The goal to reduce crash deaths is far too complex to keep approaching it merely with a disjointed strategy.
What will it take to make a significant reduction in the number of people who die on our roads?
The goal to reduce crash deaths is far too complex to keep approaching it merely with a disjointed strategy.
What will it take to make a significant reduction in the number of people who die on our roads?
Two books recommended by Tom Gage, Marconi Pacific, related to the future of robotics and automated vehicles:
and
The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future
Tom Gage is speaking at the Driver Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety Conference (March 11):
See the second day of this conference here:
Tapes might be available this afternoon.
Yesterday can be seen here:
The call for Vision Zero nationally and specifically to be applied to DOT Rulemaking Policy for Underride Regulations as well as countless other traffic safety measures is now posted on the Federal Register: NPRM Upgrade Underide: Vision Zero Book by Marianne Karth for President Obama
Today, I watched some of the live streaming of NHTSA’s conference, Driving Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety. As I listened to the various speakers and panel discussions, many thoughts and questions went through my mind. . .
Driving Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety Conference being Livestreamed at DOT
The basic question is: What will it take to make a significant reduction in the number of people who die on our roads?
I kept writing down ideas as they came to me during the various presentations and discussions and emailing them to the event coordinator. I did not hear my questions being addressed. But I am going to record them (in their raw intensity) here:
Take a tip from 1954 and Jimmy Stewart. Start training at elementary level only update it to use the technology that the youngest generation is immersed in: https://www.youtube.com/
How can we find ways to remind people that driving choices can lead to forever results? Find ways to touch not only the head but the heart.
one becomes a motor vehicle crash statistic, it will be too late–they will
How about using interactive learning methods of raising awareness?
Why not set a National Vision Zero Goal to raise American awareness?
People need to know that they are not in control so that their driving behavior reflects that knowledge.
Thursday and Friday, March 10 & 11
Thank you for your interest in the Driving Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety conference that is taking place Thursday, March 10 and Friday, March 11 in Washington. The event will run from 8:30 – 4:30 on Thursday and from 8:30 – Noon on Friday.
NHTSA will be streaming this event live at http://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/symposiums/index.html. The link within that page for the webcast should be live this afternoon.
You may access the agenda by following this link: http://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/symposiums/march2016/index.html
Please share these links with any of your colleagues who might be interested in watching this event. Thank you,
Last night, I was sewing a row of quilt squares while watching some television with the family. I am thankful that I have this means of cathartic grieving. But, I have to say, it caused an ache deep within to touch those familiar pieces of some of their favorite clothes.
Vision Zero will not undo the past, but it can shape the future.
Mary’s Confirmation Questioning on April 28, 2013–Six days before the crash, on May 4, 2013, which ended their lives.
Children vulnerable while in back seats Center for Auto Safety asks NHTSA to issue Warning to Parents: Center for Auto Safety Rear Seat Petition
We request that the agency modify its child seating recommendations by adding the following or similar warning language and that such language be required in Owner’s Manuals under 49 CFR § 571.208 S4.5.1(f):
If Possible, Children Should Be Placed In Rear Seating Positions Behind Unoccupied Front Seats. In Rear-End Crashes, the Backs of Occupied Front Seats Are Prone To Collapse Under the Weight of Their Occupants. If This Occurs, the Seat Backs and Their Occupants Can Strike Children in Rear Seats and Cause Severe or Fatal Injuries
Until cars on the American highway are equipped with adequately strong front seats and seatbacks, children in rear seats behind occupied front seats will continue to be in danger of death or severe injury from front seatback failures in rear-end impacts. For this reason the Center for Auto Safety today petitions for action by the agency to warn parents of this danger and how to avoid it when possible. Separately, the Center is filing a detailed analysis of police reports and lawsuits that shows the dangers of seat back collapse are far greater than what the agency recognizes because seat back collapse is not captured by the FARS database on which the agency has relied for all too long to deny there is a seatback collapse danger.
This is admittedly an interim measure which is made necessary by the continued absence of a federal motor vehicle safety standard requiring that cars be equipped with adequately protective front seats, but it is essential. The agency can take most of the requested steps on its own, without time-consuming rulemaking, and should do so promptly.
Sincerely,
Clarence M. Ditlow Executive Director
cc: Secretary of Transportation
As a mom of nine children (although they are now all adults), this is of great concern to me on behalf of those who don’t have an option of picking a “safer” spot to seat their young children. This warning is not enough; lives are at stake!
Another case of the need for presidential Vision Zero action to end unconscionable, unimaginable, and unethical delays in implementing traffic safety measures!
Tell Obama you are standing with us in this: “Family Continues Fight for Trucking Safety”
When I found out that NHTSA was holding a Driving Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety conference, I asked if they were going to be livestreaming this important event. The event coordinator said they would be and that she would let me know details when they were available.
Here is that information:
Thank you for your interest in the Driving Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety conference that is taking place Thursday, March 10 and Friday, March 11 in Washington. The event will run from 8:30 – 4:30 on Thursday and from 8:30 – Noon on Friday.
NHTSA will be streaming this event live at http://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/symposiums/index.html. The link within that page for the webcast should be live this afternoon.
You may access the agenda by following this link: http://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/symposiums/march2016/index.html
Please share these links with any of your colleagues who might be interested in watching this event. Thank you.
I also asked if it would be taped and made available online. Here is the answer: The plan is for them to be recorded and posted after the event. Our technical team tells me that they should be up Friday afternoon at the latest.
Here is a pdf of the agenda: Driving Behavioral Change in Traffic Safety Conference Agenda
I posted previously on this event/topic: https://annaleahmary.com/2016/02/nhtsa-hosting-discussion-of-the-behavioral-changes-necessary-to-achieve-near-zero-traffic-safety-deaths/
Having studied Health Behavior & Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health (and raised 9 children), I am well aware that simple awareness is not enough to change behavior.
I would also like to see proven safety measures more quickly adopted nationwide: Why on earth don’t we establish National Traffic Safety Standards & require them to be adopted by States?
What would I do if I were the National Traffic Safety Ombudsman?
When we met with DOT policy officials on March 4, we found that we were in agreement on a very important perspective regarding crash fatality causes and solutions: What we need to be addressing is not one thing or another, e.g., improve underride guards OR develop crash avoidance technology. No, no, no. It is not a case of either/or. It is definitely both/and!
Our crash was not an accident and many factors were involved in what came about that day. They all need to be addressed.
My heart is broken and anything less than genuine pursuit of every avenue for safety advancement only serves to deepen the pain.
AnnaLeah, Mary, Marcus, and Vanessa, Spring 2012, Grafa Park, Midland, Texas
Weeping Willow Memories: Mary and AnnaLeah enjoyed a spring-like day in the winter of 2009 at Grafa Park in Midland, Texas. The branches of a weeping willow tree became the setting for the unleashing of their imagination. (Preserved for us by their sister, Susanna Karth)