Category Archives: Truck Safety

Tribute to Clarence Ditlow. . . long-time car safety advocate to whom we owe our gratitude

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,

Fair Warning has provided us with yet another tribute to Clarence Ditlow. . . long-time car safety advocate to whom we owe our gratitude.

The Loss of a Consumer Champion, November 15, 2016

I had very little contact with Clarence. But I did have some correspondence with him this year as I was preparing for the Underride Roundtable and also for the Consensus Document which came out of that.  He shared that he was unable to take on that battle due to some major health issues which he was dealing with at that time.

I received this email from Clarence in June:

We are cleaning  up old NHTSA  rulemaking dockets for which we have paper files. At some point in time after 1995, regs.gov became the official repository for federal agency rulemaking dockets including NHTSA’s.   We are taking a sample of regs.gov dockets each year from 1996 going forward until we are sure we have the point in time at which regs.gov became 100% reliable & we can throw away our paper files from that point.

We stumbled across this docket in our sample & sent it to you & Ben as a courtesy to people with a greater interest in and ability to pursue truck underride than the Center.

I have the belief that if I come across something that may be of interest to others, I send it to them.

Clarence

I replied:

Thank you for carrying out your belief.

Marianne

Thank you, Clarence. For everything.

Thank you

If amber signals are noticed before red ones & could prevent more crashes, why aren’t they standard?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,

A trucker friend posted on facebook that he is trying to figure out ways to increase the visibility on his truck’s turn signals. He mentioned that studies show that people see the amber lights before the red ones.

So he and his wife (a trucker team) are having the shop install custom Amber strobes hooked into the turn signals. Thank you, Jeff and Linda, for going way beyond compliance to make the roads safer!

https://www.facebook.com/jeff.halling/posts/1076123542508557

How many are doing this? Would it help? If so, why isn’t it standard? Because this simple safety measure, if mandated, could SAVE LIVES.

Read the commentaries below on this issue and then tell me why you think Vision Zero Rulemaking and a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman are not really important to make sure that things like this get addressed in a timely fashion and thus ensure that SAFETY is really the priority!

There has been support for amber signals in America since the 1960s; indeed, in 1963, amber frontturn signals were adopted, replacing white signals, because amber is quickly discerned from the white headlights and reflections of sunlight off chrome. But automakers rejected amber rear signals as “not cost effective.” Preventing crashes with amber turn signals

Imagine that!

Studies show that amber turn signals reduce accidents, yet most signal lamps on the rear ends of North American automobiles, trucks and trailers are red. Why? Because amber’s not legally required, and it’s simpler and cheaper to use red for all rear-facing lamps.

Stern, the automotive writer, is perplexed that NHTSA doesn’t require amber rear turn signals. Amber Rear Turn Signals Are Safer Than Red, But Few Use Them

Both And

Hopeful news despite post-election blues: Working together to make a difference despite differences

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety

The day after the election, I participated in a conference call to plan the Second Underride Roundtable. You see the election results have not stopped a group of people who care about making trucks safer. We are moving forward to again bring together another diverse set of people and organizations in a politics-free attempt to provide better underride protection on trucks.

Of course, that does not mean that we are all on the exact same page with precisely the same goals. But the fact remains that we will be gathering together around the table to discuss real problems and tangible solutions.

And then the day after that, I had the privilege of joining my daughter, Rebekah Chojnacki, via webcam as we presented our family’s crash story and safety advocacy efforts to an undergraduate class at the University of Texas in Arlington. They are learning about what public health is and, on Thursday, they were introduced to a real-life public health problem — truck underride injuries and horrific deaths — and a public health strategy to prevent such tragedies. And along with that, we talked about the public health problem of driver fatigue as well as the stressful life of a truck driver.

I don’t know if this group of students will catch the vision of becoming a pilot project Vision Zero/Traffic Safety community action/advocacy group which could serve as a model for students and citizens nationwide becoming active together in a positive way to make a difference and work to move us toward zero crash deaths and serious injuries.

And I don’t know if UTA will become my host facility to help me organize a Tired Trucker Roundtable. But they might be. Or this might be the inspiration for some other city or university or student or citizen group to take on these goals.

But I do know that my daughter told me that many of them were crying because our story touched them in a deep way. And I do know that many of them asked very relevant and appropriate questions. They got it and after only a simple half-hour presentation.

And if only our country will learn to work with one another — not simply waiting around for someone else to solve the problems — we could make a significant impact.

Here is what I shared with that class: presentation-to-uta-public-health-class

Roads Safer

Well, that felt good to tell about those hopeful things. It became a positive channel of the anger and frustration which I have been feeling increasingly of late toward those who did not take responsibility in a way that could have prevented my daughters’ deaths and, even more, who continue to point the finger of blame at someone else or simply shrug off their part in this quest to prevent ever more unnecessary tragedies.

How To Maneuver Around A Truck Safely; Tips from prof’l truck drivers via FMCSA

Truck Safety

Check out these tips for how to maneuver around a truck safely:

How to Maneuver Around a Truck Safely

10.52 a.m. Crown Vic May 4 2013

New rear underride guard is std. at one trailer manufacturer; 4 manufacturers have passed IIHS test

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety

Four trailer manufacturers have passed the IIHS offset crash test with their new rear underride guard designs. Here is a recent article about one of those manufacturers who has made it standard on their newly-manufactured trailers:

Stoughton engineers were challenged to design a guard based on the recommendations of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The challenge was met without adding weight, without negatively affecting aerodynamics, and without reducing the robustness of the undercarriage and rear structure. Better yet, the guard is one of only three on the market to pass the difficult 30-degree offset crash test.

Read more here: New under-ride guard is standard

Roads Safer

Read more here:

Lifelong Republican questions party support of industry profit vs bipartisan solutions to save lives

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,

As a lifelong Republican and mom of two who were the innocent victims of Vehicle Safety Wars, I have observed the “Republican” support of Industry Profit rather than Preservation of Human Life.

Republicans generally oppose government involvement and regulation. The problem I have with that is the reality which I have painfully discovered that “safety is not an accident” — it doesn’t just happen by itself. Without rules and regulations and enforcement and justice and requirements, chaos and injury and death are more likely to occur.

I have previously written posts on this topic. . .

Face-to-face with our congressman, George Holding, to discuss truck safety concerns :

I shared with Congressman Holding that I had grown up as a Republican and was quite surprised after our crash to find out that, in general, the Republican party line related to truck safety legislation consistently appeared to be pro-trucking industry and anti-safety. I am puzzled why there cannot be bipartisan solutions to these issues.

https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/truck-safety-needs-bipartisan-support-protecting-its-citizens-is-one-of-the-basic-purposes-of-government/ [I would have to say that I prefer smaller government. But I do think that protecting its citizens is one of the basic purposes of government. “Truck safety” is, for the most part, about protecting travelers on the road. It is a public health problem and should get bipartisan support. http://www.laissez-fairerepublic.com/benson.htm]

His response — a typical one — was that Republicans generally oppose government involvement and regulation. The problem I have with that is the reality which I have painfully discovered that “safety is not an accident” — it doesn’t just happen by itself. Without rules and regulations and enforcement and justice and requirements, chaos and injury and death are more likely to occur.

At least I have not seen a better alternative. Have you? . . 

Delivery of a Vision Zero Petition to Washington; What I have learned in our battle for safer roads:

Due to the complexity of the issue, no one is currently held accountable, responsible, or liable for preventing these deaths which occur upon collision of a passenger vehicle with a larger commercial motor vehicle. Remember, we are not talking here about who was to blame for the collision occurring in the first place.

Can we possibly find our way to work together in our great nation through the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of our government–in a cooperative, concerted effort with private industry, research engineers, safety advocates, and the insurance industry– to bring about the best possible protection for We the People?

Can we agree to share the costs of what the solution will require so that the burden of the problem is shifted from the victims, who experience life needlessly cut short or devastatingly changed by horrific injuries, and their families who are faced with unexpected, traumatic, too-often-bitter, and unending grief?

Right this minute, I must admit, I am discouraged right along with the many others who have tried to bring about change for decades. Nonetheless, I choose to remain hopeful that this is not insurmountable and that we are well on our way to victory as we continue to shed light on traffic safety problems and call for truth, justice, and mercy to prevail. . .

1a85etUnsafe Trucks

How I came to be a presenter on underride research at the TRB 1st Int’l Roadside Safety Conference

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety

How is it that I came to be a presenter at the Transportation Research Board’s First International Roadside Safety Conference, June 12-15, 2017, in San Francisco?

  1. Well, of course, first off I was in a horrific truck underride crash that took the lives of my two daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13) on May 4, 2013.
  2. IMG_4465Car Safety Wars
  3. Then, I learned that underride guards are terribly ineffective and all sorts of other unbelievable information about the state of safety on our roads.
  4. I also came in contact with many other people who are trying like me to improve underride protection in order to prevent other people from dying like my girls did.
  5. Then, my family and I gathered thousands of petition signatures calling for improvement and worked with other organizations to plan an Underride Roundtable on May 5, 2016, at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
  6. So, then, in June 2016, after preparing an Underride Consensus document to present to DOT, I serendipitously found out about an upcoming roadside safety conference.
  7. I was copied (by mistake) on an email sent to some PhD students, reminding them of a deadline to submit an abstract to be considered for possible presentation at this conference.
  8. So, after checking with the email sender to see if underride was appropriate for this conference, I prepared an abstract and submitted it on June 28, 2016.
  9. I then got busy doing many other things including preparing a Comprehensive Underride Consensus Petition and forgot about the conference.
  10. Lo, and behold, I received another email on September 2, 2016,                                   Dear Marianne, Congratulations!The Planning Group for TRB’s First International Roadside Safety Conference appreciates your submission of the abstract entitled Promising Research for Improved Heavy Vehicle Underride Prevention Structures and Data to Demonstrate Boundaries of Occupant Survivability in Collisions Between Large Trucks and Passenger Vehicles. We are pleased to inform you that we have selected your abstract for Presentation and Publication.

     In order to proceed with the conference planning in a timely manner, the planning group asks that you upload your files no later than November 1, 2016.

  11. Well, I was amazed and not sure whether it made sense to proceed. It is not exactly the target audience to whom I would have imagined making a presentation. But if their focus is roadside safety, then I will take the opportunity to raise awareness about the underride problem and solutions.
  12. So, on November 1, 2016, I uploaded my revised abstract and underride research presentation paper.
  13. May the Lord bless this endeavor and work mightily to improve underride protection internationally.
  14. If He wills, San Francisco, here I come
  15. Best ProtectionRoads Safer

Good news: Electronic Logging Devices Mandate Has Survived Court Challenge; Required by 12/2017

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Good news! One of our original AnnaLeah & Mary Stand Up For Truck Safety Petition requests has been upheld in court to be required by December 2017. Electronic Logging Devices to monitor truck driver hours on the road instead of paper log books:

ELD mandate survives court challenge

Now, I hope that the Hours of Service rules will be finalized with truck driver input as to the best way of structuring them. And I hope that there will continue to be work done to eliminate the reasons that paper log books didn’t work to begin with. Because this important technology will not solve everything.

https://annaleahmary.com/2014/05/paper-log-books/

https://annaleahmary.com/tag/truck-driver-compensation/

Tired Trucker Roundtable

 

Pres. Obama, sign this Exec. Order–while you still can–to protect people from violent vehicle deaths!

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

Dear President Obama,

A Canadian mom came to visit me at my home in North Carolina last weekend. We connected quickly on many levels because we have both lost daughters in truck underride tragedies. Tragedies which could have been prevented if Vision Zero Rulemaking had been in place before their deaths to pave the way for life-saving measures to be mandated. . .

You cannot bring Jessica, Mary, and AnnaLeah back to us. But you can prevent other families from suffering similar heart-wrenching, horrific, and unnecessary grief. You can do this by taking action on the Vision Zero strategy which we spelled out for you at great length. In fact, over 20,000 people have joined with us to ask for Vision Zero action:

  1. Set a National Vision Zero Goal.
  2. Establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force.
  3. Sign a Vision Zero Executive Order to authorize Vision Zero Rulemaking by DOT. Unless this is done, people will continue to die needlessly because technologically-feasible life-saving measures will be blocked or delayed because the current rulemaking process will deem them unworthy (too costly) to save!
  4. Establish a National Office of Traffic Safety Ombudsman to oversee this strategy as an independent and influential voice for vulnerable victims of vehicle violence.

My meeting with Jeannette Holman-Price on Saturday reminded me of what I have already painfully learned about one specific but simple example of the impact of the GM Nod where no one takes responsibility for doing anything about this tragic loss of life.

  1. Truck underride is the deadly result of a geometric mis-match between a smaller passenger vehicle and a larger commercial vehicle (truck).
  2. There are effective solutions to prevent this problem but the industry does not use them because the government does not require them and the government will not require them until there are proven products available to the industry to use but the industry does not put the money out to research, design, and manufacture these products [which engineers have shown will work] [and why should they if they are not legally required to do so?] and the people like Jeannette & I (who have lost loved ones) and Aaron Kiefer and Perry Ponder and Bruce Enz (engineers who have invented solutions) do not readily have the money to get these life-saving products on the market.
  3. As one person said in a conference call which Jeannette and I recently joined in to discuss underride solutions, many of the Single Unit Trucks — which are currently exempt from federal underride standards — actually have a “guard-looking thing” hanging down from the back of their truck. So it is perfectly logical to assume that they could easily have a genuine, more-effective underride guard installed instead. And why don’t they? Because they are not required to! As another person on that phone call said, “It is lazy and criminal!”

President Obama, I do not want more heartfelt condolences from you. I want you to do what no one else can: Sign the Vision Zero Executive Order and appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman!

Be my hero.

Respectfully and boldly and desperately,

Marianne Karth

p.s. Unfortunately, unless you act, the needless sabotage and/or delay of countless life-saving measures will continue to go on and on — as it has for so many years — and more innocent blood will be spilled on our roads. Who will be held accountable? And who will pay the price?

do-it-president-obama

 

Cross-Border Collaboration: A Canadian Mom & A U.S. Mom Meet Up To Talk Traffic/Truck Safety

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

I am looking forward to meeting another mom-who-knows-the-grief-of-truck-underride. Jeannette Holman-Price has been traveling this week in the U.S. to advocate for safer trucks. Our home in North Carolina is her last stop and tomorrow is the day.

We are anticipating non-stop talking and expect that we can accomplish some powerful planning to multiply our advocacy efforts through cross-border collaboration in the days ahead. Watch out, world! We’re on the “warpath” to defeat preventable vehicle violence.

photo-collage-3-photosimage