Tag Archives: Vision Zero

Media Advisory: Delivery of Vision Zero Petition to DC & Release of our Vision Zero Petition Book

AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy,

Plans are being finalized for our delivery of almost 20,000 Vision Zero Petitions to Washington on March 3 and 4. Details are available in this Karth Vision Zero Media Advisory.

We have published a 544 page book to take with us to Washington to show government officials what we are talking about when we are asking for Vision Zero: Towards Zero Crash Deaths & Serious Injuries. The book contains all of the Vision Zero Petition signatures along with the specific details of our requests for:

  1. A National Vision Zero Goal.
  2. A White House Vision Zero Task Force.
  3. A Vision Zero Executive Order.
  4. DOT Vision Zero Rulemaking Policy (and specifically applied to the truck underride rule).

Here is a PDF: Vision Zero Petition Book Feb 2016.

The book can be purchased here.

This is our current Washington schedule (subject to change):
  • 9 a.m. March 3, Rep. Ellmers’ staff
  • 10 a.m., March 3, Rep. Cartwright’s staff
  • 11 a.m., March 3, Rep. Holding’s staff
  • noon, March 3, Sen. Isakson’s staff
  • 2 p.m., March 3, joint meeting with Sen. Blumenthal’s staff & Sen. Markey’s staff
  • 9 a.m., March 4, Sen. Burr’s staff
  • 11 a.m., March 4, DOT policy officials
  • 1:30 p.m., March 4, Underride Roundtable planning meeting

Heading for the finish line (of this race anyway). We’ll be driving to Washington tomorrow. Help us get 20,000 signatures before we leave the house.

Sign & Share our Vision Zero Petition

8 Picture 657Speak out for AnnaLeah & MaryVision Zero Book 024Vision Zero Petition Book Cover

 

Pressing on toward the goal: Taking the Vision Zero Petition to DC, 150 short of 20,000

Safety Advocacy,

See the Karth Vision Zero Media Advisory for our upcoming trip to Washington this week.

Sign the Petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/

With the help of less than 200 more people, we will take 20,000 signatures to Washington March 4.

AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy,

gertie 881

“Awesome!” Mary might say. “Cooooooooooool!”

Sign the Vision Zero Petition Here

Signer #19,726 commented on our Vision Zero Petition

Safety Advocacy, ,

I just checked the petition site and saw that we are at 19,726. Most recent person to sign added this comment:

Make USA safer, please. My girlfriend in USA got involved in a crash and it was just luck that saved her. She is worth more than any cost to me. Cost of a life is priceless. Please see the emotional side of all the world, please.

Vision Zero Petition Book Cover

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/

Byron Bloch on Auto Safety, Federal Pre-Emption & Vision Zero, Corporate Crime Reporter, Jan. 2011

AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, ,

I was interviewed yesterday by Russell Mokhiber, editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter. He just shared this 2011 article with me:

Byron Bloch on Auto Safety, Federal Pre-Emption and Vision Zero 25 Corporate Crime Reporter 3, January 17, 2011

Here is an excerpt from that article:

The case focuses on a federal rule that allows auto makers to use a seat belt only – without a shoulder belt – on seats next to an aisle in the middle row of a minivan.

In the case in question, the passenger in that middle row seat next to the aisle was killed when the Mazda minivan she was riding in was involved in a head on collision. She was wearing the only belt available – the seat belt – and she jack-knifed – causing fatal internal injuries.

Mazda argued that the federal rule allowing it to put only a seat belt on that middle row seat – without a shoulder belt – pre-empts state common law.

The appellate court agreed with Mazda and the plaintiff appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Auto safety expert Byron Bloch was at the Supreme Court when the justices heard the oral argument in the case last November.

He’s not optimistic about the outcome.

“Chief Justice Roberts focused on various of the economic factors,” Bloch said in an interview with Corporate Crime Reporter last week. “He thought that was an important consideration. Having a shoulder belt might cost Mazda more money. And shouldn’t Mazda be allowed to make economic decisions with regard to these various safety devices in a vehicle?”

Very interesting. Safety vs Profit.

Safety is not a priority 002

Safety: I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Less than 400 signatures needed to reach 20,000 on our Vision Zero Petition. Washington: March 4

AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

Save Lives Not Dollars: Urge DOT to Adopt a Vision Zero Policy Help us take 20,000 signatures to Washington on March 4. Less than 400 to go!

The AnnaLeah & Mary Memorial Facebook Page got Unpublished last night because someone flagged it for inappropriate content due to Community Guidelines. I had just posted this same call to action–only with a crash scene photo which I have posted countless times before.

No explanation of what post or what the supposed violation consisted of and no way to ask any questions for clarification. Just a button to click: APPEAL.

This is what the Facebook Notification message said:

 Your page has been unpublished
Your Page is currently not visible on Facebook. It looks like content posted on your Page doesn’t follow the Facebook Terms and Community Standards, so your Page was unpublished. These Terms and Standards help ensure Facebook remains a welcoming, respectful environment.
We work hard to prevent actions that compromise people’s privacy or security on Facebook, including contacting people for commercial purposes without their consent.
If you think your Page was unpublished in error, you can appeal. Before you appeal, we suggest removing any violating content from your Page. Please keep in mind that if your appeal is denied, your Page will be permanently deleted.
You appealed this decision Yesterday at 11:44pm

Facebook Community Guidelines: https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards

I’m waiting to hear if my Appeal will overturn that decision. Please pray that it get resolved quickly so that I will be able to post updates on that page when we take the Petition to Washington on March 4.

Meanwhile, please share this post and sign our Vision Zero Petition if you have not already done so. In memory of Mary & AnnaLeah. Thank you: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/…/save-lives-not-dollars-ur…/

Speak out for AnnaLeah & Mary

 

A Canadian comments on the US proposed adoption of Canadian underride standard

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

Insightful Public Comment from a Canadian road safety expert on the NPRM for upgrade of Rear Underride:

Comment from Neil Arason

Regarding the above noted proposed rulemaking, I support fully a new rear guard standard that exceeds the Canadian standard, which was developed some time ago and that current research shows does not provide adequate passenger compartment protection in all crash scenarios. I also support fully that the new standard apply to all trucks including single unit ones. I believe the NHTSA has overestimated the costs and underestimated the benefits of such changes. More importantly, however, we must modernize the very way we think about road safety in the United States and Canada. We need to make the default design for every car, truck and bus to be one that simply minimizes all levels of human harm.

The use of a cost-benefit analysis for motor vehicle design and upgrades represents outdated thinking. The air, marine and rail industries have a much more forward approach when it comes to safety and more often works to ensure that these modes are safe for all persons. We must do the same with motor vehicles as the use of cost-benefit analysis involves assigning a monetary value to a human life and it is unethical and crass to do that.

Thank you for considering my comments on this important matter.

Regards,
Neil Arason

Underride NPRM screenshot 007

No Accident: Eliminating Injury and Death on Canadian Roads

AnnaLeah & Mary are “going to Washington, DC”; Vision Zero meetings March 3 & 4

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

Vision Zero Book 016

Jerry, Isaac, and I are taking over 19,000 Vision Zero Petitions to Washington, D.C., next week. This time we are not taking them in individual envelopes. Instead, we have compiled a printed book (designed by Isaac) with the 16,516 signatures which we had on February 12–along with:

  • the petition letter to Secretary Foxx
  • the petition letter to President Obama
  • explanations of what we mean by Vision Zero, along with examples of practical application of a Vision Zero Goal
  • also, what we are asking for in an action plan, including a National Vision Zero Goal, a White House-mandated Vision Zero Task Force, and a Vision Zero Executive Order.
  • Comments from signers of the petitions
  • and links to all of the Vision Zero posts on the annaleahmary.com website.

We will also be making a pdf of the book available. And Care2 (ThePetitionSite) will be printing off all of the petition signatures, as of next week, and delivering them to us in a binder to take to Secretary Foxx.

On March 3 and 4, we have multiple meetings scheduled in Washington to discuss our requests and petition our country’s leaders to take decisive action.

This is our current Washington schedule (subject to change):
  • 9 a.m. March 3, Rep. Ellmers’ staff
  • 10 a.m., March 3, Rep. Cartwright’s staff
  • 11 a.m., March 3, Rep. Holding’s staff
  • noon, March 3, Sen. Isakson’s staff
  • 2 p.m., March 3, joint meeting with Sen. Blumenthal’s staff & Sen. Markey’s staff
  • 9 a.m., March 4, Sen. Burr’s staff
  • 11 a.m., March 4, DOT policy officials
  • 1:30 p.m., March 4, Underride Roundtable planning meeting

We have also arranged to have a Petition Book delivered to President Obama. When my granddaughter, Vanessa (6), saw the stack of books in my bedroom, she asked why they were still there. I explained that we were going to Washington next week and about the meetings and all of the people to whom we were going to be giving books.

Vanessa remembered going with us to deliver the first petition in May 2014. At 4, she sat quietly and “took notes.” Yesterday, she decided that she wanted to write a letter to the president to tell him that she missed Aunt Mary and Aunt AnnaLeah. So we will be taking that as well.

EO 12866 vs Vision Zero Executive Order: The Underride Network calls for decisive action

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

The following is a post on The Underride Network by Stephen Hadley who lost his wife in a side underride crash twenty years ago. He expressed his concern about side underride protection and about how Bill Clinton’s Executive Order 12866 has made it difficult to pass effective government agency rules.

When I learned about Executive Order 12866 last year, I was motivated to draft a new Executive Order for Obama to sign which would override the negative effects of EO 12866. This is what we are taking to Washington on March 4: Executive Order Draft 2 Application of Vision Zero Principles to Highway Safety Regulatory Review.

Tag Archives: Vision Zero Executive Order

Here is Steve Hadley’s recent post on this topic:

Two life-long best friends each had little sisters that were also life-long friends. I and my best friend were riding in the back seat of a drivers education car when we crashed into someone’s front yard. My best friend’s big brother married the little sister driving that car, a few years later, she died underneath the side of a truck trailer. My wife Tamara Hadley, the other little sister died underneath the rear of an illegally parked truck trailer with a Clinton rear underride guard.
 
President Bill Clinton updated Ronald Reagan’s Executive orders establishing cost-benefit analysis with Executive Order 12866. These orders limiting corporate costs of safety regulations have made it almost impossible to pass effective government agency rules for over twenty years. . . 

. . . NHTSA wants to just legalize the guards already on the road as did the Clinton Administration twenty years ago. Studies could not find statistical improvement in lives saved by these guards. We estimate at least 6,000 extra Americans died because the administration blocked better guards that had been tested at higher speeds. We call these rear guards of the last twenty years the Clinton guillotine guards. If the new regulation by the Obama Administration is approved as presented to just legalize existing guards, they will now be known as Obama guillotine guards. . .
 
. . . We have fought for Vision Zero regulatory safeguards to replace Clinton cost-benefit rules for twenty years to save thousands of lives. Destroying the meaning of Vision Zero and the meaning of side guards will cripple our efforts for national rules and regulations. Cost-benefit analysis has killed tens of thousands of Americans and given us corporate control of our government and portions of our economy. . .
 
Total truck related fatalities in 2013 were 3,964, 338 were pedestrians and 78 were bicyclists or about 10.5% were vulnerable road users. 585 or 15% of total fatal crashes were to the side of the truck in cars in 2013. Most fatal victims die in crashes to the front of the truck. If we design side skirts that only save vulnerable road users we will only save a small percentage of victims leaving most victims including many children to die in car crashes. Many of my friends lost their children in these crashes. . . 
  
Vision Zero means stop killing the children! Even those unworthy souls in cars too! Work with us to save lives, not against us. Over a million Americans have been killed and injured in crashes with trucks. A bad law in America can kill tens or hundreds of thousands overseas as our regulations are copied or not exceeded around the globe. Easily, the Clinton guards in the last twenty years killed a hundred thousand extra souls around the world which would have been saved with available stronger rear guards.

Read the full article here: NYC Vision Zero and phony side guards will wreck national safety efforts
http://www.underridenetwork.org .
http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/54000/54700/54711/Truck_Sideguards_NYC.pdf
http://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/Utilities/EO_12866.pdf

Aaron Kiefer underride design prototype photo

Aaron Kiefer’s prototype of an innovative retrofitting side/rear underride guard

Additional response from trucking industry to our request for voluntary action on underride problem

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

In our efforts to not only improve regulatory federal standards on underride guards but, also, to catalyze voluntary industry improvement, we heard back from several companies to whom we had written, including:

  • UPS in Atlanta (Dan)
  • CR England (Chad England)
  • Extra Mile Transportation (Brent)
  • J.B. Hunt (Greer Woodruff, Lowell, AK
  • UPS (buys from Great Dane)
  • FedEx

Chad England committed his company to looking into the matter seriously. (CR England) And Dean Engelage (Great Dane) invited Jerry and I to visit their Research & Design Center in Savannah in June 2014:

Jerry,

We’re looking forward to hosting you and your wife next week.  I thought we would start the day off with an 8:30 am breakfast at a local favorite, J. Christopher’s which is near the hotel 122 E Liberty Street.  Brandie Fuller, our VP of Marketing, will join us.  Parking for the restaurant is street-side at a meter. 

We’ll then head to the Great Dane office which is also close by.  A series of meetings and a tour of our R&D lab followed by lunch.  If all goes as planned we should be finished right after lunch. 
I look forward to meeting you both and safe travels to Savannah. If you have any questions, please email me or call me.
Regards,
Dean Engelage 
President 
Great Dane
Underride guards Great Dane trip 040Underride guards Great Dane trip 044

This is what we learned from the Great Dane visit: Underride Guards: Can we “sit down at the table together” and work this out?

In addition, we received a letter from Brent Hudson at Extra Mile Transportation:

I am in receipt of your letter and packet dated 17 Feb 14.

First, let me offer you my most sincere condolences on the loss of your beautiful daughters.  I have a daughter who is two months shy of her 18th birthday, so I do not even want to imagine the heartache associated with this tragedy.  I can only offer you my most sincere respect in working to turn such a tragedy into something good.

 Extra Mile Transportation is a non-asset based, third party freight broker.  That means that we don’t own any equipment, we contract out for everything we move.  However, we are in a position to exert some influence on this matter.  By copy of this email, I am requesting our Director of Logistical Solutions incorporate this awareness campaign into some of his efforts.  I will be meeting with him to go over this issue and we’ll see what impact we may have.

 I wish you only the best for the times you share with your other children and hope that your memories of Mary and AnnaLeah continue to have a positive impact on our safety.

 My warmest personal regards,

 Brent Hudson, Vice President

Extra Mile Transportation

For more details of our efforts in reaching out to the trucking industry and, in particular, the encouraging response from J. B. Hunt, see: An unexpected phone call from a trailer buyer with good news on underride guards

All in all, we are hopeful that the combination of calling for both more appropriate regulations through Vision Zero rulemaking and, at the same time, voluntary action will yield the desired result–SAVED LIVES. Together, we can do this!

Taking the Vision Zero Petition to DC on March 3 & 4! Sign & Share: Save Lives Not Dollars: Urge DOT to Adopt a Vision Zero Policy