“CAS Analysis Shows Tesla (Joshua Brown) & Jeep Shifter (Anton Yelchin) Deaths Lie at NHTSA’s Feet”

July 15, 2016Safety Advocacyauto safety defects, NHTSA rulemaking, safety regulation, Tesla crashMarianne

Tell-it-like-it-is email from Lou Lombardo (Care for Crash Victims):

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Americans should be thankful for the work of Clarence Ditlow and the Center for Auto Safety (CAS) for identifying the failures of NHTSA and DOT that resulted in the preventable recent deaths of two Americans here in the U.S.A.

Please see the CAS Analysis and letter to NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind.

CAS Analysis Shows Tesla (Joshua Brown) & Jeep Shifter (Anton Yelchin) Deaths Lie at NHTSA’s Feet

July 15, 2016

The tragic deaths of Anton Yelchin and Joshua Brown due to faulty electronics must be placed squarely at NHTSA’s feet. In its zeal to advance vehicle electronics, NHTSA has forgotten it is a regulatory agency to ensure vehicle safety, not a promotional agency to foster the development of vehicle technology.

Yelchin’s death is due to NHTSA creating a huge loophole in 1999 in FMVSS 102 governing transmission shift mechanisms. Brown’s death is due to NHTSA’s failure to issue a FMVSS for self-driving controls and allowing Tesla to beta test an autopilot system using consumer as test drivers on public roads, something that has never before been done in NHTSA’s history.

Congress intended that compliance with the federal rules would both regulate and stimulate new technologies. Today’s NHTSA has abandoned the regulatory side for the stimulation side at the expense of safety. By issuing interpretative rules as it did on electronic shifters for BMW and not issuing Safety Standards as it did on self-driving vehicles, NHTSA created safety loopholes that inevitably led to the deaths of Joshua Brown and Anton Yelchin.

# # #

Click here to view the CAS Letter to NHTSA Administrator Rosekind

America needs people in government, in industry, and the media to do their jobs protecting the American people.

In this election year, we are on the road to 4 million vehicle deaths in the U.S.A. in the next decade. How many more deaths will it take to get the President to set a Vision Zero goal? See http://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforJanuary2016-Corrected.pdf

Citizen Marianne Karth and her family have gathered 20,000 signatures for President Obama to issue an executive order to set a Vision Zero goal. See

https://annaleahmary.com/tag/vision-zero/

What hidden strings are holding him back?

Put safety first, please.

Lou

Party Platforms Strangely Silent: Gun violence gets attention, though toll lower than vehicle violence

July 14, 2016Safety Advocacygun violence, vehicle violenceMarianne

Party platforms ignore highway deaths Gun violence gets a lot of attention, though its toll is lower than vehicle violence

By James R. Hood, July 13, 2016, ConsumerAffairs

[ConsumerAffairs’ founder and former editor, Jim Hood formerly headed Associated Press Broadcast News, directing coverage of major news events worldwide. He also served as Senior Vice President of United Press International and was the founder and editor of Zapnews, a newswire service for radio and television.]

There are quite a few things that can kill you. Take guns, for example. They kill 33,000 people in the United States each year. Traffic accidents can kill you too. They kill 35,000 people each year and permanently disable many more.

About 200 people survive gunshot wounds each day while twice that many survive car crashes, often with serious and life-changing injuries.

Politicians and their handlers talk endlessly about guns. Some are for them, some against. They don’t have much to say about traffic deaths though, and highway safety advocates think that’s — as the FBI recently said about one Presidential candidate — careless though not quite criminal.

“Like all dads, I worry about my girls’ safety all the time,” President Obama said at in his weekly radio address on Father’s Day. “Especially when we see preventable violence in places our sons and daughters go every day – their schools and houses of worship, movie theaters, nightclubs, as they get older.”

This puzzles safety advocates like Louis V. Lombardo, an auto safety researcher and retired government scientist.

“So why does the President, that I voted for twice, continue to miss talking about vehicle violence after nearly 250,000 vehicle deaths and 1 million serious vehicle injuries under his administration?” Lombardo asked recently in his Care for Crash Victims blog. “We need an end to this strange indifference to vehicle violence.” . .

Thanks for drawing attention to this frustrating blockade to progress in highway safety.

Here’s what President Obama said about crash fatalities: Obama (6/1/16): “We used to have really bad auto fatality rates. . .” And we don’t NOW?!

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.

Auto Safety Advocates Tell Obama To Stop Rush To Get Self-Driving Cars On Road

July 14, 2016Safety Advocacyauto safety, NHTSA, self-driving carsMarianne

So, here’s a real-life scenario. What might a Traffic Safety Ombudsman do in this situation?

Auto Safety Advocates Tell Obama To Stop Rush To Get Self-Driving Cars On Road; Pull Back Autonomous Vehicle Technology ‘Guidance’ Expected Next Week http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/newsrelease/auto-safety-advocates-tell-obama-stop-rush-get-self-driving-cars-road-pull-back-autonomo

A coalition of auto safety advocates today called on President Obama to stop his “administration’s undue haste to get autonomous vehicle technology to the road” until enforceable safety standards are in place. They said the administration’s autonomous vehicle “guidance” expected next week should not be issued. . .

“If the manufacturers, including the high-tech companies, lack the confidence in their products to stand behind them and assume responsibility and liability when the systems they design are in control, and innocent people are injured or killed as a result, those vehicles do not belong on the road,” the letter said.

“The administration should not succumb to Silicon Valley hype about the miracles of autonomous vehicle technology. Autonomous vehicle technologies hold the promise of improving safety. But that promise can only be realized after thorough testing and a public rulemaking process that results in enforceable standards” the letter concluded.

Consumer Watchdog Letter to Obama: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrobamaav071316.pdf

Indeed. Make SAFETY a priority. Once someone dies in a crash, they never come back.

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.

America, do we want a powerful voice to protect us from Death by Motor Vehicle, or not?

July 14, 2016Safety Advocacytraffic safety, Traffic Safety Ombudsman, vehicle violenceMarianne

The federal government was established to protect its citizens. So why are we so reluctant to appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to advocate for the safety of travelers on the roads of this country?

Needed: 6 people to catch the vision of a Traffic Safety Ombudsman and sign the petition to get us to 150. Only 144 (thank you to those people) have signed it thus far. Does everybody else not get it?

Endless traffic safety problems could be addressed by this person. Here are two more which I saw today:

“Autonomous and connected vehicles offer enormous potential to revolutionize the way we travel. The time frame and rate of implementation will determine how and when we experience the potential benefits, but it will require a diverse group of stakeholders working closely together to optimize these new technologies.” (Like our Underride Roundtable?) Ask an Academic: Daniel Findley, Highway Engineering Expert
Ford Windstar: An Oddball Recall That Didn’t Fix Them All And Outraged Owners And Safety Advocates Ford Windstar: An Oddball Recall That Didn’t Fix Them All And Outraged Owners And Safety Advocates

SIGN & SHARE the TRAFFIC SAFETY OMBUDSMAN Petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/384/321/600/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-appoint-a-national-traffic-safety-ombudsman/

FedEx denies request for underride safety research donation of decommissioned 53′ trailer

July 14, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck SafetyFedEx, safety research, underride guards, underride researchMarianne

The trucking industry needs to answer the same question which Senator Robert Kennedy posed to GM in 1965: “What was your profit in 2015? And how much money did you spend on safety research in 2015?”

GM’s answer was a safety expenditure figure that was below 1% of their total profit. Which, in my book, makes “safety” a meaningless word.

Yesterday, I received a reply from FedEx, after following their procedure for requesting a donation. Our non-profit, AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety, completed a FedEx charitable assistance application in which we asked them to donate a used, decommissioned 53′ trailer to be used for underride research.

Like in the research undertaken this spring by Aaron Kiefer to crash test his innovative side/rear underride guard protection system. Like the kind of safety measure which could have prevented Joshua Brown from being killed when his Tesla underrode the side of a trailer.

They denied our request. What was FedEx’s reason for denying our request? FedEx email denying safety research trailer donation request

Good day Marianne,

Thank you again for contacting FedEx Freight for charitable assistance. We applaud the work AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety is doing.

After careful review, unfortunately, we must decline your request for the donation of a 53′ trailer.

FedEx Freight works directly with manufacturers and national organizations to support road safety for both our team members and the motoring public.

We wish you success with future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Iris

Iris Coetzee, Senior Communications Specialist

Bah humbug! I would like to know exactly how they work directly with manufacturers and national organizations to support road safety. Spell it out for me. Tell me exactly:

How much money they spend on safety.
and what percentage that amount is of their total profit.
and exactly what that money actually goes for.

I would like to know that information about the whole trucking industry which has opposed and resisted improved underride protection for decades resulting in countless dead people who didn’t have to die if only the trucking industry had acted in a timely and responsible way. And not just for 2015, but for every year since the underride problem was discovered.

I put together a chart for recording that kind of information juxtapositioned against some of the major life events which occurred for me during all of the years when — for the most part as far as I can see the trucking industry did practically nothing “to support road safety for both our team members and the motoring public” — at least in the area of underride prevention. And when they did, it was because we put pressure on their pocketbook.

I’d like to see some investigative reporter dig up this kind of information because I doubt that the industry would give it to me.

Corrected 2015 stats: 32,514 gun deaths & 35,514 crash deaths; Can we do something about this?

July 13, 2016Safety Advocacycrash deaths, gun deaths, traffic safety, Traffic Safety Ombudsman, violent deathsMarianne

Earlier today, I posted that there were 12,942 gun-related deaths in 2015 in the U.S. Someone brought another website to my attention, and I am posting the figure indicated there: 32,514 gun deaths.

Whatever the exact, accurate estimated amount, both these deaths and the 35,214 reported crash deaths in 2015 deserve our attention and unified action to work to reduce preventable violent deaths.

So why does the drafted Democratic Platform Draft Dem. Platform: “Ensure Health & Safety…Gun Violence Prevention” But NOT Vehicle Violence?

Let’s end preventable violent deaths! Appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to help us do that!

SIGN & SHARE the TRAFFIC SAFETY OMBUDSMAN Petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/384/321/600/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-appoint-a-national-traffic-safety-ombudsman/
Share this:

32,514 Gun Deaths in 2015; 35,215 Crash Deaths in 2015: Let’s End Preventable Violent Deaths!

July 13, 2016Safety Advocacycrash deaths, crash fatalities, gun deaths, violent deathsMarianne

There were an estimated 32,514 gun-related deaths in the U.S. in 2015 (by homicide, unintentional shootings, murder/suicide). There were 35,215 reported crash deaths in 2015 (due to Death by Motor Vehicle).

So why does the drafted Democratic Platform Draft Dem. Platform: “Ensure Health & Safety…Gun Violence Prevention” But NOT Vehicle Violence?

Let’s end preventable violent deaths! Appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to help us do that!

SIGN & SHARE the TRAFFIC SAFETY OMBUDSMAN Petition: https://wh.gov/i6kUj

Draft Dem. Platform: “Ensure Health & Safety…Gun Violence Prevention” But NOT Vehicle Violence

July 12, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyauto safety, highway carnage, traffic safety, vehicle violenceMarianne

See the latest road safety message from Lou Lombardo:

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The DRAFT Democrat Platform contains the following subjects:

“Ensure the Health and Safety of All Americans

Universal Health Care
Community Health Centers
Prescription Drug Costs
Medical Research
Drug and Alcohol Addiction
Mental Health
Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
Public Health
Violence Against Women and Sexual Assault
Gun Violence Prevention”

See https://demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2016-DEMOCRATIC-PARTY-PLATFORM-DRAFT-7.1.16.pdf

On page 25 one can read:

“Gun Violence Prevention

With 33,000 Americans dying every year, Democrats believe that we must finally take sensible action to address gun violence. While gun ownership is part of the fabric of many communities, too many families in America have suffered from gun violence. We can respect the rights of responsible gun owners while keeping our communities safe.

We will expand background checks and close dangerous loopholes in our current laws, hold irresponsible dealers and manufacturers accountable, keep weapons of war—such as assault weapons—off our streets, and ensure guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists, domestic abusers, other violent criminals, and those with severe mental health issues.”

Hmnn…. Both are important.

But NHTSA has recorded a 9.3 % increase in [crash] fatalities in early 2015 to a level of nearly 35,000 Americans dying every year now.

In addition, every day nearly twice as many Americans suffer serious injuries such as brain and spinal cord paralysis due to vehicle violence than to gun violence. See
http://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-GunViolenceandVehicleViolenceThoughtsonFathersDay2016.php

So why are Democrats so silent on ending vehicle violence?

Campaign finance money?

Automotive (Dems & Reps): $15 million See https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/

Gun Control (Dems): $1.7 million in 2015 See https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=Q12Gun Rights (Republicans): $11 million in 2015 See https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=Q13

So what are Americans who are concerned with ending vehicle violence to do this election year?

Lou Lombardo

So why am I not surprised? This has got to change!

See my previous post on President Obama’s apparent perspective on vehicle violence: Obama (6/1/16): “We used to have really bad auto fatality rates. . .” And we don’t NOW?!

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.

Vision Zero Nationwide Network of Traffic Safety Advocacy Groups: Communities Working to Save Lives

July 12, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetytraffic safety, Traffic Safety OmbudsmanMarianne

Vision Zero Nationwide Network of Traffic Safety Advocacy Groups: Communities Working to Save Lives

Well, that’s a mouthful. But it is, in a nutshell, a description of one of the strategies which a Traffic Safety Ombudsman could initiate, organize, and facilitate across communities in this country. The efforts of one person multiplied through a ripple effect — harnessing grief and awareness and outrage into a powerfully-effective force for change.

Fresh out of college, I was hired to be the director a local chapter of a statewide nursing home patient advocacy non-profit organization. I worked within the West Michigan community to mobilize families of nursing home patients and other interested community members and professionals to act on behalf of vulnerable nursing home patients. I consulted with and learned from the official Michigan Long-Term Care Ombudsman.

I envision a similar strategy for mobilizing citizens and workers across the United States to effect traffic safety measures in a more consistent and timely fashion at the local, state, and federal level. MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) are organized in a similar manner. These groups would have as their purpose eliminating preventable crash deaths and serious injuries from ALL known (and currently unknown) causes.

Why do it this way? Because just about any other way is more likely to get dragged out in such a way that it will inevitably result in MORE DEATHS & SERIOUS INJURIES.

Time wasted = Tragedies

This is not, of course, the only strategy which the Traffic Safety Ombudsman would employ. But it is one which is not currently being undertaken by anyone else.

Other posts on community action groups:

Other strategies can be found in other posts on this website: Tag Archives: Traffic Safety Ombudsman

See what a Canadian road expert thinks that a Traffic Safety Ombudsman could do: Neil Arason

SIGN & SHARE the TRAFFIC SAFETY OMBUDSMAN Petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/384/321/600/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-appoint-a-national-traffic-safety-ombudsman/

AnnaLeah staged a photoshoot. (Unrealized Potential Another Cost of Preventable Crash Deaths)

July 12, 2016AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacybittersweet memories, grief, unrealized potentialMarianne

The colorful creativity of AnnaLeah was endless — except for the fact that a tragic truck crash brought it to an untimely end.

AnnaLeah could have been a script/screen writer. We found an outline for a whole season of Dr. Who episodes in her email files.
She had recorded the rough ideas and characters for countless literary projects.
She was an avid reader and had a personal collection of over 600 books — all recorded at Library Thing.
Here is AnnaLeah’s 30 Category Book Challenge List.
AnnaLeah wrote the screenplay for A Short Film which she and Mary then acted out:

And here’s a 72 minute LEGO movie that AnnaLeah wrote the script for and then produced with two of her siblings in 2008. It definitely shows how creative she was:

https://vimeo.com/7385266 (not accessible at present).