Should safety be standard state to state? Does gov’t owe us protection from vehicle violence?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety

A recent truck crash in North Carolina has raised some important questions.

In the mountains, truck drivers can quickly find themselves in dangerous positions.

On Jan. 23, 2017, crews spent 15 hours cleaning up the wreckage of a tractor trailer ripped apart and on its side after the driver traveled left of center on the narrow, twisting Chunn’s Cove Road. . .

The trucking industry and drivers, including Terry Creech, are pushing the Trump administration and Republicans to roll back safety requirements.

“I’m hoping he’ll deregulate the industry,” Creech said.

Creech and the American Trucking Association want Congress to block state laws requiring additional rest breaks beyond federal rules.  Special Report: Trucking past inspections you?, how safe are

Fortunately, not everyone thinks that way.

As part of the investigation, News 13 also reached out to Trans Tech, a truck driving training school in Arden. It disagrees with the ATA and claim safety regulations do work. While it sees a need for mandatory rest breaks, it believes requirements should be standard state to state. Special Report: Trucking past inspections you?, how safe are

If a safety measure can help to create safer trucking and driving conditions for all users of the road (i.e, keep us all alive), then, in my mind, it is commonsense to have it be standard state to state.

In what universe would it make sense to put in place a proven safety measure in one region but not in another? Are we one country of united states or a continent of separate countries? Is that a logical federal function or not?

I did think that one of the functions of the federal government was to protect its citizens. Or am I wrong about that?

Do we have a right to expect that our government will act to protect us from vehicle violence?

Who has the power

We rescue, Jesus saves.

And the School Bus Seat Belt Debate Lives On. And On.

Safety Advocacy

The question comes up often: If cars and trucks have seat belts, why not the buses carrying some tens of millions of kids each day? And the School Bus Seat Belt Debate Lives On

That headline tells it all: the Debate Lives On. And on. Endless tug-of-war over safety issues. Ad nauseum.

How is it that we can’t seem to get these life and death matters resolved? Cost/benefit analysis. There’s your answer.

Equal Justice For All, Legal Reader, artist Neal Angeles
Equal Justice For All, Legal Reader, artist Neal Angeles

My answer to end this stalemate:

Unfortunately, I know all too well from experience that raising questions and demanding action are mostly a wasted effort and won’t bring about needed change in time to save countless lives from joining the rank of those gone too soon — when perhaps such tragedies could have been avoided.

In my opinion, we aren’t going to see much progress in many areas of traffic safety until we as a country take vehicle violence seriously. That is why I continue to call for for a more effective and united strategy:

  1. Set a National Vision Zero Goal — make traffic safety a priority; Death by Motor Vehicle is one of the leading causes of preventable death.
  2. Establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force — it is a multifaceted problem, not just a transportation issue.
  3. Adopt Vision Zero Rulemaking.
  4. Appoint an independent National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to serve as a vigilant voice for vulnerable victims of vehicle violence.
  5. Mobilize citizens to be part of the solution through a nationwide network of Vision Zero/Traffic Safety community action groups.

Wake up, America! The Crash Death Clock is ticking away. . .

So, why aren’t we making a bigger dent in tragic crashes? America, we can do better than this!

What will it take to make a significant reduction in the number of people who die on our roads?

 

Do it, President Trump, for We the People of this United States of America!  Don’t let endless arguing over Cost rob us of loved ones who will never come back.

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Unimaginable Grief of Preventable Crash Deaths: advocates tackling a public health problem head on.

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Late last year, Neal Pollack interviewed me. He asked about our crash story and our family’s advocacy efforts. Then he proceeded to interview other traffic safety advocates as well. This is what he recently wrote:

The Unimaginable Grief of Distracted Driving Deaths How road safety advocates are tackling a public health problem head on.  BY NEAL POLLACK JANUARY 19, 2017

IMG_4519WarsawINFilmPhotographer_MIMemoria_Film_063 cropped

 

Generate a Greater Sense of Urgency to End Preventable Crash Fatalities

Safety Advocacy

Our crash was not an accident; there were many factors which led to the collision and others which made it more tragic — like in the over 35,000 crash deaths in 2015.

Many things can be done to improve this situation — but too often these proven safety measures are neglected by us.

Why is that so? And what can we do to generate a greater sense of urgency in the people and leaders of our nation to tackle this problem more collaboratively and effectively?

Sign this petition: End Preventable Crash Fatalities: Appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

Mad Mary

 

 

A Walk Through the Woods; A photo story from Mary’s camera. It is well with my soul.

Uncategorized,

Tonight, I needed to remind myself of the smiles and joyful attitude of Mary and AnnaLeah. The photos and music says it all.

A Walk Through the Woods; A photo story from Mary’s camera. It is well with my soul.

Photography by Mary Lydia Karth (with a few by her mom as well)

http://www.hymnary.org/text/when_peace_like_a_river_attendeth_my_way

When the grief is too heavy too bear, the memories and music lift my soul.

Tribute to Clarence M. Ditlow III, Vehicle Safety Leader

Safety Advocacy

A Life of Work – Saving Lives: On January 28, 2017, safety leaders gathered to honor the more than 40 years of work by Clarence M. Ditlow III that contributed enormously to saving millions of Americans from death and injuries from vehicle violence. And continues to save lives.1

Read about it here:  http://www.legalreader.com/tribute-to-clarence-m-ditlow-iii/

Clarence Ditlow worked hard throughout his life to change the things he could for the benefit of us all.

Serenity Prayer

 

Wake up, America: Traffic Death Toll Rises As 2017 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws Is Released

Safety Advocacy

Thank you, Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety, for watching over the laws of our land as they impact safety on our roads.

Today’s the day Advocates’ releases the 2017 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws. Join them via webcast at 12pm EST https://t.co/3TxbWKISy8.

Data from the U.S. DOT shows second year of alarming increases in traffic fatalities. Yet, effective safety remedies to save lives and prevent injuries are ignored in state capitals across the country — “Have We Forgotten What Saves Lives?” http://saferoads.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/FINAL-2017-Roadmap-Report-1.pdf

We are acting like the individually-united states are just that–individual. Acting like they need to have control over decisions about what SAFETY measures should be required in their individual states.

In disregard of the abundantly-available wonders of modern safety technology, what we are really doing is increasing the likelihood that INDIVIDUALS in their states will experience DEATH BY MOTOR VEHICLE!

I ask again, “Why on earth don’t we establish National Traffic Safety Standards & require them to be adopted by States?”

I wrote about this last year at this time, when they released their 2016 Roadmap: Why on earth don’t we establish National Traffic Safety Standards & require them to be adopted by States?

Every delay in adopting these safety measures increases someone’s chance of dying a preventable death. How can we allow this to continue?

protect-innocent-lives

Excerpts from the 2017 Roadmap:

Key Facts About This Leading Public Health Epidemic:
 35,092 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2015. This is a 7.2% increase from the
previous year and the largest percentage increase in nearly 50 years. Further, early estimates
for the first nine months of 2016 show an 8% increase in fatalities over the same period in 2015.

 Automobile crashes remain a leading cause of death for Americans aged five to 34.
 An estimated 2.44 million people were injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2015.
 In 2015, almost half (48%) of passenger vehicle occupants killed were unrestrained.
 A total of 4,976 motorcyclists died in 2015. This death toll accounts for 14% of all fatalities.
 1,132 children aged 14 and younger were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2015.
 279 children aged four through seven were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2015.
 Crashes involving young drivers (aged 15 – 20) resulted in 4,702 total fatalities in 2015.
 There were 10,265 fatalities in crashes involving a drunk driver in 2015.
 In crashes involving a distracted driver, 3,477 people were killed in 2015.
 Motor vehicle crashes are estimated to have an annual societal impact in excess of $836 billion.

Nearly 30% of this figure ($242 billion) is economic costs including property and productivity losses, medical and emergency bills and other related costs. Dividing this cost among the total population amounts to a “crash tax” of $784 for every person, every year.

An additional 376 laws need to be adopted in all states and DC to fully meet
Advocates’ recommended optimal safety laws in this report. . .

States are failing to close important safety gaps because they have not adopted the lifesaving safety laws listed below. While a number of highway safety laws have been enacted during the last few years, many considered to be fundamental to highway safety are still missing in many states.

Based on Advocates’ safety recommendations, states need to adopt 376 laws:
16 states need an optimal primary enforcement seat belt law for front seat passengers;
32 states need an optimal primary enforcement seat belt law for rear seat passengers;
31 states need an optimal all-rider motorcycle helmet law;
39 states and DC need an optimal booster seat law;
213 GDL laws need to be adopted to ensure the safety of novice drivers, no state meets all the criteria recommended in this report;
35 critical impaired driving laws are needed in 33 states; and,
9 states need an optimal all-driver text messaging restriction.

First Clarence M. Ditlow III Safety Champion Award presented to Laura Gipe Christian

Safety Advocacy,

When I was in Washington, DC, last week, I was inspired when I attended an evening Tribute to Clarence Ditlow at the Carnegie Institute. I  never met him but did exchange some emails with him; he was very helpful in sharing information with me related to truck underride guards.

Many people spoke that night about the amazing commitment he had to tirelessly address auto safety defects. Today, an award was given in his honor to Laura Gipe Christian, whom I met when we served on a panel at the Ralph Nader Breaking Through Power Conference last fall:

A woman who lobbied for safety reforms after her daughter died in the crash of a Chevrolet Cobalt with the ignition-switch defect is being honored with the first Clarence M. Ditlow III Safety Champion Award.

“Laura Christian exemplifies the stalwart commitment to consumer protection and vehicle safety that characterized Clarence’s life,” said Joan Claybrook, the co-chair of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, which announced the award this morning.

Ditlow, who died in November, was the executive director of The Center for Auto Safety for four decades. He served on the Advocates’ board of directors for 27 years.

He was generally regarded as the nation’s foremost advocate and expert on automotive safety, consumer rights and the workings of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

 Ms. Christian was selected for “her dedication and determination to advance reforms that address the dangerous risks posed by vehicle safety defects and unrepaired recalls,” according to Advocates.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jensen/2017/01/31/mother-who-became-activist-after-child-died-in-crash-honored-as-safety-champion/#7fd12d113b7a

Thank you, Laura, for your work to make us all safer.

Thank you 3

Trucker charged in crash that killed 4 college softball players dies by suicide; Endless Grief & Regret

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,

There is not one part of traffic tragedies that does not overwhelm our world with grief and regret. It goes on and on.

The report by the National Transportation Safety Board released in November 2015 found that the probable cause of the crash was a failure by Staley to control his vehicle “due to incapacitation likely stemming from his use of synthetic cannabinoids.” 

The report determined that passengers on the bus were not wearing seat belts and that the bus lacked appropriate crash-worthiness standards, both of which contributed to the severity of the injuries. 

Trucker who was charged in crash that killed 4 college softball players dies by suicide

I am more determined than ever to mobilize our country to do all that is humanly & technologically possible to save every life we can.

to-what-lengths

Dwight Eisenhower: Inspirational Crusader for Traffic Safety; Would that he could speak to us today.

Safety Advocacy, ,

I was suitably impressed as I sat on my Amtrak train en route to Washington, D.C., last week and read the words which President Dwight Eisenhower wrote and spoke about traffic safety:

President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Federal Role in Highway Safety Chapter 2: A Crusade for Safety

I knew that he was responsible for our improved interstate system, but I did not know that he was such a genuinely enthusiastic crusader for traffic safety. Here are a few excerpts among many:

Although President Eisenhower would not become fully engaged in a highway initiative until the Grand Plan speech in 1954, he acted on highway safety in July 1953 when he met in the Cabinet Room of the White House with 28 business leaders. He told the leaders that his goal was to save 17,000 lives and $1.25 billion a year by reducing accidents. According to an account in Transport Topics for August 3, 1953:

 

President Eisenhower told the group . . . he is tired of having three to four times as many persons killed a year on the highways as were killed in Korea. He said the history of efforts to save lives on the highway shows that when something is done on a coordinated basis the accident trend drops sharply.

The president said that something-a truce-had been done about saving lives in Korea and that there is good reason why something should be done about highway accidents. . .

On December 11, 1953, the President wrote to the Nation’s Governors to request their help:

Dear Governor:

The mounting toll of death and injury on our highways long ago reached a point of deep concern to all of us. It stands before America as a great challenge-humanitarian and economic-and must be met by urgent action.

I have examined the “Action Program for Highway Safety” which you and the other Governors have developed in cooperation with interested organizations and public officials having jurisdiction over highway safety. It is a sound and workable program, but effective citizen leadership is needed to help you put this great crusade into organized action on a scale far bigger than ever before.

Accordingly, I have called a Conference on Highway Safety for Washington next February seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth. The Conference will serve to focus more public attention on the problem and stimulate active leadership in every community. . .

After noting the privilege of addressing the [White House Conference on Highway Safety], he began:

The purpose of your meeting is one that is essentially local or community in character. But when any particular activity in the United States takes 38,000 American lives in one year, it becomes a national problem of the first importance. Consequently, this meeting was called, and you have accepted the invitation, in an understanding between us that it is not merely a local or community problem. It is a problem for all of us, from the highest echelon of Government to the lowest echelon: a problem for every citizen, no matter what his station or his duty.

I was struck by a statistic that seemed to me shocking. In the last 50 years, the automobile has killed more people in the United States than we have had fatalities in all our wars: on all the battlefields of all the wars of the United States since its founding 177 years ago
He acknowledged that this was a problem that “by its nature has no easy solution.” He did not intend to get into the technicalities of this “many-sided” problem. However, he felt that the key was public opinion. “In a democracy, public opinion is everything.” He explained:

If there were community groups established that could command the respect and the support of every single citizen of that city or that community, so that the traffic policeman, so that everyone else that has a responsibility in this regard, will know that public opinion is behind him. Because I have now arrived at the only point that I think it worthwhile to try to express to you, because in all the technicalities of this thing you know much more than I do.

If, he said, “we can mobilize a sufficient public opinion, this problem, like all of those to which free men fall heir can be solved.”

Hmmm. . . sounds sort of like a National Vision Zero Goal and a Nationwide Network of Community Traffic Safety Action Groups. . .

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