Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Attached is my Dec. issue of Care For Crash Victims.
I hope it helps you in your efforts to build a Safer America.
As always your comments are welcome
Associated Document:
December 2013 Monthly Report – American Victims
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Attached is my Dec. 2013 Report. It is a petition I am submitting for consideration of these U.S. government officials at their meetings in Washington this week on Dec. 5th and 6th from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Meetings will be held at: The Performance Institute 901 New York Ave, NW West Tower, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC
NEMSAC will meet all day Thursday and the morning of Friday.
NEMSAC members list is at http://www.ems.gov/NEMSAC.htm
FICEMS will meet Friday from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
FICEMS members list is at FICEMS Membership July2013
Let us hope this body of work stimulates these officials to save more lives sooner – rather than later.
Associated Document:
December 2013 Monthly Report – Strickland NEMSAC FICEMS – Click to Download
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
An excellent article on the front page of the Washington Post this past week identifies problems for patients under Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, or as by its full name: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [Why is it that the first two words “Patient Protection” are rarely mentioned?]
This article provides important insights into key questions of who or what entities are deciding the availability and quality of care: Why, how, when, where, and what can and is being done about it? Excerpts:
“As Americans have begun shopping for health plans on the insurance exchanges, they are discovering that insurers are restricting their choice of doctors and hospitals in order to keep costs low, and that many of the plans exclude top-rated hospitals.”
“The Obama administration made it a priority to keep down the cost of insurance on the exchanges, the online marketplaces that are central to the Affordable Care Act. But one way that insurers have been able to offer lower rates is by creating networks that are far smaller than what most Americans are accustomed to….”
“A number of the nation’s top hospitals — including the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, and children’s hospitals in Seattle, Houston and St. Louis — are cut out of most plans sold on the exchange.”
“In most cases, the decision was about the cost of care….”
“In New Hampshire, Frisbie Memorial Hospital took legal action against an insurer that excluded it from its marketplace plans, and in Missouri, consumer advocates successfully lobbied an insurer to add a children’s hospital after it unveiled a plan that lacked one….”
“In New Hampshire, consumers who purchase insurance through the exchange have only one choice of carrier — Anthem BlueCross BlueShield— because no other insurer applied to join the exchange. The company’s network includes access to only 16 of the state’s 26 acute-care hospitals.”
So when a serious injury crash occurs who will decide which acute care hospital the crash victim should be taken to?
Can we expect more medical bankruptcies of victims and hospitals?
Can we expect more law suits against “deciders” for cases that result in needless deaths, disabilities, and financial losses?
See
We can and must do better than this by focusing on quality — not just costs — of care for all. But this Post article raises causes of concern that the Obama Administration will continue to fail too many crash victims. As I wrote in my September 2013 Report:
“In President Obama’s first term, more Americans died of crashinjuries (132,250 crash deaths) than died in the Afghanistan, Iraq, VietNam and Korean wars combined.(NHTSA HS 811706) Of all people who currently die of crash injuries about 56% are not taken to any facility for emergency medical care. And of there maining 44% of crash fatalities that are taken to a medical facility for treatment, many receiveless than timely, optimal, emergency rescue and medical care….”
“Will the number of Americans dying of crash injuries in President Obama’s 2nd term exceed the 132,250 Americans who died in his 1st term? And will the number seriously injured in crashes exceed another 500,000 Americans?”
See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/Sept2013-NHTSA-Ciren-Safety.pdf
Sincere thanks to the authors and editors of the Washington Post article.
November 5, 2013
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
It is that time of the year in the U.S. when days are getting shorter with less hours of daylight.
For years I have been trying to give consumers “hard to find” info on improving their safety by increasing their visibility at no added cost. Research has found that white cars are safer by about 10%.
See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog/wishes-for-safer-brighter-holidays/
Pedestrians can be safer too by being brighter.
See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/home/be-safe-be-bright/
So it is welcome news that I have just received from the Washington Auto Press Association and Matthew Keegan that PPG has found that White is now the most popular color for new cars.
“According to PPG’s global data, white ranked first (up 3 percent from last year to 25 percent) and silver and black tied for second (18 percent each)…. In North America, white remains most popular (21 percent), followed by black (19 percent), gray (17 percent), and silver (15 percent).
https://news.ppg.com/press-release/ppg-data-shows-white-continues-be-most-popular-global-car-color
See http://www.autotrends.org/2013/10/28/white-remains-top-color-choice-new-cars/
Get the Safety Word Out
Imagine if the media would get the safety word out to consumers to increase safer choices in car color. You might think the media would want to give their audience life saving information.
Imagine Consumer Reports and IIHS spreading the free 10% safety improvement available to consumers by wise color choices.
Imagine NHTSA publicizing a 10% improvement in safety with a no cost wiser color choice by consumers.
If these get-the-safety-word out actions don’t happen, ask yourselves “Why not?”
And would it not be good if auto companies would specify greater reflective qualities in their paints to increase night time visibility?
Here’s hoping for a brighter future for fewer crash deaths and serious injuries.
September 19, 2013
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
This is to update my recent blog on this subject.
Investigative reporters and a group of powerfully persistent citizens led by two aggrieved moms that lost sons in Van crashes in Canada are pushing for greater safety.
A Canadian group called VanAngels has been documenting the safety needs and potential policy changes for greater safety at www.vanangels.ca. This is an admirable effort and resource for safety advocates.
They provided the following:
Transport Canada’s public website with the summarized results of the 2 year 15-passenger van safety review and testing.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp2436-rs200808-p5-1211.htm
Refer to page 65 of the following report “Evaluation of 15-Passenger Vans” by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) which was released in January 2013 as a follow-up to Transport Canada’s Safety Review. It will give the make and year of the vans up until 2009.
Our Van Angels group had pressured for the Safety Review and also a ‘national approach’ to the safety issues concerning 15-passenger van use in Canada. The CCMTA’s response to a national educational campaign was to create a guideline brochure which is to be sent out to every registered 15-passenger van owner in Canada. There is nothing new in this brochure that hasn’t already been said years before! It also puts the onus of responsibility onto the owners and drivers thereby deflecting any accountability from industry and government!
http://www.ccmta.ca/english/pdf/CCMTA-15pGuidelines-ENG.pdf
In the U.S. the Center for Auto Safety is examining the matter and Clarence Ditlow tells us:
Safety inspections would catch worn tires which can easily trigger a rollover when they fail in use. This church van obviously had severe roof crush. Sadly, NHTSA’s new roof crush standard which doubles the force applied to the roof to 3 times the vehicle’s weight & requires each side to be sequentially subjected the 3 times the vehicle’s weight does not apply to vehicles with a GVWR above 10,000 pounds which would exempt 15-passenger vans. (I am attaching the FR notice on the final rule).
This is the most recent survey I can find of state laws. This report focuses on public school transportation http://www.nasdpts.org/documents/vanssurveyfeb04.pdf
It is from 2004 so most likely outdated, but it does give a good overview of state laws. It looks like a majority of states have laws prohibiting transport in 15 passenger vans to/from school and school activities. However, very few states have applied the law to private schools and churches.
See Roof Crush Rule promulgated by NHTSA during early days of Obama Administration attached.
Additional NHTSA Report 809735 is attached along with an informative Public Citizen Report.
Previous Blog Post: Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Another tragic fatal rollover reported:
NHTSA issued a press release warning earlier this year:
and a decade ago there were Pubic Citizen warnings:
http://www.citizen.org/autosafety/passengervan/
When will we ever learn?
Press releases are not enough.
NHTSA has many powers of investigation, recall, rulemaking, research, publicity, and public education.
We really can and must do better protecting the American people.
If people want an insight into how government came to fail protecting the American people, I recommend reading the Nixon tape of the conversation with Henry Ford II and Lee Iaccoca also attached. Nixon stated: “It’s true in, in the environmentalists and it’s true of the consumerism people. They’re a group of people that aren’t one really damn bit interested in safety or clean air. What they’re interested in is destroying the system. They’re enemies of the system.”
As one who was fired by EPA under Nixon, I don’t think of myself or these moms as enemies of the system. Readers can see more on my work in the 1970s at my web site. Of course, I was not privy to the conversation at the White House back then. But I still believe we can do better protecting people from pollution and crashes.
Documents Attached:
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Ralph Nader tries to focus President Obama on the safety needs of America here at home where there are many clear and present dangers not being adequately addressed.
Nader writes: “Taking Mr. Obama at his often repeated words that “the safety of the American people” is his top priority,…” and then cites many needs here at home.
Please see http://nader.org/2013/09/13/obama-crowding-out-america/
Nader once again has his focus on the public interest here in the U.S. where for decades Americans have seen too many needless tragedies, too much pain, suffering, and economic losses.
We can add some auto safety statistics that President Obama needs to focus on:
As a citizen, I offered 3 Steps the President could take – without any new legislation – to assure that the losses of American crash victims in his second term do not exceed the losses suffered in his first term. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReport-January2013-Vol1.pdf
Mr. President please heed Ralph Nader’s advice. He is right. America needs you to do so. And Yes, you can.
September, 2013
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Hopefully Administrator Strickland will act in the public interest to restore “Rollover” and “Extrication” to the Triage Guidelines and restore credibility and effectiveness to the NHTSA CIREN Program.
September 2013 Monthly Report.
