem?

Rosen said he expects to litigate tobacco cases for the foreseeable future. “To me these are the best cases to represent people and go up against an industry that has just completely disregarded human life and consumer safety,” he said. “The companies just look at their bottom line at the expense of consumers who didn’t really understand what they were getting into.”  Florida Still a Dismal Swamp for Cigarette Makers Fighting Death and Injury Claims

Underride Question: Litigation or Legislation?

Taking the STOP Underrides! Message to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,
Lois Durso and her friend Anita Bomgaars (injured in an underride crash in the 70s) are bringing the STOP Underrides! message & bumper stickers to the Sturgis, South Dakota, Motorcycle Rally.
 
They were interviewed by a Fox affiliate station today: http://www.kotatv.com/video/?vid=490202881
 
Help us reach our goal to get STOP Underrides! Bumper Stickers on cars in every state in the U.S.A.! Why? So we can raise awareness & get the STOP Underrides! Bill passed to end these senseless tragedies. Find out how to get your bumper sticker here: Reach Every State to STOP Crash Underrides Everywhere! (RESSCUE) Bumper Sticker Project

Road to Zero Coalition Members Can Sign On Here to the Truck Underride Priority Statement!

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

We were excited to receive news on June 26 that the Road to Zero Coalition (RTZ) has published a Truck Underride Priority Statement on their website.

The Road to Zero Coalition is working to end preventable deaths on U.S. roadways by 2050. With that goal in mind, the Coalition is developing Safety Priority Statements that most – if not all – Coalition members can support.

Truck Underride Priority Statement

Road to Zero Coalition Released a Truck Underride Priority Statement

We are thankful to the RTZ Steering Group for taking the time to discuss and approve this important means of providing a stronger voice for the vulnerable victims of truck underride.

Those who wish to add their voice, but are not RTZ Coalition members, can either join RTZ here: Road to Zero Coalition Membership Form

Or, write their own Letter of Support and Sign the STOP Underrides! Petition here: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!

“Emergency Medical Care for Crash Victims” by Lou Lombardo & Traffic Safety Facts 2016 from NHTSA

Safety Advocacy, , , ,
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
 
On the 4th of July holiday, Legal Reader has published an article I submitted to them pro bono on this subject. 
 
 
Historically each and every holiday weekend, hundreds have died and thousands have suffered vehicle injuries.  And all across the country emergency medical teams are activated to save people while often endangering themselves.
 
This article calls attention to GM OnStar’s latest ad campaign, NHTSA’s call for information to improve EMS, and possible upgraded national attention by DOD and HHS to improving trauma care in the U.S.A — which the American people have long needed.
 
It is that need which I, and many others, have worked on for decades and led to the creation of “Care for Crash Victims.”
 
On July 3rd, 2018, NHTSA published its annual report Traffic Safety Facts 2016 copy attached. {See below.} The statistics on pp. 16 and 17 show that fatalities and fatality rates per 100,000 people have been rising the past decade.
 
Let’s hope that we are closer to making substantial advances because we can and we must do better and save more lives.
 
Lou Lombardo

We The People Must Stand Up To Industry Opposition To Lifesaving Underride Protection Technology

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

We the People must grab the reins of power to protect vulnerable travelers on our roads. The federal government and the trucking industry are either dragging their feet or deliberately opposing* efforts to get life-saving underride protection technology on all large trucks. It’s up to us to change the course of history.

The STOP Underrides! Bill has already been introduced (on December 12, 2017) by Senator Gillibrand, Senator Rubio, Congressman Cohen, and Congressman DeSaulnier. Now it’s time to let every one of our legislators know that it is not just Lois Durso and Marianne Karth who want this bill passed. The people of this country must speak up and demand that this practical solution be required.

Are you with us?

Watch this compelling video:

Over 57,000 people have signed the STOP Underrides! Petition. We need a strong voice calling for an end to these preventable tragedies. If you have not already done so, please sign this petition: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!

Spread the word! Share the video and the petition.

Please let us know if you would be willing to put a bumper sticker on your car to raise awareness. If so, email us at stopunderrides@gmail.com.

* Letters from Trucking Industry Associations in Opposition to Underride Technology Mandates (with a response from Senator Gillibrand & a blogpost from a truck driver advocate)

It is unfortunate that the regulated industry has such power over how they are regulated. Their decisions and actions are apparently informed by a strong inclination to protect the bottomline rather than by the conscience of individuals within that industry. How frustrating that they do not truly take into account the “honest bottomline” for, if they did, they would know that it would be to their ultimate advantage to make full use of every safety technology available to them.

Here is a FAQ document with answers to frequently asked questions about the STOP Underrides! Bill: FAQ STOP Underrides Bill. I hope that it helps to get us all on the same page and moving more quickly toward effective collaboration to end truck underride tragedies with Win/Win solutions.

After all, this is not about getting the truck industry to get in line — or else. To quote Rose in The Last Jedi: That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.

Road to Zero Coalition Members Can Sign On Here to the Truck Underride Priority Statement!

A compelling look at Death By Underride from Cool Breeze Studio

AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

Lois Durso & I were privileged to meet with Michael Hawkins (Cool Breeze Studio) last week at his studio in South Carolina to begin work on some underride video productions. Mike just finished this short look at Death By Underride.

In memory of Roya, AnnaLeah & Mary and the countless other victims of underride

With the hope that countless other people will be spared a similar fate

Sign the STOP Underrides! Petition here: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!

STOP Underrides Brochure 2018 3