October, 2015
Excellent NY Times reporting reveals more. Seehttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/15/business/international/cozy-relations-complicate-europes-bid-for-new-car-tests.html?action=click&contentCollection=International%20Business&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
Excellent report from Bloomberg illuminates this scandal that has us breathing deadly air pollutants – for a decade.
“How Could VW’s Top Engineers Not Have Known?” Seehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-21/how-could-volkswagen-s-top-engineers-not-have-known-
Lou
October, 2015
In 1971, I edited an EPA Report titled “Our Urban Environment and Our Most Endangered People”.
See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/1970-PolutionControlEfforts.php
To this day more than 40 years later we read about VW selling vehicles designed to emit many times more pollutants on the streets than on the EPA test dynamometers. The many health effects of automotive emissions have long been known. See http://www3.epa.gov/airquality/nitrogenoxides/health.html
I recall a 1970s research presentation funded by the oil industry that argued the EPA air quality standards could be exceeded ten fold without adverse health effects. At the break I asked Dr. “Money” (that is the name I give him): How could this be? He told me that his scientific study was very rigorous. He used only the most carefully selected, healthiest and fittest monkeys that money could buy. That these adult monkeys in their prime were exposed to tightly controlled levels of nitrogen oxides under stringent laboratory conditions. When I asked about the bacteria that were used to determine the subsequent health effects, he said they did not do so (so as to not confound the scientific study). Yet that was a common way to determine the reduction in resistance to respiratory infections due to inhalation of NOx. No dose, no response, no problem.
To no avail, I pointed out that people living in urban areas were of all ages, all degrees of health and fitness, and exposed to a wide variety of pollutants and bacteria.
When will we ever learn? Two types of ignorance: 1. To not know, and 2. To know and to not act.
Lou
October, 2015
Especially with this congress all crash victims – past, present, and future need this kind of citizen activism. See Media advisory below.
MEDIA ADVISORY
TRUCK CRASH VICTIMS URGE CONGRESS TO PUT BRAKES ON TRUCKING INDUSTRY AGENDA ON EVE OF KEY VOTE
New Report on Truck Crash Fatalities Released
WHAT: News Conference – On the eve of a House mark-up of the highway funding bill, nearly 70 truck safety victims and their families in town for Truck Safety Coalition’s Sorrow to Strength conference call on Congress to urge they reject anti-truck safety provisions contained in the transportation reauthorization legislation. The Truck Safety Coalition will also release a new report ranking the states on truck crash fatalities.
Truck safety advocates from CA, FL, GA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MO, NY, OK, PA, NC, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA and Washington, DC are available for interviews.
WHEN: Monday, October 19, 2015, 10 a.m.
WHERE: 2168 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
WHO: Dawn King (Davisburg, MI) Dawn’s father, Bill Badger, was killed on December 23, 2004, just over the Georgia state border, by a tired trucker who fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into his car. She is the President of the Truck Safety Coalition.
Jane Mathis (St. Augustine, FL) On March 25, 2004, Jane’s 23-year-old son, David and his wife Mary Kathryn, were killed in a truck crash in Titusville, Florida as they drove home from their honeymoon.They had only been married for five days. Jane is the Vice President of the Truck Safety Coalition.
Santiago Calderon (Oxnard, CA) On April 10, 2014, Santiago was on a chartered tour bus loaded with 44 Southern California high school students bound for Humboldt State University’s Preview Plus program when a FedEx double tractor-trailer crashed into them leaving 5 students and 5 adults dead.
Morgan Lake (Laurel, MD) On July 19, 2013, Morgan’s car was hit from behind by a distracted truck driver while slowed to a near stop for traffic on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, traveling at approximately 50 mph.
Joan Claybrook, Chair, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and former Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Some of the major safety rollbacks demanded by special trucking interests are:
· FedEx Double 33s – Increases double trailers from 28 feet per trailer to 33 feet per trailer and forces states to allow these 84-foot trucks.
· 91,000lb Trucks – Raises the federal truck weight limit from 80,000lb to 91,000lb.
· Truck Driver Hours of Service – Allows classes of truck drivers to apply for greater hours of service exemptions.
· Minimum Insurance – Increases the hurdles for rulemaking on increasing motor carrier minimum insurance for the first time since they were set 35 years ago.
· Teenage Truck Drivers – Permits 18-20 year old drivers to get behind the wheels of 80,000-lb trucks and drive across state lines.
· FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) – hides tax-payer funded data, like CSA ratings, all seven BASICS scores and related safety analysis, from the general public
The Truck Safety Coalition is a partnership between Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT). The Truck Safety Coalition is dedicated to reducing the number of deaths and injuries caused by truck-related crashes, providing compassionate support to truck crash survivors and families of truck crash victims, and educating the public policy-makers and media about truck safety issues. The biennial Sorrow to Strength conference brings together families for workshops on truck safety issues, advocacy, social media, grief and enforcement.
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October, 2015
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Care for Crash Victims has prepared resources to help you be more effective in communicating with Congress. To help your voice be more influential you can use tools that provide the number of crash deaths by Congressional District each year 2004 – 2013. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/CrashDeathMappingTools.php
Lou
October, 2015
The NY Times carries AP report that former Clinton Administration DOT Secretary Rodney Slater has been appointed by NHTSA to “monitor” Fiat Chrysler.
DETROIT — A former transportation secretary turned lobbyist selected by the government to monitor the recall of millions of Fiat Chrysler vehicles also represents an air bag maker responsible for millions of recalled vehicles.
Rodney Slater, who ran the Transportation Department for four years under President Bill Clinton, has been lobbying the department and Congress on behalf of Takata Corp. of Japan regarding air bag issues, lobbying records reviewed by The Associated Press show.
Takata’s air bag inflators can explode too forcefully, firing shrapnel into the passenger compartment. They’re linked to eight deaths and have led to the recall of tens of millions of vehicles, including 4 million made by Fiat Chrysler.
Fiat Chrysler, also known as FCA, is under an order from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to hire an independent monitor to oversee the company’s recalls in response to misbehavior involving 23 recalls. The safety administration selected Slater from a list of three candidates supplied by Fiat Chrysler. The decision was announced by the automaker on Friday.
Gordon Trowbridge, a spokesman for NHTSA, said Slater had disclosed his representation of Takata. “The company and NHTSA both examined that and determined that for the purpose of monitoring Fiat Chrysler’s compliance with the consent order that it was not a conflict of interest,” Trowbridge said….
Safety advocates say Slater’s representation of Takata is a clear conflict of interest.
“You can’t have someone overlooking their recalls that also represents a company that makes defective parts,” said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety. “You can’t have someone who has two masters, and Slater has two masters.”
Joan Claybrook, who headed the traffic safety administration under President Jimmy Carter, said she strongly disagreed with NHTSA’s decision to appoint Slater.
“Chrysler has hired Slater because they want a yes man,” said Joan Claybrook, a safety advocate. “This completely undercuts the important work NHTSA has done in showing Chrysler has violated safety recall rules. There is a clear need for an independent monitor.”
See https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/business/uaw-fiat-chrysler-union-contract-workers.html
In December 2014, I reported about Takata hiring 3 former Secretaries of DOT and warned:
America we have a safety problem in more ways than one!” See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-takatahiresdot.php
October, 2015
Draft legislation has been made public that many of our readers are worried will damage public safety. Automotive News reports:“WASHINGTON — Automakers would earn credits for meeting fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions targets by installing crash-avoidance and connected-car technologies on new vehicles under a broad set of safety reforms proposed by staff of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.“
Click on highlighted link to see the Draft. Source:
