With amazing technology advances, why are we slow as a snail to solve traffic safety problems?
Could someone please explain to me why it is that we can invent amazing technology to allow “face time” — among countless other inventions which are unfolding at an unbelievable pace — but we are slow as a snail to solve safety problems.
Why are we not devoting top priority resources (time, money, and the creativity of the human mind — enhanced by the availability of information and technology) to reducing the 33,000 on average annual traffic crash fatalities in the U.S. and 1.24 million crash deaths on the world’s roads in 2010? http://www.who.int/gho/road_safety/mortality/en/
And why is it that getting safety measures passed — whether it be at the legislative level (in getting laws passed) or the administrative level (in getting regulations issued) is a continual battle?
Let me tell you what I think might be some of the reasons:
- The prevailing attitude is that most crash fatalities are inevitable rather than preventable. Not true. In fact, there were many factors in our crash which could have turned out differently were more attention given to safety matters. https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/our-crash-was-not-an-accident/ & http://www.care2.com/causes/one-familys-quest-to-improve-truck-safety.html
- The concept of “second collision” is poorly understood. The fact is that the first collision (the actual crash) is not necessarily what causes death in every case. https://annaleahmary.com/2015/07/the-second-collision-does-not-have-to-be-so-prevalent-we-can-do-better-at-preventing-death-horrific-injuries/ & https://annaleahmary.com/2015/09/vision-zero-avoiding-collisions-and-second-collisions/
- The industry lobby opposing safety measures has a deep pocket. Need I say more? Well, I will. In less than 3 years since our crash, I have spent countless hours as a volunteer safety advocate (motivated by my daughters’ needless deaths) sending emails and making phone calls and meeting in person with legislators to inform them and attempt to persuade them to support safety measures. All too often, I am back at it again in another six months or so to fight the same battle all over again. https://dawnkinster.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/reflections-on-truck-safety/ & https://dawnkinster.wordpress.com/2014/04/05/for-annaleah-and-mary/
- The rulemaking process is cumbersome (though I am all for making sure that safety measures are indeed safe) and unnecessarily weighed down by the constraints of the cost/benefit analysis restrictions which inevitably lead to watered-down rules which are weak and ineffective. And enforcement has too often been ineffective: https://annaleahmary.com/2015/07/lets-move-from-a-failure-of-compassion-tactics-of-conceal-%c2%ad%e2%80%90delay-%c2%ad%e2%80%90deny-while-fiery-crashes-occur-to-a-vision-of-zero-fatalities/
- Industry is more often than not reluctant to move ahead with safety measures voluntarily — either because they don’t want to have to re-do it when government regulations finally come out or because cost is a factor (enough said). This, of course, does not mean that all companies do nothing on their own to improve safety.
- Usually, a fragmented approach to solving the problem is taken when we could get more done faster if we worked together. https://annaleahmary.com/2015/09/face-it-fragmented-approaches-to-transportation-safety-dont-work-public-health-needs-to-be-included/
- Accountability, responsibility, and liability are dirty words. Taboo. https://annaleahmary.com/2015/09/opponents-of-white-collar-criminal-prosecutions-argue-that-corporate-managers-should-not-be-charged-criminally-for-regulatory-violations/ And human life is measured in terms of dollars and all-too-often not considered worth the cost necessary to protect. https://annaleahmary.com/tag/value-of-life/
- There is not a long line of people eager to help pay for safety research and crash testing: https://annaleahmary.com/2016/01/who-will-pay-for-research-crash-testing-of-underride-guards/
What is the result of all this? People are dying when they could be still living. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LGcWc4m9VA
Too many lives are sacrificed. And for what? “So, what cost-benefit analyses really means, is that when no action is taken to improve the design of heavy vehicles, people’s lives are being traded for reduced transport costs.” George Rechnitzer, https://annaleahmary.com/2015/06/crocodile-tears-costbenefit-analysis-vision-zero-goal-of-no-crash-fatalities/
Now, back to my original question, why is it that we can invent amazing technology to allow “face time” — among countless other inventions which are unfolding at an unbelievable pace — but we are slow as a snail to solve safety problems?
My grandpa was a rural mailman and used a sleigh and horses to deliver mail in the snow. My dad grew up with a wood-burning stove and an icebox for refrigeration. I grew up with the introduction of color television, seat belts, and not until I started raising children did I use things like VCRs or modem dial-up internet access. I went to Europe for a summer in college and had no cell phone to keep in contact with my parents back in the U.S.
Aren’t you glad that we have indoor plumbing? https://annaleahmary.com/2015/06/the-future-of-trucking-who-pays-for-the-costs-of-safer-roads/
How far we have come technologically and how rapidly advances occur. Yet, it takes a Jayne Mansfield (http://mentalfloss.com/article/28155/how-jayne-mansfield-changed-design-tractor-trailers & http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1082934_iihs-todays-mansfield-bars-dont-work-so-well-video) or a Dale Earnhardt to die (http://espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=hinton_ed&id=6116145 & http://sports.usatoday.com/2015/04/30/dean-sicking-safer-barriers-nascar-indycar/) or a Tracy Morgan to get severely injured for us to wake up and decide to do something about safety. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-11/ntsb-says-wal-mart-driver-awake-for-28-hours-before-morgan-crash
https://annaleahmary.com/2015/03/too-often-too-little-too-late-a-conspiracy-of-silence/
Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for the safety advances made after those famous crashes. But I am appalled that we can’t seem to get it until such tragedies cause us to sit up and take notice. Meanwhile, countless unnoticed-by-the-public tragedies happen daily on roads across the globe. Year after year.
Good grief! Even my grandkids, who have not yet lived a decade, get that something could have been done to prevent their Aunt Mary (13) and Aunt AnnaLeah (17) from dying. https://annaleahmary.com/2015/11/our-grandma-wants-to-make-the-roads-safer-remembering-2-girls-in-the-aftermath-of-a-truck-crash/
That is why I am devoting myself to raising awareness and calling for change. Come on people, let’s set a National Vision Zero Goal and use our vast resources and brilliant minds to slay this giant. Let’s not keep on putting our heads in the sand, putting bandaids on the problems, and losing these battles at the price of our loved ones. We can do it!
My family and I are making plans to head back to Washington, DC, very soon to take our Vision Zero petitions. We will be meeting with DOT officials to discuss these matters and hopefully lay the foundation for Obama to write a Vision Zero Executive Order. https://annaleahmary.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Vision-Zero-Executive-Order-Petition-Letter-to-President-Obama1.pdf & https://annaleahmary.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Executive-Order-Draft-Application-of-Vision-Zero-Principles-to-Highway-Safety-Regulatory-Review.pdf
Stand up with us and make this happen. Sign & share our 2 Vision Zero petitions:
- Petition on ThePetitionSite calling for Secretary Foxx to adopt a DOT Vision Zero rulemaking policy — http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/
- Petition on Change.org calling for Obama to sign a Vision Zero Executive Order– https://www.change.org/p/obama-adopt-a-vision-zero-goal-and-sign-an-executive-order-to-save-lives-not-dollars
Secretary Anthony Foxx & Marianne Karth discuss truck safety, September 12, 2013
p.s. By the way, the inventor of the NASCAR SAFER Barrier which is now saving lives, thinks that he can invent a much safer truck underride protection system. We just need the money to prove it: https://www.fortrucksafety.com/
NHTSA proposes a change in rule for Motor Carrier Safety Fitness Determination
NHTSA has proposed a change in how they determine whether a Motor Carrier is “fit” to be on the road. Instead of ratings of “satisfactory,” “conditional” and “unsatisfactory”, they are proposing to grade a carrier as either “fit” or “not fit.”
As someone who has experienced untold loss due to a truck crash, this sounds like a promising move to me.
Article: “Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the changes will improve the ability of federal regulators to identify bad actors that are endangering drivers and passengers on U.S. roadways. ” http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/266094-feds-move-to-overhaul-truck-bus-safety-determinations?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=transportation
Safety Fitness Determination – Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/safety-fitness-determination-notice-proposed-rulemaking
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking pdf: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/SFD_NPRM_01-14-16.pdf
Underride Roundtable Registration Now Open: May 5, 2016 at IIHS Vehicle Research Center
Registration is now open for the Truck Underride Roundtable at the IIHS Vehicle Research Center on May 5, 2016.
Here is the Save the Date Flyer:
Please join us on Thursday, May 5, 2016, as researchers, government officials, and industry leaders gather to discuss truck underride crashes and how to reduce the risks for passenger vehicle occupants, bicyclists, and pedestrians. We will explore the scope of the problem and how regulation and voluntary action can help address it. You will also see a demonstration of underride guard performance in a crash test.
Hotel group rates are available:
- at the Hyatt Place in Charlottesville, VA, http://charlottesville.place.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html, Group Code #GII56, Hyatt Place
2100 Bond Street
Charlottesville, VA 22901
IIHS room rate: $109
Reservation cut-off date: Wednesday, April 20, 2016 - at the Omni in Charlottesville, VA, http://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/charlottesville Block Code #112-001-089-76, Omni
212 Ridge McIntire Rd
Charlottesville, VA 22903
IIHS room rate: $199
Reservation cut-off date: Sunday, March 20, 2016
Who will pay for research & crash testing of underride guards?
When I google the words “money” and “funding” and “underride guards” and “crash tests,” I mostly come up with links to things which I have written. Try it. If you find someone willing to hand out money for these things, please let me know right away!
Meanwhile, I will keep asking anyone and everyone to help us out:
- https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=951876624894852&id=464993830249803
- https://annaleahmary.com/2015/12/give-1-for-iihs-crash-tests-on-5516-3-yrs-1-day-after-our-deadly-underride-crash/
Be part of the solution: https://www.fortrucksafety.com/
Imagine a truck UNDERRIDE GUARD which provides REAR & SIDE protection.
Imagine an underride guard on a truck which combines protection on the rear of the truck with protection on the side. Sound good?
We have an opportunity to raise money to crash test this innovative underride guard–designed by Aaron Kiefer, a forensic engineer/crash reconstructionist in North Carolina, who after seeing horrific crashes wanted to design better protection to prevent people from dying.
See Aaron’s Public Comment on single unit truck underride rulemaking: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=NHTSA-2015-0070-0013 “. . . side impact regulations should be considered for straight trucks but more importantly for semitrailers.
Many lives can be saved through side impact protection that is capable of redirecting passenger vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists from moving beneath a straight truck or semitrailer.”
We need to raise $20,000 for a crash test to test Aaron’s design at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Vehicle Research Center. So far, we have raised $4,500 to cover the costs of a 2010 Chevy Malibu and a tractor-trailer into which the car will crash.
Be a part of this important project and help to save lives. Donate now & spread the word: https://www.fortrucksafety.com/
Printable Brochure: ALMFTS Underride Crash Tests Brochure
Our crash story–the short version:
Our crash story–the long version:
Past memories get entangled with present moments & future longings
As Susanna and I were getting ready to leave Iowa on Saturday, we drove along I-80 headed for the airport–listening to Susanna’s music (and her knowledgeable explanation of the background to many LOTR selections). Didn’t have my camera out but saw corn fields (already cut down) making golden rows amidst a thin layer of snow. Suddenly I saw a hedge of magenta bushes–beautifully set against a stark winter backdrop of white and gray and brown.
Then upon returning home, it unexpectedly snowed here in North Carolina yesterday. Marcus & Vanessa delightedly went out before having breakfast. Marcus asked for a carrot for his snowman’s nose. Just like Mary not so many years before. Should I be surprised that Marcus ate his snowman’s baby carrot nose?!
Vanessa & Marcus also remembered when they ate some flavored snow with Mary back in Texas–a la Little House in the Big Woods. So I fixed them some maple syrup snow today.
Got out a box of winter gear to help keep them warm. When I was putting it away, I noticed that the person who had labeled the box some years ago was none other than Mary. Heart-full memories.
As the memories of past snow fun mingled with present wintry moments, I could not help but sigh deep within and long for a joyful reunion in the future-yet-to-be:
Vision Zero. . . in hopes that others might live out a fuller life.
Past memories get entangled with present moments & future longings
As Susanna and I were getting ready to leave Iowa on Saturday, we drove along I-80 headed for the airport–listening to Susanna’s music (and her knowledgeable explanation of the background to many LOTR selections). Didn’t have my camera out but saw corn fields (already cut down) making golden rows amidst a thin layer of snow. Suddenly I saw a hedge of magenta bushes–beautifully set against a stark winter backdrop of white and gray and brown.
Then upon returning home, it unexpectedly snowed here in North Carolina yesterday. Marcus & Vanessa delightedly went out before having breakfast. Marcus asked for a carrot for his snowman’s nose. Just like Mary not so many years before. Should I be surprised that Marcus ate his snowman’s baby carrot nose?!
Vanessa & Marcus also remembered when they ate some flavored snow with Mary back in Texas–a la Little House in the Big Woods. So I fixed them some maple syrup snow today.
Got out a box of winter gear to help keep them warm. When I was putting it away, I noticed that the person who had labeled the box some years ago was none other than Mary. Heart-full memories.
As the memories of past snow fun mingled with present wintry moments, I could not help but sigh deep within and long for a joyful reunion in the future-yet-to-be:
Vision Zero. . . in hopes that others might live out a fuller life.
Does Joan Claybrook think that DOT is repeating history by expecting the auto industry to resolve safety issues VOLUNTARILY?
Is the U.S. Department of Transportation repeating history by expecting the automotive industry to resolve safety issues voluntarily (i.e., without being mandated to, do everything within their power to prevent unnecessary motor vehicle-related untimely deaths and serious injuries)?
To find out the answer, read Michael Lemov’s telling chronicle in his detailed, Car Safety Wars: http://www.ebooks.com/2000873/car-safety-wars/lemov-michael-r/. Or check out what Joan Claybrook, long-time safety advocate, said about this very thing in a Frontline interview in April 2001: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rollover/interviews/claybrook.html
Such an approach certainly never has led to the best possible underride protection being voluntarily produced. If it had, my daughters (and thousands of other Americans–face it, inhabitants of our planet) might not have died from truck underride. And it denies the possibility that someone should bear the liability for deaths due to SECOND COLLISIONS–other than the victims. (https://annaleahmary.com/tag/second-collision/)
In my personal opinion, DOT’s approach is not consistent with a national Vision Zero goal. Okay, America, do we or do we not want to do everything within our power to stop our citizens from senselessly being slaughtered on our highways and byways?!
https://annaleahmary.com/2016/01/adopt-a-national-vision-zero-goal-save-lives-not-dollars/
Jeff Plungis’ Bloomberg News report on this: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-15/auto-industry-u-s-regulators-agree-to-boost-safety-recalls
In response to the DOT’s recent announcement of “proactive” safety principles, this is what Joan Claybrook had to say in the following statement which she issued yesterday (pasted below in its entirety):
For Immediate Release. Contact Joan Claybrook: 202-364-8755, 202-422-6731
STATEMENT OF JOAN CLAYBROOK ON U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION’S “PROACTIVE” SAFETY PRINCIPLES
January 15, 2016
Today’s announcement that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is collaborating with the auto industry to develop “Proactive Safety Principles” is a dramatic step in the wrong direction especially following a year of record recalls and an increase in motor vehicle fatalities. The set of four principles is toothless, lacks any implementation authority and is worth only the cost of the paper they are written on. There is nothing preventing the auto industry from disregarding or outright violating these principles. In fact they could be considered subterfuge to violate reporting requirements by doing “data dumps”. The safety of the American public will not be best protected with a kumbaya between the federal agency charged with issuing regulation and the industry seeking to avoid regulation. Also completely absent from this “Best Friends Forever (BFF) moment” between DOT and the auto industry are the people NHTSA was created to protect—car users.
In fact, a reader of the “Principles” document would not know that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was created in large measure to regulate the auto industry, with substantial authority to issue motor vehicle safety standards to protect vehicle occupants in a crash, conduct research independently of the auto industry on which to base such standards, to require the recall of vehicles with safety defects and that do not comply with NHTSA’s standards, and to sue companies that refuse to do so.
The “Principles” document emphasizes that 94% of all vehicle crashes are “attributable to driver choices and human error”, but amazingly it omits the fact that most vehicle crash DEATHS and INJURIES prevented result from the improved vehicle safety performance largely based on NHTSA’s many dozens of mandatory safety standards. In fact, NHTSA estimates that over 600,000 deaths have been prevented by such safety rules since the 1960s when NHTSA was created.
Another contradiction is that NHTSA is now negotiating with the auto manufacturers to develop a “voluntary” (not mandatory) standard for Automatic Emergency Braking, rather than issue a required safety standard under its primary statutory authority. This is the most important life-saving standard NHTSA could issue now. The crash prevention systems are already installed in a large number of higher end cars, showing it is feasible. Yet NHTSA is delegating the content of requirements to manufacturers under a process that is secret and excludes other interested parties including consumers and suppliers; is not enforceable, under which any company can initially agree and then secretly discontinue compliance without informing car buyers or NHTSA; allows any company to charge additional prices for installation of the safety technology as optional equipment, often at high prices out of the reach of many consumers; undercuts the lower costs for standard equipment and faster deployment of a mandated regulation; and, also harms public confidence in NHTSA.
As to achieving the goals outlined in the Principles, and taking each one as listed, the agency has the authority to take many steps it has failed or ignored to implement that would improve safety without hoping the vehicle manufacturers will act:
- “Enhance and Facilitate Proactive Safety”: NHTSA already has numerous meetings and discussions with industry representatives on a regular basis in Detroit about key safety issues, at Society of Automotive Engineers and other technical group meetings, and hears industry concerns and issues both at NHTSA meetings with individual companies and in group meetings, and at Congressional hearings. In addition companies submit detailed comments to agency rulemaking dockets, to the Early Warning Reporting of safety defects system, and through negotiations with NHTSA over submission of information about defective vehicles.
- “Enhance Analysis and Examination of Early Warning Reporting Data”: Early Warning Reporting (EWR) can be improved by industry complying with existing federal law and filing accurate and timely reports (rather than ones designed to confuse the agency) and NHTSA enforcing this key rule and fining companies that abuse it. EWR information should also be made public and the reporting categories should be consistent with the reporting codes for consumer complaints so it can be used effectively.
- “Maximize Safety Recall Participation Rates”: The major steps companies can take to improve recalls is to conduct them on a timely basis (rather than covering them up and only publicly declaring a safety recall years later), sending strong and effective letters to consumers giving them the incentive to get their vehicles fixed (which NHTSA should monitor and enhance), and give priority to making replacement parts quickly rather than make them secondary to continued new vehicle production. Also the DOT should encourage states to not issue new license tags to any consumer who has not complied with a defect recall correction notice sent by the manufacturer.
- “Enhance Automotive Cybersecurity”: NHTSA has new authority under the FAST Act of 2015 (the highway bill) (Pub. L. 114-94) to conduct cybersecurity research with other federal agencies – not the auto industry – and should do so independently of the industry. Specifically, modal administrations of the DOT are charged with assisting in the development of cybersecurity research to “help prevent hacking, spoofing, and disruption of connected and automated transportation vehicles.’’
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Clarence Ditlow, Executive Director
Center for Auto Safety
1825 Connecticut Ave NW #330
Washington DC 20009
One month left to make Public Comments on the Rear Underride Proposed Rule–last day 2/16/16
For those planning on making a Public Comment on the proposed rule for rear underride protection on tractor-trailers, please make plans to do so before the deadline of February 16, 2016.
Make your comments here: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=NHTSA-2015-0118-0001