3 Views of the NHTSA Record
September, 2014
1. Current NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman:“When automakers have failed to recall vehicles quickly, NHTSA has repeatedly issued the maximum fines allowed by law — more than $140 million in five years.” Seehttp://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/09/16/david-friedman-national-highway-traffic-safety-administration-editorials-debates/15745881/
2. USA Today Editorial Board: “GM withheld key information from regulators. It settled cases secretly, ignored actions by its own employees and left dangerous cars on the road for a decade. But when companies act so deplorably, safety watchdogs are needed most. Whether because of corruption, capture by the industry or just plain cluelessness, NHTSA failed.
Congress wants to beef up the agency’s powers and open more data to the public. OK. But an empowered lapdog is still a lapdog. What’s needed is leadership that changes the agency’s ways.” See
3. Ralph Nader:
“Today, NHTSA operates more as a consultant to the auto companies as executives pass back and forth between regulatory agency and regulated business as if they were merely divisions of the same firm. NHTSA holds secret meetings with auto companies. The agency has not ordered a manufacturer to recall its defective vehicles for 35 years.
NHTSA needs to end its criminally negligent “business as usual” relationship with auto companies. Only congressional action fueled by the organized outrage of aggrieved families can change the deadly status quo.” See
There is a clear and present danger we face every day – here in the U.S.A. Crash deaths in the U.S. currently occur at a rate of nearly 100 per day. Serious crash injuries occur at the rate of nearly 400 per day. Crash injuries of all severities occur at a rate of about 6,000 per day. Societal losses from U.S. crash losses amount to more than $2 Billion per day in the U.S.A.
As I wrote in the July 2014 Monthly Report:
“The GM Recalls come at a time when the nation is celebrating its Declaration of Independence that held “Safety” as a fundamental purpose. During just the expected 8 years of President Obama’s Administration, the nation is on track to record nearly 250,000 crash deaths (more than twice the number of Americans killed in the Afghanistan, Iraq, Korean, and Viet Nam Wars — combined). Plus 1 million serious crash injuries. And all crashes are expected to result in $7 Trillion of societal losses in America during these eight years.”
A higher national safety priority is needed to protect Americans from crash force violence that is killing, maiming, and costing enormous U.S. treasure. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforAugust2014.pdf
