Tag Archives: Vision Zero

“Advocates garnering signatures” Rocky Mount Reporter Tells Our Story

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety,

A local reporter from the Rocky Mount Telegram, Brie Handgraaf,  has followed our story ever since shortly after our truck crash in May 2013. We had been living in Rocky Mount for less than a year after moving here from West Texas. She has skillfully told the story of our girls, our crash, and our efforts to bring about change in highway safety.

Shortly after we launched our Vision Zero Petition, she interviewed Jerry and I again to find out the details of our second online petition–after having closely followed our first petition in 2014–as well as our efforts to promote improved underride guards through underride research.

Her article was just published online and, as usual, she did an excellent job of telling our story in a way that enlightens the reader:  https://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/advocates-garnering-signatures-3009111

The newspaper is still working to make the article accessible online. Until then, you can read the article here: https://annaleahmary.com/2015/10/advocates-garnering-signatures-front-page-story-in-rocky-mount-telegram-almost-11000-signatures/

I want to clarify a few points so that there is no misunderstanding.

  • First of all, while the Secretary of Transportation in 1974 indicated that underride deaths would have to quadruple before underride protection would be considered cost-beneficial, the federal standards have been improved since that time. However, the problem is that it has been shown that the current standards, required as of 1998, are known to be weak and ineffective–resulting in many preventable underride deaths each year. Our concern is that the new rulemaking being considered now for the purpose of improving underride guards might likewise be judged to not be cost effective–as is hinted at in NHTSA’s preliminary Cost-Benefit Analysis in this document on Single Unit Trucks: “While not directly comparable, the preliminary estimates for rear impact guards on SUTs (minimum of $106.7 million per equivalent lives saved) is a strong indicator that these systems will not be cost effective (current VSL $9.2 million).”   https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/07/23/2015-17973/rear-impact-protection-lamps-reflective-devices-and-associated-equipment-single-unit-trucks
  • Secondly, although we have received a research proposal from Dean Sicking for the design and testing of an underride protection system, at this time he does not have the funding to do the research. So, unless we are able to raise the money for his underride research project, it will not be carried out and we will not be able to find out if his ideas could be more effective than the current underride guard standards and save lives.
  • Finally, we have been in contact with some people from Australia–although not specifically from the Transport Accident Commission which produced the “Toward Zero” Youtube video: https://youtu.be/bsyvrkEjoXI The people we have talked with are two research engineers from Australia, George Rechnitzer and Raphael Grzebieta, of the Transport and Road Safety (TARS) Research unit at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). They have researched and tested designs for improved underride guards and we are hopeful that they will be able to share their findings in the U.S. at our Underride Roundtable.

It is our hope that the research and commitment of many individuals and organizations around the globe, together with a call for a more compassionate Vision Zero approach to regulating highway safety will make an impact. We hope that many will come to understand these issues and join us in calling for change.

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AnnaLeah & Mary on a walk in Battle Park in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where they lived for less than a year before the crash on May 4, 2013 ended their lives.

Sign & Share our Vision Zero Petition:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/

Support Underride Research: https://www.fortrucksafety.com/

 

Watch Volvo’s Truck Collision Warning Emergency Braking System

Truck Safety, ,

Aaron Kiefer, crash reconstructionist from Cary, NC, toured Volvo in Sweden this summer and learned about their Vision Zero attitude. He recently shared this Youtube video with me which describes Volvo’s truck collision avoiding emergency braking system.

“Published on Jun 24, 2013

In the first episode of Trucks’ Anatomy we take a close look at the revolutionary Collision Warning with Emergency Brake system. Your host Peter Sundfeldt, one of Sweden’s best-known motor journalists will guide you through the test.

Watch the original Emergency Braking video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ridS39…

How does a truck really work? How is it built? How is it developed? Volvo Trucks YouTube-series “Truck’s Anatomy” gives you the answers.

Visit Volvo Trucks website:
http://www.volvotrucks.com

Volvo Trucks in social media:
http://www.facebook.com/VolvoTrucks
http://www.youtube.com/user/VolvoTrucks
https://twitter.com/#!/VolvoTrucks
http://www.flickr.com/photos/volvotrucks”

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

Note our 3 requests in that petition:

1. Change DOT rulemaking policy to move away from a cost/benefit model and adopt a more humanistic, rational Vision Zero safety strategy model.

2. Apply Vision Zero principles by requiring crash test-based performance standards for truck underride guards rather than force-based design standards along with success at higher speeds—to include rear (both centered and offset) and side guards for both Single Unit Trucks and trailers.

3. Apply Vision Zero principles by initiating rulemaking to require forward collision avoidance and mitigation braking (F-CAM) systems on all new large trucks and buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 lbs. or more.

Please sign & share our Vision Zero Petition to SAVE LIVES!

When will we figure out that somebody’s getting away with murder?

Truck Safety, , , ,

The EPA apparently has more authority than NHTSA to give out consequences that really hurt the corporate pocketbook:

“It Took E.P.A. Pressure to Get VW to Admit Fault”
By BILL VLASIC and AARON M. KESSLER SEPT. 21,  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/business/it-took-epa-pressure-to-get-vw-to-admit-fault.html

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, for example, can impose a maximum penalty of $35 million on an automaker that flouts safety regulations — a relatively low sum for a company like General Motors, which last year paid such a fine for a defect that has now been linked to at least 124 deaths.

By contrast, under the Clean Air Act, Volkswagen, the world’s largest automaker, could be fined as much as $37,500 for each recalled vehicle, for a possible total penalty of as much as $18 billion.

“The Clean Air Act statutory scheme gives E.P.A. more power and flexibility to move more quickly than N.H.T.S.A.,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, who has studied the government’s response to auto safety issues. “E.P.A. also seems more tough-minded and savvy about how to be effective in this arena.” . . .

And why do we let this go on and on and on? Why does corporate profit always win out over human life? Can we blame it on ignorance–theirs or ours?

Michael Moore’s answer:  . . the cause of this tragedy is an economic system that places profit above everything else, including—and especially—human life. GM has a legal and fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders to make the biggest profits that it can. And if their top people crunch the numbers and can show that they will save more money by NOT fixing or replacing the part, then that is what they are going to . . . well do.   http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/09/17/justice-department-lets-giant-corporation-evade-prosecution-deaths-over-100-people

Maybe it’s time for a change. Maybe we need to recognize that companies and individuals who make decisions and take actions which lead to unnecessary deaths on our roads should be held accountable for their criminal negligence. Maybe we should use the word manslaughter (look it up). At the very least, they should get more than a slap on the wrist. It appears that merely appealing to their conscience is not going to do the trick.

The question is, Will we rise up and demand change? Wake up, America. It could be you or your loved one that ends up dead on the road because somebody else was allowed to get away with murder*.

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I suppose we’ll never know what all went into this result on May 4, 2013.  https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/our-crash-was-not-an-accident/

* To escape punishment for or detection of an egregiously blameworthy act . . . to not be punished for bad behavior. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/get+away+with+murder

Interesting. . .Just saw this on facebook: “What about the [40,000] Americans who will die on the highway this year? . . . Why aren’t you up in arms about that? Or is dying in a car somehow moral?”  At 1:45 on this video: https://www.facebook.com/disturbreality/videos/vb.121420231235396/1140232616020814/?type=2&theater

[Note: You might want to inform yourself on the topics of “second collisions”  and Vision Zero because, although improving driver behavior is essential, we shouldn’t pretend that it is the only thing that needs to change when we look for how to end crash deaths.  http://tinyurl.com/pmtw66h  http://tinyurl.com/qdt7mog]

Sign & Share our Vision Zero Petition:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/

Support Underride Research: https://www.fortrucksafety.com/

Act now to save someone’s life in the future.

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, ,

I look forward to my peaceful, healing walks through the wood on the Rocky Mount Disc Golf Course (https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=11&v=ErAOZ31KpNg ).

Just one thing wrong with them though–I long for Mary and AnnaLeah to be able to enjoy them as well.

https://annaleahmary.com/2015/09/i-discovered-a-new-pastime-frisbeedisc-golf-course/

If I could be a Time Traveler, could I go back — say ten years or so — and push for Vision Zero policies, principles, and projects, and then maybe AnnaLeah  and Mary would still be with us today?

Sign & Share the Vision Zero Petition to make a difference. Who knows, you could be saving someone’s life ten years from now:  http://tinyurl.com/nhb88cq .

Petition screenshot 005

 

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 Also, see how we are applying Vision Zero principles to stop unnecessary truck underride deaths: http://tinyurl.com/ofbe5kg .

Underride Research Meme

THE FIVE WAYS ENGINEERS DEFLECT CRITICISM

Truck Safety, , ,

Interesting read on how some engineers respond to criticism. . . by Charles Marohn, who is himself an engineer.

http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2015/10/5/the-five-ways-engineers-deflect-criticism

Charles lists the 5 most common lines he has heard, including:

  1. “YOU DON’T HAVE A VALID OPINION IF YOU’RE NOT A LICENSED ENGINEER.”
  2. “THERE ISN’T ENOUGH MONEY TO DO WHAT SHOULD BE DONE.”
  3. “WE CAN’T ELIMINATE ALL RISKS. ‘. . .With the odd exception, the public does not have an expectation that all risks can be eliminated. There is an odd incoherence, however. . .'”
  4. “IT IS THE POLITICIANS THAT ARE TO BLAME. ENGINEERS JUST FOLLOW ORDERS.”
  5. “THIS REALLY IS A MATTER FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT, NOT ENGINEERING.”

In fact, I am looking forward to working with professionals, industry representatives, safety advocates, government officials, and victims as a team next May at our Underride Roundtable to solve the underride problem together and aim for Vision Zero Crash Deaths one life at a time. I am ready to deflect all arguments that it cannot be done. The Best Possible Protection.

Sign & Share our Vision Zero Petition:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/

Underride Research–It Can Be Done! https://www.fortrucksafety.com/

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Automated vehicles: A Vision Zero Policy would make sure that SAFETY is the priority in new technology

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , , ,

We need to make sure that all new technologies in the motor vehicle arena are carefully researched. Note the concerns raised here:

“While automated vehicles can reduce traditional road crashes, we need to be prepared for new categories of collision that they will also bring, particularly in the early stages of adoption. One example is incidents caused by drivers’ confusion when changing between different modes of automated operation. This type of error has led to aircraft crashes such as Air France Flight 447 and Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. In each case, pilots misunderstood the status of operation of the autopilot systems and failed to correct the aircraft trajectory before it was too late. Vehicle manufacturers will need to design the control interface carefully to ensure the driver has a clear understanding of the status of the vehicle automation systems and the extent to which they have control over vehicle behaviour.

“There will also be situations where an unavoidable collision occurs, such as a pedestrian running into the road at the last minute. Of course this could also happen with a fully alert and experienced driver at the controls, but the fact that automated systems were in charge of the vehicle will make the issue highly contentious. The advantage will be that determining liability should be easier as data collected by vehicle sensors will provide an accurate, comprehensive audit trail of the scenario.”

http://www.brake.org.uk/blog/entry/automatedvehicles

Many factors can lead to and affect the outcome of crashes. For example, see this post on our crash: https://annaleahmary.com/2014/07/our-crash-was-not-an-accident/

Let’s get a Vision Zero Policy in place at DOT to ensure that protection of human life & health is always the priority plumbline in new technology decisions.

Sign & Share our Vision Zero Petition now:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/

Car Safety Wars book cover

Tools For Getting Your Local Media On Board With Vision Zero & Underride Research

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , , ,

In the aftermath of our crash, we have found ourselves walking a path we had not anticipated–safety advocacy. We have discovered the importance of raising awareness and gaining support in order to bring about life-saving changes.

After all, we had no idea about what truck underride guards were before May 4, 2013. How could we expect anyone else to know about them and understand what we were talking about unless we found every way imaginable to inform and motivate them to care about this issue–thankfully, never as much as we do.

So what I would like to talk about here is what you can do about it once you (the reader) better understand the ideas and importance behind our quest for Vision Zero, underride guards, and crash avoidance technology.

Specifically, what you can do is:

  1. Become informed about what we are talking about so incessantly.
  2. Read our Vision Zero Petition.  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/
  3. Read even more about Vision Zero:

    For more information on Vision Zero: https://annaleahmary.com/tag/vision-zero//

    “Towards Zero – There’s no one someone won’t miss.” https://youtu.be/bsyvrkEjoXI

  4. Sign our Vision Zero Petition. (Never doubt the power of 1.)
  5. Share our Vision Zero Petition through talking to people about it, emailing, using whatever social media with which you are comfortable. (There are Sharing icons on The Petition Site.)
  6. Read our new website, AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety, which is dedicated to informing about underride guards and raising money for underride research and an Underride Roundtable to bring about the best underride protection by bringing together engineers, industry representatives, government officials, safety advocates, insurance companies, victims & their families, and the media.  https://www.fortrucksafety.com/ and https://annaleahmary.com/underride-guards/
  7. Donate to the research. (Every $1 counts.)
  8. Share the website with others.
  9. Share both of these projects with your local media.
  • When possible, look up your local media and make direct contact with them through a phone call, email, or through an online Contact Form.
  • This site has a lot of tools for reaching local media, including a map of the U.S. which allows you to click on your state and then your city and find local media.  http://sparkaction.org/act/media
  • Click on COMPOSE MESSAGE on that site.
  • Once you locate who you can contact in your community, I have written a couple of press releases for you to share with them: Press Release from ALMFTS Vision Zero and Underride Research and Press Release for the Underride Research Fundraising Campaign . These can be copied and pasted into the form provided online on that site.
  • Be sure to let them know how important this is to you and your community as well.
  • Consider making a follow-up phone call.
  • For whatever you are able to do, thank you! And I’d love to hear about it.

We have made numerous contacts with the media as our story has been shared. But we cannot be in your community. Next week there will be an article in our local Rocky Mount newspaper. I will share the link for that with you and you can pass that along to your local media as well.  We are asking you to be an extension of our national plea for the best possible protection.

Note–The news story has now been published online:  https://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/advocates-garnering-signatures-3009111

This is not just some freak problem that will never affect you or someone you love. In fact, a Vision Zero policy in DOT rulemaking could make a big impact in not just truck safety but auto safety as well. Decisions about safety should not be led by profit. Cost/benefit analysis can never adequately measure the value of human life and health.

And, once we establish that our Vision is to reduce crash deaths one life at a time, then we can better hold corporate and government officials accountable. No longer will they be able to sweep unpleasant information about the results of defects and flaws under the rug. No longer can they justify decisions and actions which lead to unnecessary tragedy and/or deny that human life was the cost that was paid.

 

gertie 2947

Gertie reaching for Mary ...Susanna's film

Human lives shouldn’t be a nickel and dime proposition. by Isaac J. Karth

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , ,

My family has been through a lot in the aftermath of our truck crash on May 4, 2013. They each have their own story (some more closely-guarded than others). I was surprised but pleased that one of our sons was able to take the time to express his thoughts in the form of a Comment on our Vision Zero Petition a couple of hours ago.

Isaac said that I could share his comments here:

Isaac Karth, NC
about 2 hours ago

“Three years ago, I was sitting in my apartment, working on my class projects, when I got a phone call that turned my world upside down. My family’s car had been hit by a truck, and I was the first person that the hospital was able to reach. There was a lot of confusion; no one knew where my two sisters who had been in the back seat of the car had been taken.

“I had a pair of dice in my pocket that day, the same pair of dice that I had when my father called me later that evening with the news that my sister had died in the crash. Humans are bad at estimating probabilities. A one-in-a-million chance sounds rare, but that’s close to the odds the NWS reports for being struck by lightning, and 330 Americans are injured that way every year. It’s rare, but it happens. In probability theory, it’s called the law of large numbers. If you roll the dice often enough, or for enough people, the dice are going to come up as ones at a predictable, measurable rate.

“The IIHS reported that in 2013, there were 10.3 deaths from motor vehicle crashes per 100,000 people. That’s about one-in-ten-thousand, way more likely than one-in-a-million. And, unlike other leading causes of death, this is an entirely human-created problem, one that didn’t exist two hundred years ago.

“Automotive safety has been improving over time. But it is still one of the leading causes of death in America. Curing cancer, one of the other leading causes, is expensive and difficult, requiring research just to figure out if it is even possible. In contrast, for motor vehicle deaths there are many cases where we already know simple ways to reduce motor vehicle fatalities, such as effective underride guards, and we have promising research for even more.

“We shouldn’t settle for one-in-ten thousand, or even one-in-a-hundred-thousand. We should strive to be better than that. Human lives shouldn’t be a nickel and dime proposition. Even low chances of death are still too high. I shouldn’t have to roll the dice every time I need to leave my house. I shouldn’t have to wonder, every time my family is out on the road, if today is going to be the day that they roll too many ones again.”

A photo of Mary age 5 taken by her big brother, Isaac
Mary on hammock
Isaac wrote this facebook post on June 19, 2013, in memory of his sister AnnaLeah:

To all the creative people: I recently lost someone close to me. She didn’t know how creative she was and how talented she was becoming, but I did. She didn’t think that she would be able to live up to her siblings. She doubted her talent. She was embarrassed when anyone read her writing. But she kept reading, writing, making.

She was one of the people I relied on to find out about new books. I was counting on her writing the kinds of books I wanted to read. I didn’t realize how much I was expecting from her future until it was gone.

Every death is an irreplaceable loss, but that doesn’t mean we stop living. The absence left behind can’t be filled in this life. That’s all the more reason to build a monument to her memory. I can’t replace her life or her lost works, but I can create my own. They will be different than what could have been, because they’ll be my creations instead of hers. I can’t be her. I can be myself. My works can reflect the life and the hope she believed in, because I have the same hope. I am not justified by my merits (or by hers). I can do my best and no more. That won’t be enough, but it will be right.

To the writers, the readers, the makers, the designers: keep creating. The night will be long and the shadows of your doubts dark. Don’t let that stop you. When you think your work isn’t good enough, it’s a sign to keep going. Your work won’t justify anyone, least of all you, but every creative act that introduces something good to the world is an act of love to those around you.

In memory of those we have lost, and in love to those we have now, I ask you to continue. Keep creating, keep making, keep doing. This is the service you have been given, to love all of creation by creating.

After Isaac signed the Vision Zero Petition and wrote his comment, he shared it on facebook with this message:
 “We’ve made it to over 5,000 signatures, which is pretty nice given that we started last Tuesday. Looking at it, it struck me that number is still less than the number of lives lost this year to vehicle crashes.”
Our Vision Zero Petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/417/742/234/save-lives-not-dollars-urge-dot-to-adopt-vision-zero-policy/

Be a part of the Underride Solution. Share our story with your local media.

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

Our family had a paper route for 13 yrs.–afternoons during the week & mornings on the weekend. All 9 kids were involved. We know all about getting out the news–rain or shine, hail or white-out!

Tomorrow, our local paper in NC will be publishing an article about AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety & our Vision Zero Petition. Please share the news with your local media so that people in your community can become aware & help our effort. Stay tuned for details; we will post the link.

Note: The article in the Rocky Mount Telegram will actually be delayed until next week due to the storm. Here are some previous articles on our story by Brie Handgraaf.

paper route74f Mary and family dress up (2)

74f Mary and family dress up (4) 74f Mary and family dress up (3)

What would a DOT Vision Zero policy look like in actual implementation?

AnnaLeah and Mary, Truck Safety, , , ,

In our petition, we have asked for a paradigm shift in how truck underride guards are regulated. This means that, instead of using a force-based design rule, DOT would require performance-based standards. In other words, when a manufacturer designs an underride protection system for a truck, they would have to crash test it and prove that it could actually withstand a crash.

And we want that to be true for higher speeds than currently required and for impact all along the back of the truck–not just at the center but also at the edges (where the guards currently fail in the majority of crashes). And then, we also want side guards to be a requirement.

A Vision Zero rulemaking policy would mean that Saved Lives would win out over dollars in decisionmaking. In contrast, look at what DOT decided about underride guards in  1974:

  • 1974 US Secretary of Transportation says deaths in cars that underride trucks would have to quadruple before underride protection would be considered cost beneficial.  (History of federal rulemaking on underride guards:  https://annaleahmary.com/underride-guards/ )

In fact, there have been many engineers over the years who have insisted that the guards were weak and ineffective and that stronger guards could be designed. Here are four examples of Vision Zero principles being applied by engineers who are currently hoping to design and/or promote more effective underride protection which would actually save lives:

  1. George Rechnitzer & Raphael Grzebieta, engineers in Australia with whom we have been in contact, have proposed performance-based standards and have done extensive underride research:  NHTSA-Docket-Submission-Grzebieta&Rechnitzer 20 Sept 2015 (or in the Federal Register Public Comments on underride protection for single unit trucks: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=NHTSA-2015-0070-0021)
  2. Dean Sicking, an engineer at the University of Alabama, who designed NASCAR’s SAFER Barrier to save lives and is confident that he could apply those principles to underride protection. Here is the research proposal which he has given to us and for which we are raising money so that he can do it!  Development of Trailer Underride Preventive Measures
  3. Aaron Kiefer, a forensic engineer/crash reconstructionist, who has been motivated by the tragic, preventable crash deaths which he witnesses in his work, to design an innovative underride protection system which combines side & rear guard components. We have met him and were able to go see a prototype of his invention on a semi-trailer.  http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=NHTSA-2015-0070-0013
  4. IIHS has researched and petitioned for improved underride protection for many years: http://www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4907.pdf

For further information about Vision Zero, see these additional posts:  https://annaleahmary.com/tag/vision-zero/

 

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

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A Quest for the Best/Support Underride Research: Donate Now  https://www.fortrucksafety.com/

Underride Research Meme