Tag Archives: National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

STOP Senseless Roadway Deaths: Give Victims a Voice

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

Inaction by federal traffic safety agencies, who are fiercely and disproportionately influenced by industry pressure, has left all road users at risk. As a follow-up to the PBS/Frontline truck underride documentary, on June 22, ProPublica published an article which has exposed the depth of this regulatory capture and the powerlessness of safety activists to bring about change.

If I hadn’t already been aware of most of the details of this report, I might have had a hard time believing it was for real. I’m curious what you think of it. It’s a long read, but worth it!

  • “The Department of Transportation allowed trucking lobbyists to review an unpublished report recommending a safety device that could save lives by preventing pedestrians and cyclists from getting crushed under large trucks. . .
  • But that recommendation generated intense resistance, both internally, from department officials who challenged their findings, and externally, from trucking industry lobbyists. . .
  • After meeting with trucking industry lobbyists in December, 2018, the DOT supervisor overseeing the project emailed researchers: “PLEASE delete any mention of a recommendation to develop…any regulation.” DOT Researchers Suggested a Way to Make Big Trucks Safer. After Meeting With Lobbyists, Agency Officials Rejected the Idea.

If that disturbs you (and it’s just the tip of the iceberg), please sign the petition for a National Roadway Safety Ombudsman so that this kind of regulatory capture doesn’t continue to happen:

STOP Senseless Roadway Deaths: Give Victims a Voice

It’s time to turn the tide and demand that vulnerable victims of vehicle violence be given a vigilant voice at the table. It’s time for a National Roadway Safety Ombudsman to serve the public’s best interests at the Department of Transportation.

Credit to Ken McLeod

The March Madness of Competing Traffic Safety Interests

Safety Advocacy, , , , , , ,

What is it like to compete for the attention of government leaders in order to get traction on the traffic safety problem which took your loved one’s life? Envision a press conference on a hot topic where a cacophony of reporters can be heard shouting out — vying for the opportunity to have their question be the one that gets answered.

Only it is much worse because it seems fundamentally disturbing that we should be pitted against each other in endless competition for action on issues which are all vital to saving lives. In this process, we are fragmented and quite possibly give more power to the opposing forces.

Something’s wrong with this picture. And what I think that we need to turn things around is an Office of National Traffic Safety Ombudsman. Let’s appoint an Advocate with authority to be a strong voice for all of us and a means to bring us together – someone who will strengthen our efforts rather than leave us struggling in some kind of tournament where it is always win or go home.

Congressional Offices are continuously overwhelmed by pleas from advocates representing a multitude of concerns. And, although the Department of Transportation may have many fine individuals working on our behalf, there are clearly too many factors which put a stranglehold on effective action. I have not found that I could count on tangible progress from the agencies which are supposed to represent Safety and traffic victims and which have publicly committed to Vision Zero:

“At FHWA, we believe that a single death is a tragedy; almost 90 deaths a day is unacceptable when we possess the tools and capability to help prevent them. Reaching zero deaths will be difficult, will take time and will require significant effort from all of us; but it is the only acceptable vision. We’re not at zero yet, but we know that by working together we will see a day when there are no fatalities on the Nation’s roadways, sidewalks and bicycle paths.” On TOWARD ZERO DEATHS

“Safety is the top priority of the US DOT. For FHWA, this means a road system that is designed to protect its users, through implementing life-saving programs and infrastructure safety solutions. FHWA’s goal is to reduce transportation related fatalities and serious injuries across the transportation system, and for this reason it fully supports the vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on the Nation’s roads. To support this vision, FHWA continues to work closely with our partners to advance safety culture and a safe system approach, encourage performance-driven transportation safety management practices, and advocate for the deployment of innovative safety countermeasures. Working together, we can strive toward zero, the only acceptable number. “ Zero Deaths – Saving Lives through a Safety Culture and a Safe System

Words without meaningful action do me no good. What is going to bring about significant change? Can we even agree on the need for a united front, an appointed spokesperson, and a nationwide network of concerned citizens to more effectively address all traffic safety concerns?

If we do not, my daughters’ deaths become diminished – their lives apparently not worth saving, along with 40,000 other precious loved ones lost last year and the year before that and the year before that and some 40,000 this year and the next and the next. . .

U.S.A. Crash Death Clock

Mary & her Gertie
Gertie & her Mary

Time for a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

Safety Advocacy,

Almost five years ago, after delivering a Vision Zero Petition to leaders in Washington, D.C., I realized that we need something more than a White House Vision Zero Task Force and a National Vision Zero Goal. We need a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to be at the helm of a nationwide network of community traffic safety advocates. Someone who will have a place at the federal table — with the authority to take ongoing action on behalf of vulnerable victims of vehicle violence.

Observing too little progress after countless hours of underride advocacy in the last 7+ years, and 18,998 days of waiting for DOT to make good on their 1969 commitment to add underride protection to the sides of large vehicles, I know for a fact that we need a vigilant voice in D.C. So I organized a meeting to discuss it last Friday, March 19, 2021.

This is the presentation which I shared to outline just why I think this executive action is so important:

National Traffic Safety Ombudsman PowerPoint 6

National Traffic Safety Ombudsman ppt printout white

National Traffic Safety Act Brochure

Will you join me in the call for this needed action? End Preventable Crash Fatalities: Appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

National Traffic Safety Ombudsman CHARTER – Draft 2021

Supplemental Underride Rulemaking Can Create Loophole In New DOT “Rule On Rules” Just Signed By Secretary Chao

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , , , , , , ,

When supporters of the STOP Underrides! Act of 2019 first hear the news about DOT’s new “rule on rules,” they might moan and sigh and scramble to figure out what next. On December 5, Transportation Secretary solidified the Trump administration’s approach to rulemaking:

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced she has signed a “rule on rules” that will ensure the department’s regulations aren’t too complicated, out of date or contradictory.

When it comes to investigating suspected wrongdoing and enforcing its regulations, the new rules also require the department “where feasible, foster greater private-sector cooperation in enforcement.”

“This effort enhances the Department’s regulatory process by providing greater transparency and strengthening due process in enforcement actions,” Chao said in a statement. Transportation Department cements Trump administration’s deregulatory policies with a ‘rule on rules’

On the one hand, there are hints of good things there in calling for rules that are not out of date, cooperation from the private sector, and greater transparency. But those who have been around the block in safety advocacy are right to be skeptical and devoid of hope for future traffic safety rulemaking.

Yet I remain hopeful knowing that the STOP Underrides Act fits the bill by calling for a Committee On Underride Protection (COUP), whose role is to gather a diverse group of stakeholders to collaboratively keep DOT truly transparent and progressing in underride rulemaking. Will the COUP be included in the upcoming FAST Act language? I’m doing everything that I can to make it a reality.

Now, understandably, it could cause concern that, “The new Transportation Department action formalized a Trump administration requirement that for each regulatory step a department takes, it has to undertake two deregulatory moves.” However, I’m not worried because I know that it would be procedurally acceptable for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to remove the existing 1996 rear underride rules, (two of them — FMVSS 223 & 224), which would satisfy that requirement.

Then, NHTSA could issue a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) as a revision of the December 2015 NPRM underride rulemaking, which was intended to update the 1996 rear underride guard rule. In fact, SNPRMs are a valid means of improving a NPRM — based on Public Comments and new information received subsequent to the initially issued proposed rule.

No one can argue that there has not been plenty of new information on underride which has come to the surface in the last seven years. In fact, the STOP Underrides! Act nicely packages straightforward rules, based on performance standards, to address every form of deadly underride and can easily lead to an Underride SNPRM — all with the help of the Committee On Underride Protection to mold it into the best possible underride protection.

So, in this season of expectant hope, let us eagerly continue a national conversation on the elimination of preventable underride tragedies. Let our goal be to change the face of the trucking industry by making truck crashes more survivable, thus promising a better chance that more people will be home for the holidays.

Members of Congress, Secretary Chao, trucking industry, eager engineers, and families of underride victims, let’s do this together.

(p.s. Let’s also appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman so that motorists and vulnerable road users — victims of every form of traffic violence — can count on a strong voice to authoritatively advocate on their behalf.)

Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration Death Settlements: Another Reason to Have a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

Safety Advocacy, ,

My son is one of those who experienced sudden unintended acceleration while driving his Toyota Camry on a city street. Thankfully, the circumstances were such that he was not killed or injured. But he could have been.

I was worried about him continuing to drive the car. Would it happen again – only this time with a more dire outcome? Posts I wrote at the time:

Read this Fair Warning just-published article: In Echo of a Notorious Safety Scandal, Toyota Has Settled Hundreds of Sudden Acceleration Cases

Without admitting liability, Toyota since 2014 has settled 537 claims blaming sudden acceleration for crashes that killed or seriously injured people, according to a court document Toyota filed last month. Many, but not all, of the lawsuits asserted that electronic defects were the cause of sudden acceleration.

“Toyota has settled most of them, because there is some indication of something going wrong that doesn’t seem to be explained,” Don Slavik, a plaintiff attorney appointed by U.S. District Judge James Selna to assist in the litigation against Toyota, told FairWarning.

How much Toyota has paid in settlements is not publicly known because the company requires plaintiffs to sign a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of each settlement.

Automotive safety advocates see the complaints as a sign that Toyota and federal regulators failed to properly address the root of the problem when they had the opportunity years earlier. . .

Kane, the car safety consultant, says he continues to field calls from drivers who describe their Toyota or Lexus cars suddenly surging in parking lots.  He says that most of these events occur when cars are initially traveling at lower speeds. The cases aren’t serious enough to take to court, but he says that the events make people afraid to drive their own cars and can raise insurance rates if the crashes resulted in property damage.

“It is unbelievable how many sudden unintended acceleration events continue to occur post recall,” Kane told FairWarning. “There are very few high-speed sudden unintended acceleration events, but the lower speeds are a dime a dozen.”

Victims of traffic safety issues clearly need to be represented by an advocate in a position to take significant action to ensure that problems are appropriately addressed. A National Traffic Safety Ombudsman.

We Have Never Before Had a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

Safety Advocacy, , , ,

On September 3, 1969, according to the Congressional Record from that day, Congress discussed plans to fund and expand the National Traffic & Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966. Although we have made progress since that time, still today there are way too many people dying on our roads. We have not made it a national priority to address these deaths and serious injuries.

A National Traffic Safety Act of 2019 would provide a framework for a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to oversee a Towards Zero Traffic Safety Task Force of diverse stakeholders to collaborate for Safer Vehicles, Safer Trucks, Safer Streets, and Safer Drivers to address the national public health and traffic safety crisis in order to make a significant reduction of the 36,560 annual traffic-related deaths in the United States (2018).

Russell Mokhiber, Corporate Crime Reporter, published an interview on this proposed strategy on October 29: Marianne Karth Calls for Creation of National Traffic Safety Ombudsman.

Congress, the ball is in your court: Will you act now to end these deaths?

PETITION: End Preventable Crash Fatalities: Appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

National Traffic Safety Act of 2019 Brochure inc. LINKS

GAO & CRS Analysis on Ombudsman

National Traffic Safety Act (Ombudsman) DRAFT 3

National Traffic Safety Act of 2019 DRAFT 11

Advocating for Transportation Safety: Solving a Major Public Health Problem Is a ‘Winnable Battle’

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

The theme of the 2018 National Public Health Week’s final day was, Advocating for Everyone’s Right to a Healthy Life. The School of Public Health at the University of Michigan chose that day to publish the article,  Advocating for Transportation Safety: Solving a Major Public Health Problem Is a ‘Winnable Battle’.*

Who will protect the public from vulnerability to vehicle violence?

*CDC: Winnable Battle

Korea: “Safety systems must be installed on commercial vehicles even though it comes with a high price tag,”

Truck Safety, , ,

In response to deadly crashes involving commercial motor vehicles, the Korean government is moving to mandate the installation of Forward Collision Warning Systems in buses and large trucks.

To tackle the issue of accidents cause by commercial vehicles, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea has pitched mandating large trucks and buses have the Autonomous Emergency Braking System and Lane Departure Warning System by August last year.

“Accidents involving large size buses and trucks are more deadly than passenger cars. Safety systems must be installed commercial vehicles even though it comes with a high price tag,” said Kim Pil-soo, a professor of automotive engineering at Daelim University. Korea pushes for safety features in commerical vehicles

We could take a cue from this attitude and action here in the U.S. After all, we have our fair share of deadly crashes involving trucks — particularly in construction zones and in conditions where traffic slows and large vehicles, which take longer to come to a stop, all too easily and too often, become unintended weapons causing mass destruction and unexpected Death By Motor Vehicle.

Just look at some of the recent deadly crashes:

If we can do something to reduce these crashes, should we? And, while we’re at it, how about adding comprehensive underride protection, to reduce the deaths and catastrophic injuries which occur with preventable underride?

And on another note: I still think that a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman could be instrumental in addressing these and other traffic safety issues more effectively.

“Why we believe the creation of a road collision investigation branch is urgently needed”

Uncategorized,

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigates some high-profile motor vehicle crashes. But, for the most part, most single motor vehicle crash fatalities don’t get very thorough crash investigation. Like ours.

So I am very intrigued by the proposal to set up a UK Road Collision Investigation Branch:

Great idea! And, while you are at it, appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman to be its Vigilant Voice for Vulnerable Victims of Vehicle Violence! http://tinyurl.com/jh7ka64

And take a look at this article on crash testing which I re-discovered last night: Creating Demand For Crash Testing, by Lou Lombardo

Further thoughts on this idea: What if Vehicle Manufacturers were required to do a Crash Reconstruction of crashes involving their vehicles?

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