Tag Archives: Traffic Safety Ombudsman

New Care2 Petition to End Preventable Crash Deaths: Appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman

After one more awful truck crash tragedy last weekend, I decided to launch a new petition on Care2 where we had our previous petitions.

This happened on Sunday in Nebraska: Young family killed in I-80 crash was headed to Colorado for missionary training

Oh, and here is another deadly truck underride crash which just happened yesterday in Michigan! Car lodged under semi trailer in crash; 1 dead

Please sign, share & promote this needed action. Stand up with us & help us work to bring about effective strategies to address this problem which touches us all.

End Preventable Crash Fatalities: Appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman

Care2 Petition: http://tinyurl.com/hep29wg

Tragic deaths17hou5

 

One more terrible truck crash tragedy. When will we set traffic safety as a national goal?

My petition on the White House website asking President Obama to appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman did not get the necessary 100,000 signatures within 30 days. It was archived yesterday.

So now the White House will not have to tell me why they will not do this thing — appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman — which could help to end senseless road tragedies.

Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition calls for a Visible, Vigilant Voice for Vulnerable Road Users (Us)

After posting today on facebook about another terrible truck crash tragedy, this website is getting a lot of views. I wish this were behind us and I didn’t have reason to keep writing and fighting for safer roads. But here I am reminding myself that, yes, a Traffic Safety Ombudsman would be a good thing.

But who will listen? What should I do next? Who will work with me?

Next 4 yearsTragic deaths

I have not heard one word from Washington, D.C., about our 20,000 Vision Zero Petition signatures. That’s a problem. Either they think they are already doing what that Petition requests (with which I would disagree) OR they don’t think that it is important enough to do anything about. That is something which we should all rise up about.

In fact, how I envision it is that the Traffic Safety Ombudsman would be the person to implement the requests of the Vision Zero Petition. Small businesses have a National Ombudsman. Why not do the same for the victims of tragic, preventable traffic crashes?

What are we waiting for?! This would be the perfect complement to our Vision Zero Petition requests for a National Vision Zero Goal, a White House Vision Zero Task Force, and a Vision Zero Executive Order. In fact, the Traffic Safety Ombuds(man) (Advocate) would fit in extremely well with this plan and, now that I think about it, is actually probably the missing piece of the puzzle for making Vision Zero a viable goal:

  1. The Traffic Safety Ombuds would develop, refine, and monitor the pursuit of a National Vision Zero Goal.
  2. The Traffic Safety Ombuds would oversee the White House Vision Zero Task Force.
  3. The Traffic Safety Ombuds would be the watchdog to make sure that the Vision Zero Executive Order and Vision Zero rulemaking were carried out appropriately on behalf of travelers on the road.

Makes sense to me. Because, really, who would be given the responsibility and authority to oversee these things otherwise?!

“E-Class: Saving Lives with Fine Print”

Advice from Roger Lanctot for future of car safety technology:

Television spots for cars are becoming a little like pharmaceutical ads filled with fine print and warnings about side effects and clarifications.  Safety advocates are taking Mercedes to task for its latest TV ads for the 2017 E Class, claiming that the car company is misleading consumers into thinking the car can drive itself.  For me, fine print is the trade-off on the road to saving lives.

E-Class: Saving Lives with Fine Print

Another thing which I think that a Traffic Safety Ombudsman could initiate with a nationwide network of traffic safety community advocacy groups: hold community educational seminars to better equip drivers to make best use of the safety technology available — now and in the not-too-far future.

Tragic deaths

Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2015 Show a 7.7% Increase to 35,200 Deaths

Does a 7.7% hike in crash deaths indicate a problem–requiring a solution? Or is it just me?

A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for 2015 shows that an estimated 35,200 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes. This represents an increase of about 7.7 percent as compared to the 32,675 fatalities that were reported to have occurred in 2014, as shown in Table 1. From NHTSAEarly Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2015

This page shows the change in crashes by region of the country and crash/person type:  Crash Stats by REGION and CRASH TYPE_ Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2015

Charts on that page show that truck crash fatalities have gone up by 4%, pedestrian fatalities by 10%, and fatal crashes involving young drivers by 10%.

What more will it take to convince us that traffic safety needs to be a priority and that potential crash victims (you and I) need a strong voice to advocate on their behalf?

17hou5

Why on earth am I asking for another government-funded worker — a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman? And whatever would that person do anyway? Read more here:

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

2,200 more people died from traffic crashes than in 2014? 2,200 more families struggling with unimaginable grief?

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

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:

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

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:

Violent Deaths

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

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

179438Irreversible & Regrettable

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

 

Neil Arason, a Canadian road safety expert, shares his thoughts on a Nat’l Traffic Safety Ombudsman

I asked Neil Arason, a Canadian road safety expert, about his thoughts on the idea of a Traffic Safety Ombudsman. This is what he shared with me. . .

Hi, Marianne,

I think what you do right now is very close to that of an ombudsman.  I can’t tell you how critical it is to have safety advocates. Most changes happen because of them.

If I think of good examples of road safety advocacy, they include people like you, and also Clarence Ditlow.  Government needs to know people are watching them, and advocates do a good job of getting issues out into the mainstream media and that is extraordinarily powerful and important.

An office of the ombudsman would be similar to an advocacy centre except typically it is an arm of government, albeit one that has some independence.  We need to have safety advocates who are completely independent and powerful, and then on top of that as many other tools and structures for change.

I think that a traffic safety ombudsman would be one more thing that would help the overall cause. Because it is essentially an arm of government, however, it will likely be much more difficult to set up, whereas Ralph Nader just went ahead and set up the Center for Automotive Safety (directed by Clarence Ditlow), and that was that. (Although Nader had some startup capital from events that began in the late 1960s.)

Nonetheless, anyone can get into the business of advocacy and set up a centre or whatever they end up calling it.  Advocacy groups work toward wholesale change in the very way that road safety is treated, the priority given to it, etc.

The ombudsman type offices, I am aware of, exist so that folks can take complaints to them, and then the Ombudsman (and its paid staff) investigate those complaints with a view to resolving them. The ombudsman works to ensure “fairness” really in decision-making. I’m not aware of any examples of how an ombudsman would work in traffic safety because I am not aware of such a function today.

When people have complaints about some road safety failure, they largely take them to lawyers it seems. I am aware of examples of the role of the ombudsman in other government sectors like income assistance, where a citizen makes a complaint and goes to the ombudsman. This works well because the government agency really stands up and notices when they get a call from the office of the ombudsman, and they really make an effort to resolve the issue.

A traffic safety ombudsman could investigate complaints with a view to making large policy changes.  I would imagine that many victims’ families have no idea at first how to navigate the system. Access to an ombudsman could not just help to investigate their complaint for them, but could give them all manner of advice about where to go and what to do, e.g., use a lawyer, go to media, lobby directly, point them to various agencies for help, etc., etc.

Imagine if the ombudsman had people like you who could share with them what they know about how to get things done. The ombudsman could, I suppose, be a bit of an “information broker” in addition to its role as complaint investigator.  Such an office might help people to direct their energies in ways that will do the most amount of good.

I’m no expert on any of this, that is for sure, Marianne.  The only thing I know, from my own experience, is that almost all changes come from outside government and from advocates, lobbyists and the media.  These are the powers that governments all around the world seem to respond to. To follow then, we need as many mechanisms as possible to support more lobbyists, advocates, and media to focus on road safety.  An ombudsman would help enormously with that.

I hope some of this helps in some way.

Neil

Thank you

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

What are we waiting for

Can you hear me @POTUS? Appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman: What are we waiting for? #VisionZero

Can you hear me, President Obama, up there in the White House? Appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman: What are we waiting for?

August 3 Update: The link in those Tweets is to an expired petition on the White House site. Please sign our new petition at Care2: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/384/321/600/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-appoint-a-national-traffic-safety-ombudsman/

This is my plea (loaded with links, and even a typo!) in a nutshell:

What are we waiting for

Traffic Safety Ombudsman Message: Hoping the White House Can Hear My Plea! @POTUS #VisionZero

August 3 UPDATE: The petition on the White House site is expired. Please sign our new Traffic Safety Ombudsman Petition at Care2;  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/384/321/600/end-preventable-crash-fatalities-appoint-a-national-traffic-safety-ombudsman/

Getting the message out loud & clear with multiple Tweets (loaded with links) to

End Preventable Crash Fatalities: Appoint a Traffic Safety Ombudsman!

What are we waiting for