Category Archives: Truck Safety

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

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

 

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

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?

“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 & sharehttp://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:

The anger and frustration in the aftermath of a truck crash are not easily resolved.

UPDATE August 2, 2016. PLEASE sign & share the Petition to President Obama to appoint an advocate — a Traffic Safety Ombudsman — to fight for safer roads:   http://www.thepetitionsite.com/384/321/600/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-appoint-a-national-traffic-safety-ombudsman/

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.

Our Crash Was Not An Accident

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.

SIGN THE PETITIONhttp://www.thepetitionsite.com/384/321/600/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-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.

Trucker in Massive Rig Destroys Two Families in His Sleep

Mom Takes on Truckers After Highway Wreck Kills Daughters

I wrote about what it was like to face the truck driver whose actions led to our daughters’ deaths: The Court Hearing; Update On Our Trip To Georgia

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?

Meanwhile, I keep pressing on seeking to make the roads safer — as in our pursuit of better underride guards and my hopes of organizing a Tired Trucker Roundtable.

John Ball Zoo
How am I supposed to stop being angry as long as the problems which caused the deaths of AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13) — and shattered our family — continue on?

Tips for Safer Drive Home Around Big Rigs by Andy Young

Get some useful tips for driving safely around large trucks on the road from Andy Young, CDL holder and truck crash attorney, who was moderator of the panel discussion at the Underride Roundtable and facilitated discussion at our follow-up meeting on June 24:

Andy Young and Marianne KarthUnderride meeting 6.24 006

International Call for Underride Research Re: Injury Prevention & Energy Absorption Issues

A year ago, I put together a request for underride design proposals.

As a result of that, I came in contact with some awesome underride prevention researchers from around the globe, including:

  • Aaron Kiefer:
  1. Innovative combined side & rear guard promises better underride protection
  2. Imagine a truck UNDERRIDE GUARD which provides REAR & SIDE protection.
  3. Witnessed safety defect in action at underride crash tests; this is what snuffed out my daughters’ lives.
  4. Just got home from the latest side guard crash test. Watch it here!
  • the Virginia Tech Senior Underride Design Team and their advisors, Jared Bryson and Robin Ott:
  1. Virginia Tech Senior Design Project is Addressing the Need for Stronger Underride Guards; Mid-Semester Progress Report
  2. Senior Underride Design Project Mid-Year Report Presented by Virginia Tech Students
  3. Virginia Tech Senior Underride Design Team Spring Midterm Report
  4. Hurrah! VA Tech Sr. Dream Team has attached their underride guard to a trailer!
  5. VA Tech Student Engineers Shine in Underride Roundtable Presentation

This year, I am putting together another request for underride design proposals. This time, I would like to be a little bit more specific and put out a call for research and data to put to rest, once and for all, the controversy over underride guard rigidity/strength and the potential for unintended injuries from too rigid guards. I would like to see it result in data which could lead to design of the best possible underride protection and practical solutions for underride guards to incorporate energy absorption components where appropriate.

Beyond that, because the crashworthiness of passenger vehicles could change over time, I would hope that the information compiled from past research and/or new research completed in the coming year would provide practical means for updating underride prevention technology in the future.

I hope to submit an abstract by June 30, 2016 to be considered for the presentation of compiled research and data on these issues at the First International Roadside Safety Conference in San Francisco in June 2017, as well as at future Underride Roundtables and made available to the engineering and trailer manufacturing community.

If only

instead of like this:

IMG_4465

Note: At the Knights of the Underride Roundtable on June 24, 2016, we briefly discussed the decades-old controversy of “too rigid guards” causing unintended injuries, deceleration forces, need for energy absorption, etc.

Yesterday, I recorded my thoughts about this confusing issue. I hope some will take the time to listen. In any case, expressing it was helpful to me as a survivor of an underride crash which killed my two daughters:

AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety underride research goals

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 will say this in the subject line:  “Almost done! Verify your Petitions.WhiteHouse.gov account.” Follow the instructions to verify your signature.

Knights of the Underride Roundtable: Finding Some Common Ground to Protect Travelers!

On June 24, 2016, people from diverse backgrounds met around a table at the IIHS offices in Arlington, Virginia, to continue the good work begun at the Underride Roundtable on May 5, 2016. This time, we rolled up our sleeves and hammered out a written recommendation for better rear underride guard requirements for tractor-trailers. To save lives.

First of all, we heard a presentation from Raphael Grzebieta on the approach which Australia is taking to improve rear underride protection in their country.

The basic idea is that they are not concerning themselves with spelling out detailed design specifications (e.g., what loads a guard needs to be able to withstand) but simply outline the performance evaluation criteria of: prevention of underride with the result of a survivable crash (with no injury criteria but instead relying on the crashworthiness of the passenger vehicle). While we might not yet be ready for that radical of an approach, we were given some food for thought.

(If anyone else had a different perception or would like to clarify my simplified explanation, please let me know and I can edit this description.)

Then, we had some useful discussion about the goals for improving underride protection, as well as some of the challenges which trailer manufacturers face. We benefited from some heated discussion which helped us to clarify terms and priorities. (See the bottom of the post for the Meeting Binder which I handed out for discussion purposes.)

After a break for lunch, we got down to work and spent some time brainstorming. As suggestions were tossed out for discussion, Andy Young typed up the suggestions , which were projected onto a screen for us to analyze and refine. Andy worked us hard and enabled us to reach a consensus and common ground upon which we could all agree.

What we came away with was a very good draft of recommendations for updated rear underride guard regulations for tractor-trailers. We also decided upon a tangible process for moving forward:

  1. David Zuby will send the list of recommendations to me.
  2. I will mail them out to the meeting participants.
  3. They will make suggestions for revision, if appropriate.
  4. We will come to a consensus for the creation of a final document to which we are all willing to sign our names.
  5. Then I will distribute that document to the entire list of participants of the original May 5 Underride Roundtable — giving them the opportunity to review it and decide if they want to sign it as well.
  6. We will then send the document to NHTSA via the Federal Register as a Public Comment on the Underride Rulemaking from the Coalition of Stakeholders Interested in Underride Prevention (CSIUP). [Tentative title for our group for lack of a better name to which we can refer]

We agreed to wait for future meetings to address other topics of importance* in the drive for underride prevention. These include such vital things as protection at higher speeds than 35 mph, Single Unit Trucks (which currently have inadequate or non-existent underride protection), side guards, front override, parking and conspicuity issues, and retrofitting.

Good work, team! Knights of the Roundtable! Just maybe, we will finally get our Dragon Underride Protector! To make Mary & AnnaLeah proud!

*Additionally, we briefly discussed the decades-old controversy of “too rigid guards” causing unintended injuries, deceleration forces, need for energy absorption, etc. See my thoughts on that: Urgent Underride Discussion of Deceleration Forces/High Speeds. Don’t Dawdle.

And today, I recorded my thoughts about this confusing issue. I hope some will take the time to listen. In any case, expressing it was helpful to me:

Underride Roundtable Follow-up Work Group (all 94 Roundtable participants from May 5 were invited):

  1. David Zuby (Chief Research Officer, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
  2. John Lannen (Director, Truck Safety Coalition)
  3. Gary Fenton (VP of Engineering, Stoughton Trailers — read that Sto like go)
  4. Ted Scott (Director of Engineering, American Trucking Associations)
  5. Aaron Kiefer (Consulting Engineer, Accident Research Specialists)
  6. Paul Hutson (ECU engineering student and intern with Aaron)
  7. Jared Bryson (Virginia Tech, Center for Technology Development, SR Mechanical Systems Group Leader)
  8. Perry Ponder (President, Seven Hills Engineering)
  9. Raphael Grzebieta (Professor of Road Safety & Australian Naturalistic Driver Study, Lead Chief Investigator)
  10. Jerry Karth
  11. Isaac Karth
  12. Marianne Karth

Underride meeting 6.24 001 Underride meeting 6.24 004 Underride meeting 6.24 006 Underride meeting 6.24 008 Underride meeting 6.24 003If onlysusanna mary annaleah in costumeDragon Underride Protector 004

International Call for Underride Research Re: Injury Prevention & Energy Absorption Issues

Contents of the Meeting Binder which I handed out for discussion purposes:

  1. Five Points Concerning Prevention of Truck Underride
  2. Proposal for an Energy Absorbing Underrun Protection System for Commercial Vehicles by Detlef Alwes
  3. UMTRI-89-2, Final Report: Examination of Features Proposed for Improving Truck Safety, May 1989 The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Aaron Adiv and Robert D. Ervin:  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/817/78350.0001.001.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Reveals how and why earlier underride rulemaking was opposed despite evidence to show that it was expected to be effective.
  4. Article by Andy Young, panel moderator at the Underride Roundtable: Broken Glass And Shattered Lives – A Mother’s Journey Through Grief Brings Hope For Preventing Underride Truck Crashes
  5. Preliminary_Regulatory_Evaluation_-_Re_NPRM_published_Dec_16_2015 (1)
  6. Highlights of the NPRM Rear Impact Guards, Rear Impact Protection December 2015 document
  7. Truck Underride Fatalities, 1994-2014
  8. Other documents and links provided to meeting participants:
    1. March Historically a Momentous Month for Truck Underride Safety Advocacy; Beware the Ides of March!
    2. Informative articles on underride:
    3. Voluntary Efforts:
    4. Underride Research:
    5. Underride Rulemaking:
      1. NHTSA Has Initiated a Rulemaking Process to Evaluate Options for Improving Underride Guards
      2. Good news from Australia: A Stronger Rear Underride Guard Rule Has Been Proposed!
      3. A Mom’s Knee-Jerk Reaction to NHTSA’s Proposed Rule to Improve Rear Underride Protection The basic problem is that the proposed rule is simply adopting the Canadian rule which 93% of existing trailers already comply with and does not address offset crashes. So it is not much of an improvement, plus it does not address side or front and SUTs. Or retrofitting.
      4. Comments on the NPRM for Rear Underride Guards on Trailers by Jerry Karth
      5. Truck Trailer Manufacturers Ass’n “Reminds” NHTSA: Side Guards Are “Not Cost-Effective” Says Who?
      6. NPRM Upgrade Rear Underide–Federal Register with Public Comments links
      7. ANPRM Underride Protection of Single Unit Trucks

Visual Rulemaking Law Review Article and Deadly Underride Discussion June 24 at IIHS

Pray for an important meeting on Friday at IIHS in Arlington, VA. We will be discussing details for underride regulations and hearing a presentation from an Australian on their proposed underride rule.

Also, here is a draft of the “Visualizing Rulemaking” law review article (to be published in the fall). See pp. 43-44 and 65 for reference to AnnaLeah & Mary and our safety advocacy efforts.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2799334

Minolta DSCMinolta DSCIf only

“Critics Say Underride Fix Will Do Little to Curb Deadly Hazard” As controversy continues, so do deaths.

FairWarning.org’s reporter, Paul Feldman, reports on the deadly underride problem and the controversy over how to solve it:

Critics Say Underride Fix Will Do Little to Curb Deadly Hazard by Paul Feldman, June 23, 2016

Meanwhile, as the discussion continues, people all over the world die every day because their vehicle is not prevented from riding under a truck. Just like AnnaLeah. Just like Mary.

If onlyNegotiated Rulemaking

There will be a meeting on June 24, at IIHS in Arlington, VA, with some of the participants from the Underride Roundtable, attempting to hammer out a better solution.

 

 

 

“Anton Yelchin’s Death Highlights a Known Issue With Jeeps”. . . NY Times & Care for Crash Victims

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

An excellent article in the NY Times reports:

“The death of the actor Anton Yelchin, killed when his Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled backward down a driveway and crushed him against a mailbox pillar last weekend, has cast a public spotlight on a problem with some models of Jeeps and other Fiat Chrysler vehicles.

But for the company, there is nothing new about the issue — which federal regulators first flagged last August.

The question is why, nearly a year later, Fiat Chrysler has still not come up with a fix for the problem, which has now been linked to hundreds of accidents, dozens of injuries and now — potentially — a well-publicized death.

The company, which issued a recall notice on more than one million affected vehicles in April, will say only it is still working on a solution, there was no decision about a recall until this year and there has been no delay. It has written to federal regulators that the remedy will include a software change and “an additional mechanism to mitigate the effect of operator error.”

That solution is expected no later than July or August, a Fiat Chrysler spokesman, Eric Mayne, said on Tuesday in an email.

And yet, as far back as March, Fiat Chrysler was telling federal investigators that it already had “potential solutions.”

The problem involves an electronic gearshift, whose operation is similar to that of a video-game joystick. It has confused many drivers, who thought they had left their cars in park, only to find they were in neutral, and started rolling away after the drivers stepped out.

Rollaway accidents are particularly dangerous, and the investigation and recall are taking too long, Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a consumer advocacy group, said on Tuesday.

“There was no sense of urgency on Chrysler’s part or N.H.T.S.A.’s part given the potential for death or injury,” he said in an interview, referring to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”  See http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/22/business/anton-yelchins-death-highlights-a-known-issue-with-jeeps.html

The cozy connections of NHTSA and Fiat Chrysler continue to raise questions about the effectiveness of NHTSA in protecting people.  See

http://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/2015-03-05JamesButlertoSarahSorgatNHTSAOfficeofCounselredepoofStrickland.pdf


http://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-casjeepjudgement.php

Lou

 

President Obama

What would I do if I were the National Traffic Safety Ombudsman?