Crash Victims Coming To Washington To Deliver Vision Zero Petition
March, 2016
Please see and support this crash victims petition.
Contact: Marianne Karth, mariannekarth@gmail.com or (432) 556-1567
MEDIA ADVISORY
NORTH CAROLINA TRUCK CRASH VICTIMS HEAD TO DC TO DELIVER
‘VISION ZERO’ PETITIONS TO U.S. DOT AND OMB
(WASHINGTON, DC) – A Rocky Mount, NC family who lost their two teenage daughters in a 2013 truck crash, will deliver their “Vision Zero” petition with nearly 20,000 signatures to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in Washington, D.C. on Friday, March 4, 2016.
Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States with 33,000 people killed in crashes each year. The U.S. DOT currently makes highway safety rules based on a cost benefit analysis resulting in many highway safety measures being blocked. The Karth’s petition, launched in 2015, urges DOT and the Office of Management and Budget to change that practice, and move towards a Vision Zero safety strategy model with goals of: Zero Deaths, Zero Serious Injuries, Zero Fear of Traffic by:
· Change rulemaking policy to move away from a cost/benefit model and adopt a more humanistic, rational vision Zero safety strategy model that will impact all DOT safety regulations;
· Apply Vision Zero principles initiating rulemaking to require forward collision avoidance and mitigation braking on all new large trucks; and
· Apply Vision Zero principles by requiring crash test-base performance standards for truck side and rear underride guards.
In addition to delivering the petitions to and meeting with U.S. DOT Director of Public Engagement Bryna Helfer and a group of DOT Policy officials, the Karth family will meet with several Members of Congress and their staff including Senators Sid Blumenthal (D-CT), Richard Burr (R-NC), Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), and Representatives Matt Cartwright (D-PA), Rene Ellmers (R-NC) and George Holding (R-NC). Full schedule of meetings can be found at http://annaleahmary.com/.
WHO: Marianne and Jerry Karth (Rocky Mount, NC) and members of their family (available for interviews)
WHEN: Thursday, March 3 – Friday, March 4, 2016
WHERE: U.S. DOT and Capitol Hill offices
BACKGROUND: On May 4, 2013, as the Karth family drove to Texas to celebrate four graduations and a wedding their car was hit by a truck that was unable to stop in time for slowed traffic. The impact spun their car around and forced it backward and underneath a second truck’s trailer. Marianne and her son were in the front seats and survived the impact with injuries. AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13) were in the back seats, which went underneath the trailer, and died as a result of catastrophic injuries.
To bring attention to the need for improved rear underride guard standards to protect car occupants in truck crashes and honor the memories of their daughters, AnnaLeah and Mary, on the first anniversary of the crash the Karth family began a petition. They delivered 11,000 signatures on their AnnaLeah and Mary Stand Up for Truck Safety petition to the U.S. DOT in 2014.
The Karth family has set up a non-profit organization to promote highway safety research and federal regulations to protect motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.
For more information on the Vision Zero petition, please visit http://annaleahmary.com/.
