Ralph Nader’s Birthday

Ralph Nader’s Birthday

February, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

February 27, is Nader’s birthday.

On Friday, February 26, I purchased a copy of “The Car Book, 2016” that became available from the Center for Auto Safety – founded by Nader more than 4 decades ago.

The Center and “The Car Book” are, in a sense, birthday presents from Ralph Nader to humanity – presents that keep on giving — saving lives and preventing injuries.

Clarence Ditlow has written a Foreword to “The Car Book, 2016” that describes the gifts to humanity stemming from Nader’s 1965 Book “Unsafe at Any Speed”.

“The 1966 federal laws, federal agency and general measures they created — have averted 3.5 million auto deaths over the past 50 years.” See attached Foreword.

To this we can add an estimated 4 serious injuries prevented or mitigated for every life saved.  That would be an estimated 14 million additional Americans who were saved from such serious injuries amputations, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, burn injuries, and numerous broken bones and damaged internal organs.  Using the DOT dollar values would put savings in the trillions.

How big a THANK YOU! to Ralph Nader is that worth?
The Center for Auto Safety has worked tirelessly for safety for decades on a tiny annual budget of less than the cost of one 30 second Super Bowl ad by an auto company.

“The Car Book, 2016” can be purchased online from the Center for Auto Safety at http://www.autosafety.org/books-reports

I am in the process of reviewing “The Car Book, 2016”, but readers can see my review of the 2015 edition at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforJanuary2015.pdf

In the April 2016 issue of Consumer Reports we read something else we can thank Nader for:

A recent Consumer Reports survey shows that safety tops the list of factors buyers value most when they are considering new cars.”

That is a market improvement contributed to by 36 years of publishing “The Car Book”.

Imagine not just the lives saved and the injuries prevented by informed consumers who obtain and act on safety information, but also the regrets, aggravation, time, and money saved.

Thank you to Ralph Nader, and to Clarence Ditlow, Joan Claybrook, Jack Gillis, Mike Lemov and all the many people who have worked to improve safety over the decades.

Happy Birthday Ralph Nader!
Lou

 

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