Tag Archives: safety advocacy

Be a part of our team to promote safety & save lives

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

We appreciate all of the people who signed the  AnnaLeah & Mary Stand Up For Truck Safety Petition. Together with over 11,000 people, we helped to send a strong message to the Department of Transportation: Changes are needed in truck safety issues in order to stop the senseless, preventable deaths which occur year after year on the roads of our country.

Please act now to be a part of our team to continue our push for change. The most important thing which you can do is to stay connected with us by signing up to be on our Mailing List (get our newsletter and other important updates).  As we continue to make inroads in truck safety issues, your participation is vital.  We would like to be able to let you know when there is a way for you to help make a difference. You can multiply our safety advocacy efforts.

Newscast from our trip to DC to deliver the petitions to DOT:

To read more about the impact of our petition and what we want to continue to do, read more here: https://annaleahmary.com/how-you-can-help/

Other ways you can be involved:

1. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryandAnnaLeah

2. Sign up for email notification of new posts on our website.  You only need to provide your email address. You can be confident that we will use it only to send you notification of our posts. Click on the SUBSCRIBE button on the bottom right column of our website.

3. When you read our posts, take advantage of the opportunity to share it by clicking on the social media icons at the bottom of each post.

4. Subscribe to the Truck Safety Coalition’s Email List to receive their “Action Alerts” and other News Updates. Click here:  http://trucksafety.org/karth-family-and-truck-safety-coalitions-next-steps/

5. Like the Truck Safety Coalition’s Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/trucksafetycoalition

6. Follow the Truck Safety Coalition on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TruckSafetyOrg?lang=en

For those of you who have lost a loved one yourself in a truck crash, please consider sharing a photo and story with us on our Truck Crash Victim Photo Memorial Page. Not only will this allow us to help you preserve your loved one’s memory, but it will also serve as a reminder of the countless lives which have been touched by preventable truck crashes. Send your information to us here: photos@annaleahmary.com .

On behalf of the family of AnnaLeah & Mary Lydia Karth, whose loss we feel so deeply,
Jerry and Marianne Karth

Picture 275AnnaLeah writing

Truck Safety Advocacy: Make Safe Happen

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, ,

Like most anyone else, I wasn’t prepared for how the Nationwide Make Safe Happen Superbowl commercial turned out.  And, as a mom of two teenage daughters who died as a result of a potentially-preventable truck crash (through no fault of their own), it triggered memories of many grieving moments when I realize all of the things that AnnaLeah and Mary will never do again–or never do at all.

But I appreciate the effort that Nationwide made to draw attention to preventable deaths and catalyze a nation-wide conversation about safety.  We will never completely stop all “accidental” deaths. But we can do a whole lot to save one life at a time. 

Here’s our story and my thoughts on MakeSafeHappen:  http://youtu.be/mwdfYzNowtQ

Thank you, Nationwide, for this conversation-starter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKUy-tfrIHY. I would have produced & aired a commercial like that about truck safety if I had had the resources. It was a brilliant move!

The Passion of This Safety Advocate

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , ,

It gets really tiresome to hear the trucking industry come up with the same statements time after time after time.

Nearly every time I read an article written about our crash, there are the obligatory responses from the trucking industry. Invariably, they try to shift the responsibility off of themselves to make the changes sought after and, instead, bring up some alternative solution to the “problem.”

This can be seen in the latest article by Bloomberg News about our story and underride guards: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-16/dead-girls-mom-says-100-truck-fix-may-have-saved-them.html

“‘The passion that Karth brings to the debate won’t necessarily solve the problem,’ said Sean McNally, a spokesman for the American Trucking Associations, the industry’s largest advocacy group. ‘Instead, regulators will be more effective if they focus on such measures as crash-avoidance technology and such simple steps as education to encourage better driving by both trucks and cars.

“’All crashes are tragic, and as a result discussions about highway safety are often touched by strong emotions,’ McNally said. ‘However, we should not use emotions as the basis for regulations. Regulations need to be grounded on strong research, science and data.’”

What does he think the problem is?! And has he even bothered to look at the strong research, science, and data reported on by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) regarding underride guards? Does he truly think that this is an either/or situation?

He just doesn’t seem to get it. He thinks the passion is simply my deep grief over the loss of my daughters. He doesn’t have a clue that that very real pain is amplified by anger and frustration over the callous attitude and denial of responsibility that too often is expressed by spokespersons of the trucking industry–and which, of course, gets played out in their decisions and actions on matters related to safety.

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The Rest of the Story

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

If you took the time to read about our crash in the Bloomberg News article published today, please don’t stop there. I want you to understand the entire scope of our concern about truck safety; and it is NOT all about being upset with the truck drivers.

 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-01/mom-takes-on-truckers-after-highway-wreck-kills-daughters.html

Please read the post I wrote back in July, called “Our Crash Was Not An Accident.” It summarizes what I am trying to say and why, if we really want changes made in truck safety, we cannot just read and talk and complain about it.

We need to solve this problem together.

 https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/our-crash-was-not-an-accident/

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Truck Driver Training Requirements Long Overdue

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , , ,

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Would AnnaLeah & Mary be here now to enjoy another beautiful autumn day. . . if the truck driver had been required to go through more rigorous and complete driver training before he got his CDL?

Yesterday, a number of safety groups announced that they are suing the federal government in an attempt to increase the requirements for obtaining a CDL. Read about it here: http://trucksafety.org/safety-advocates-teamsters-sue-u-s-dot-failing-issue-long-overdue-truck-driver-training-requirements/

“Congress initially told the agency to finish a rulemaking process on driver training by 1993, but the agency still has not done so.

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH), and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed the suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia against the DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the agency charged with issuing the rule. Public Citizen is representing the groups.”

Let’s stop dragging our feet. . . this is not rocket science (as Jerry likes to say)!

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Truck Safety Needs Bipartisan Support: Protecting its citizens is one of the basic purposes of government

Truck Safety, , , , , , , , , , ,

I would have to say that I prefer smaller government. But I do think that protecting its citizens is one of the basic purposes of government. “Truck safety” is, for the most part, about protecting travelers on the road. It is a public health problem and should get bipartisan support. http://www.laissez-fairerepublic.com/benson.htm

You know, I lost my youngest two daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), due to a truck crash on May 4, 2013. That’s what made me become a passionate advocate for safer roads. That is why I became convinced that this problem needs to be addressed in a big way. That’s why I think that a federal task force might be what is needed to tackle this issue: https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/our-crash-was-not-an-accident/

Our petition site is still open…’though we are doing nothing to promote it, people are still finding it and signing it in support of “truck safety.” 11,415 and counting (plus 150 mailed-in signatures):

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/957/501/869/stand-up-for-truck-safety.

When the going gets rough and I feel like forgetting about it all, this is what I remember:  http://youtu.be/FyhJdl1oD24