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.
This morning, Senator Gillibrand took the opportunity at a Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Hearing on to ask Chris Spear, CEO of the American Trucking Associations, some questions about truck underride.
Thank you, Senator Gillibrand, for continuing to move us forward toward an end to preventable underride tragedies.
I met with Chris Spear on March 29, 2017, to discuss our newly drafted underride bill. And I wrote a post in May in response to the kinds of concerns he raised in the hearing today. He asked Senator Gillibrand to encourage NHTSA to speed their evaluation of whether the added weight of side guards would compromise the structural integrity of trailers.
Here is that post: Question for the ATA: Is it necessary to choose EITHER crash avoidance OR occupant protection — not BOTH?
And here is the response to Mr. Spear’s concerns — from the inventor of the AngelWing side guard, Perry Ponder:
AngelWing has undergone extensive standard industry testing and analysis including durability track testing. Designed by a trailer engineer (me), AngelWing works in harmony with existing trailer designs with no effect on the trailer structure or durability.
Help hasten the installation of effective truck underride protection. Sign & Share our petition: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!
We launched an Interactive Underride Crash Story Map earlier this week. We have only just begun to add links for the thousands of underride tragedies which are too well remembered in the decades of neglect of this problem. Many families may not even have realized that they lost their loved one because of preventable underride.
See more underride tragedies at Underride Crash Memorials and on our Interactive Underride Crash Map. To add more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to this map, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com; use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form.
Here is the map.
See more underride tragedies at Underride Crash Memorials and on our Interactive Underride Crash Map. To add more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to this map, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com; use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form.
It has been an exciting day and the bill has gotten needed attention. Signatures continue coming in expressing public support. Glad that Jerry Karth, Susanna Karth and Caleb Karth could be there today. Rebekah Karth Chojnacki is gathering the news reports for us (we just got home from DC). Peter Karth developed the interactive underride crash map (patiently working with his mother) — to which I now need to keep adding crash information. Isaac Karth updated the website. Levi Karth brought us exciting news of his engagement. And Samuel Karth keeps us smiling with news of Jerome.
In Memory of AnnaLeah & Mary and Roya, too – RAM: The Naming of an Underride Bill; Out of the Mouths of Babes
I am very thankful for the media coverage of the Introduction of the Bipartisan/Bicameral STOP Underrides! Act of 2017. The problem of underride has been poorly understood, and I am hopeful that this action on the part of four legislators — Senator Gillibrand, Senator Rubio, Congressman Cohen, and Congressman DeSaulnier — will get the ball rolling toward greater awareness and decisive action.
There have been a flurry of reports:
Help get public support behind this bill! Sign & share our Petition: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!
December 13, 2017, UPDATE: We now have an Interactive Underride Crash Story Map. We have only just begun to add links for the countless underride tragedy stories. If you have information on an underride crash, or would like to add more details about the people touched by these tragedies, email us at underridemap@gmail.com. Here is the map.
We have launched the Stop Underrides Bill Petition today. Please sign & share. Public support is crucial to ending Death by Underride. #underrideawarenessweek
Sign Here: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!
On 12/12/2017, Senator Gillibrand, Senator Rubio and Congressman Cohen will introduce the Stop Underrides! Bill. This important legislation will save countless lives.
DATE: TOMORROW, Tuesday, December 12th
TIME: 10:15 AM
PLACE: Senate Visitors Center 212
United States Capitol Visitors Center
First St NE
Washington, DC 20515
I can’t tell you how it felt to look online and find my daughter’s book collection all thoroughly catalogued. I knew that she had a LibraryThing account where she had kept track of her extensive set of books. But never until just a few moments ago had I looked it up.
Most of her books are boxed up and in storage because our current living situation did not have space for them. In a few weeks, we will be moving to a house where we will be able to organize her books on shelves like she would have wanted. So I had asked her brother and sister recently if I could somehow look her account up — thinking I would need a password or something. Lo and behold, they said that she was identifiable by looking up the author Rosemary Sutcliff. AnnaLeah, they said, owns one of the most extensive Rosemary Sutcliff collections in the world (at least among the LibraryThing membership).
Having a few moments to sit down tonight at the computer while I was actually thinking about it, I decided to try and find her account. She did not use her own name but I was able to sleuth it out, and I found her! I found my daughter.
I found the three books which she was reading when she last posted on her account — quite probably just before her death — knowing AnnaLeah. They were perhaps even with her in the car on that trip to Texas.
She read 47 books in 2013. I even found the last book she ever finished, or at least recorded, on May 2, 2013 — two days before our crash. The Storm by Frederick Buechner
How many more would she have read in that year? How many would she have read in her lifetime? How many more books would she have added to her collection? What books might she have written? What literary worlds might she have created for others to enjoy?
Such a bittersweet treasure to have this part of her who is no more — who had so much more living to do.
AnnaLeah’s 30 Category Booklist
AnnaLeah’s History Reading List
AnnaLeah’s Book List for Danelle
And I’m quite sure, that one of AnnaLeah’s “friends” on Library Thing was her sister, Mary, whose collection was much smaller and not so thoroughly catalogued — but just as treasured, I know. A member since July 12, 2012.
Here are some books — probably from her sister AnnaLeah — which Mary received on her last birthday — August 6, 2012:
Of course, I love the photoshoot which AnnaLeah staged of Mary reading one of AnnaLeah’s books (which Mary had not actually read):
To be honest, I hate the fact that I spend almost every waking hour figuring out ways to move the needle on comprehensive underride protection. I also hate the fact that AnnaLeah & Mary have no more chances to create new memories while the rest of us go on with our lives — getting older and making new memories without them.
I hate the fact that no one effectively took on the underride problem in time to let AnnaLeah & Mary live to see another day after their underride crash on May 4, 2013. And it keeps on happening to other families: The front of Padilla’s car was forced under the rear of the tractor-trailer. Man Killed in Thanksgiving Day Crash on Beltway in Virginia and this one 3-year-old girl dies from injuries in crash on I-15 near Moapa.
That is why I am a mom on a mission to make truck crashes more survivable. The only thing is. . . I can’t make it happen alone.
Here are some of my favorite holiday memories with AnnaLeah and Mary. . .
Happy Thanksgiving https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.549565838459268.1073741923.464993830249803&type=1
Mary Cranberry https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.549573781791807.1073741924.464993830249803&type=1
Mary would be watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/549586845123834/?type=1
Tutus for the whole family https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/551011044981414/?type=1
Advent 2012…Sleepover https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.555655971183588.1073741930.464993830249803&type=1 and https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.555655971183588.1073741930.464993830249803/555656811183504/?type=1
Broken Candy Canes https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/556124954470023/?type=1
Mary Christmas Card…Karth Family Photo “Christmas Card” 2012 created by Mary https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/556151264467392/?type=1
Christmas Memories with AnnaLeah & Mary https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=559954657420386&id=464993830249803
Mary Christmas Angel…The glory of the Lord shone round about… https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/560141440735041/?type=1
Mary, did you know? https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/560630257352826/?type=1
Mary Christmas Angel–One: Jesus is the Heart of Christmas https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=560713557344496&id=464993830249803
Mary Christmas Angel–Two: Are we done yet? https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=560952533987265&id=464993830249803
Mary Christmas Angel–Three: O Holy Child of Bethlehem https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=560953360653849&id=464993830249803
Mary Christmas Angel–Four (Finale): https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=560953753987143&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters from AnnaLeah & Mary https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/562522363830282/?type=1
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 1996: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=562705110478674&id=464993830249803
Everything’s Different This Year https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/563077863774732/?type=1
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 1998: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=563082103774308&id=464993830249803
This year & last year; Before & After: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=563186590430526&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2001: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=563193017096550&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2002: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=563666620382523&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2003: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=564344183648100&id=464993830249803
Herod’s Slaughtered Innocents: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=564688433613675&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2004: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=564807693601749&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2005 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=565873553495163&id=464993830249803
Notice: The Last Thing On The 2013 Calendar (as written by Mary) https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/565931740156011/?type=1
“Though the Fig Tree Should Not Blossom” https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=565938886821963&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters from AnnaLeah & Mary, 2005, cont. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=565870523495466&id=464993830249803
Happy New Year! (Y2K) (AnnaLeah takes care of baby Mary) https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/565950123487506/?type=1
Christmas Letters from AnnaLeah & Mary, 2007 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=566452906770561&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters from AnnaLeah & Mary, 2008 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=566833013399217&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters from AnnaLeah & Mary, 2008, continued https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=566844333398085&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2009: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=566944503388068&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2009, continued https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=566946103387908&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2010 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=568828166533035&id=464993830249803
Christmas Letters From AnnaLeah & Mary, 2012: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=568835126532339&id=464993830249803
MLK Holiday Observed: https://www.facebook.com/464993830249803/photos/a.465869083495611.1073741828.464993830249803/572826719466513/?type=1
The Power to Captivate & Comfort: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=566439636771888&id=464993830249803
Early in the day, as travelers made their way to Thanksgiving celebrations, WUSA9 reported that yet one more person has died due to a defective truck design.
One person is dead after a car ran off the road and then crashed into the back off a tractor trailer early Thursday morning in the Franconia area. 1 dead in Va. after car runs off road, crashes into tractor trailer
Retrofitting the millions of trucks on the road could mean people like this man would live to see another day.
A man has died after a car crash on the Capital Beltway early Thanksgiving morning, police say.
Christopher S. Padilla, 30, of Alexandria, was killed when his 2013 Honda Civil crashed into the back of a parked tractor-trailer in Franconia, Virginia, early Thursday, Virginia State Police said.
The driver of the tractor-trailer had mechanical trouble early Thursday and pulled onto the right shoulder of I-495 just south of Exit 173/Van Dorn Avenue, police said.
He inspected his vehicle and was about to drive away when he felt the impact of the crash.
The front of Padilla’s car was forced under the rear of the tractor-trailer. Man Killed in Thanksgiving Day Crash on Beltway in Virginia
However, if the decision is made to not retrofit, many people will die as a result.
I just learned about an underride crash in Nevada on Sunday. The photo in the news report tells the sad and senseless story.
The semi driver began braking and made an improper left turn into the dirt center median with signage marked “No U-Turn” and “Authorized Vehicles Only.” The driver of the Kia then struck the trailer of the semi causing the Kia to be partially pinned under the trailer.
A 3-year-old girl who was injured in Sunday’s crash on northbound Interstate 15 near Moapa has died.
The girl was airlifted to Sunrise Pediatrics with critical injuries and succumbed to the injuries sustained in the crash.
An 11-year-old boy who also was injured was taken by ambulance to UMC Trauma with serious but nonlife-threatening injuries. 3-year-old girl dies from injuries in crash on I-15 near Moapa
Also reported here: 3-year-old Utahn girl dies in crash involving semi on I-15
Yet one more family will dread the holidays because Death By Underride has been left unchecked. When will we act to end these senseless tragedies?
