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
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.
About the White House We the Peoplepetition 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.
Be inspired to exercise your right as a citizen to petition the government. Listen to these kids sing their hearts out:
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 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:
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
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.
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.
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:
“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.”
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.
“Legislation pending in the [Pennsylvania] state Senate would allow cameras to photograph the license plates of drivers who speed through highway construction zones.”
So what does a person do with the anger and frustration which inevitably surface in the aftermath of a truck/car crash fatality (or case of serious life-altering injuries)?
That’s what I would like to know because I have experienced it and have observed others — in similar situations — dealing with it as well. And it is not your normal grief (if anything can be called that). Because, in addition to the loss one has experienced, one also often discovers that perhaps the loss was unnecessary — but nothing (or too little or too late) was done to prevent it. Imagine your reaction to that situation.
Then too often one might discover that, not only was nothing done in the past that could have prevented one’s loss, but, on top of that, there continues to be nothing tangible done to prevent future crash fatalities and serious injuries. What then? How would you deal with the feelings upon that realization?!
Indeed, despite decades of safety advocacy efforts to draw attention to the problem of traffic crash fatalities, too little too late is being done to move us toward zero crash deaths and serious injuries.
When I saw a Tweet the other day quoting Senator Chris Murphy as saying that survivors of the Orlando mass shooting experienced a “second layer of grief” “when they realize that those who expressed sympathy won’t take action,” I could relate to it.
And besides which, it turns into not just a matter of struggling with trying to forgive but an intense conviction that there is a good chance that wrongdoing was involved. Wrongdoing for which there is apparently no genuine accountability or liability. Because if there were, then wouldn’t we see change?
Just yesterday, I read a facebook post by a man who had lost his wife in a truck crash and whose son became permanently disabled from that same crash. Most days, the dad is upbeat and handling the hardship of his new life with grace. But at that moment, it seemed like he was experiencing the straw that broke the camel’s back. He confessed that, at that moment, he was feeling anger towards and hatred for the truck driver responsible for the crash.
The truth is that, probably in most truck crashes (and other traffic-related crashes), there usually are multiple factors which have led to the initial collision as well as the final outcome. And the sad fact is that, too often, the tragedy could have been avoided.
Are we doing enough, as a nation, to work on solutions to those things which could be prevented? I don’t think so and I have been calling for our leaders to adopt a National Vision Zero Goal, to set up a National Vision Zero Task Force, to adopt Vision Zero rulemaking policies, and to appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman.
The opposition to the requirement and manufacture of the safest possible underride protection on trucks is an example of something which could have been taken care of a long time ago but instead is a problem for which there has not been a truly effective solution–in fact it seems to have been deliberately opposed or at least not made a priority to get to the bottom of and resolve.
A few days ago, I went on a walk in the woods and shared my thoughts spontaneously on this matter:
Do these situations make it harder to arrive at the forgiveness discussed by one writer? Forgiveness is one thing. But when there is no tangible change, and my button is repeatedly pushed, then, of course, frustration and therefore anger wells up over and over again. And that certainly is not healthy–not for the victim’s family and not for those whose actions contributed to the deaths.
Now I am struggling with this question for myself: Can my anger at the injustice of criminal negligence (as well as the continued inadequate resolution of countless Traffic Safety Issues) ever be fully resolved if the negligence is not acknowledged, punished, or made right?
How am I supposed to stop being angry as long the problems which caused the deaths of AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13) — and shattered our family — continue on?
Is there anyone really watching over the big picture of safe driving–the complex combination of driver knowledge/behavior and vehicle technology? Here is some food for thought from Care for Crash Victims’ Lou Lombardo:
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Nader’s work has resulted in the saving of an estimated 3.5 million lives over the past 50 years.
I have a friend whose family was shattered by a car/train crash many years ago. After the crash, the municipality took care of the dangerous crossing. Just today, another family was shattered in another state by a car/train crash at a crossing where there have been 6 “accidents” in the last 30 years. They have talked about making this crossing safer for $230,000. But they have not yet done so.
A National Vision Zero Goal facilitated by a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman just might hasten America along and save countless lives — which will be inevitably lost if we refuse to take a united, intentional, aggressive, not-willing-to-dawdle approach to reducing preventable crash deaths!
