Month: December 2015

I hope you find it helpful.

Mark Green’s article, based on decades of first hand knowledge, is otherwise entertaining, informative, and inspirational.  Seehttp://www.thenation.com/article/how-ralph-nader-changed-america/

Our “Safety and Happiness” can be advanced if enough of us work to make it happen.  As Americans once before declared our independence of tyrannical political forces to secure our “Safety and Happiness” we can do it again.“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” See http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

On December 19, 2015, the day of the Democratic Presidential debate, the Washington Post published a front page story on fatality rates of guns and vehicles converging.

“Guns and traffic accidents each killed about 34,000 people in the U.S. last year, or about 93 people per day.

The rate at which Americans are killed in traffic accidents has dropped by more than half since the late 1960s. That decline can be attributed to a combination of improved technology, smarter regulation, and improved care in the hospital.”   See

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/18/how-gun-deaths-became-as-common-as-traffic-deaths/

The Post article misses three important factors:  1. Under counting traffic deaths, See  https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-officerdie…  2. The Great Recession which we are still slowly coming out of  3. The 8% rise in crash deaths in 2015 See

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812217.pdf

A related Post article notes racial factors in gun deaths but not the effects of the Great Recession on both gun deaths and vehicle deaths.

“The Brookings Institution’s Richard Reeves highlighted one stunning example of this in a recent blog post: Among whites, 77 percent of gun deaths are suicides. But among black Americans, 82 percent of gun deaths are homicides.”  See

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/18/the-shocking-difference-in-how-blacks-and-whites-get-killed-by-guns/?tid=pm_business_pop_b

• The current penalties for violating safety laws are chump change for giant automakers. While Congress will triple the maximum to $105 million, that’s still not a huge deterrent for a company such as GM, which earned $2.8 billion last year. Some lawmakers sought to eliminate the cap.
• No one — not engineers, lawyers or executives at GM — has faced an individual criminal charge for decisions made to hide a deadly defect for years and go on hiding it after people started dying. Individuals who make such decisions might be deterred by the prospect of going to prison. Yet a push by several senators for criminal penalties in the vehicle safety law failed to gain traction in Congress.
• Recalled cars that have not been repaired can be dangerous. Under the new measure, rental car companies will no longer be able to rent them to customers. But a huge hole still allows used-car dealers to sell cars with unfixed defects to unsuspecting buyers, such as the Houston-area driver killed this year when a Takata air bag exploded in the used Honda he purchased less than a year earlier.
• Government safety scores on trucking companies, which have been publicly available in recent years, will have to be removed from a public website. Never mind that the scores were used by companies that hire truckers to comparison shop, or that they encouraged trucking companies to improve their safety standards.  
• Proposed additions to what carmakers must report to the government about fatal accidents involving potential defects did not make it into the measure. The changes would have provided earlier warnings of hazards”  See 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/12/02/car-safety-congress-gm-defective-highway-editorials-debates/76664218/

“No one understands better the importance of putting safe vehicles on the road than those of us in the auto state. For over a century, Michigan has had a proud tradition of developing innovative technologies, advancing safety, reducing emissions and improving the driving experience.

But it has been a disappointing year for automakers that have failed in their safety responsibilities and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for its inability to effectively protect American drivers. We can and must do better….

The vote this week will advance safety reforms in a must-pass package. But the highway bill is not the end of the conversation; rather, it is an important step forward. With the holiday season upon us, families across the country can rest assured that Congress continues to prioritize auto safety, and that those responsible for safety issues will be held accountable.

I am proud of the improvements we were able to add to the bill. But we never put the brakes on safety, and we will continue our bipartisan work in the New Year.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.” See

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/12/02/highway-congress-nhtsa-rep-fred-upton-editorials-debates/76693480/