Category: Blog

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

On January 12, 2008 there was a tragic crash of a 15 Passenger Van in Canada that resulted in the death of seven high school boys and the wife of the basketball coach who was driving the Van but survived.

We are approaching the 6th anniversary of that crash. Since then in the U.S. hundreds more occupants of 15 Passenger Vans have died. NHTSA counted 174 crash deaths of occupants of 15 Passenger Vans during the six years 2008 – 2010. Since 2010, perhaps another 150 crash deaths have occurred — but that data has not yet been published by NHTSA. On average one 15 Passenger crash death occurs every week in the U.S.

Uncounted by NHTSA are the serious injuries destructive to brains, spinal cords, faces, and limbs resulting in major life altering consequences to individuals and families.

DRIVEN, by Richard Foot, is a new and inspirational book about mothers who lost sons in crashes and who have been working for six years to prevent more such tragedies.

Do we need people to read this book? With each day, on average in the U.S., Americans in all crashes – not just 15 Passenger Vans – suffer about 100 crash deaths, 400 serious crash injuries, and $1 billion in losses. So the answer is Yes!

Do we need people worldwide, to recognize and value the love, stories, sorrows, works, and powers of mothers to prevent future tragedies? Yes!

How do we get people to read this book? Recommendations? Yes! Reviews? Yes! Interviews? Yes!

Book Awards? Prizes? Let’s hope so – for the sake of all of us.

Years of work by Mr. Foot, researching and delicately describing the heart breaking stories of these mothers deserves worldwide recognition. The tragedies and the struggles he describes took place in Canada involving 15 Passenger Van crashes, but the lessons are universal.

DRIVEN can help people understand the tragedies of crash victims – and we are all crash victims in so many ways.

DRIVEN can help people to act collaboratively to improve safety for all of us.

DRIVEN shows how others helped the mothers in their struggles — truly humanitarian stories of community collaboration that show what it takes to make safety progress.

The stories raise questions of why safety progress is such a struggle. Why would government officials not answer questions or act to protect? Why do corporate and government officials engage in efforts to Delay, Evade, Abstain from acting, and then Deny responsibility — as more die each and every year?

The tragedies these mothers experienced involved the deaths of their sons in crashes of 15 Passenger Vans. The problems of failures to protect have been going on for a long time. NHTSA data on 15 Passenger Van fatal crashes shows 1,759 fatalities from 1990 – 2010. See attached.

DRIVEN raises important questions:

• • How many more people must die or be tragically injured needlessly?
  • What will it take to move corporate and government officials to protect its citizens and product users?
  • What can we all do to help?

Disclosure: One of the Canadian mothers who lost a son in a 15 Passenger Van crash sent me a courtesy copy of the book DRIVEN.

We can and must help end such tragedies.

The mothers’ Van Angels group continues to provide an educational website to the public that monitors actions and inactions on the safety of 15 Passenger Vans. See www.vanangels.ca

Thank you to the mothers of Van Angels for their years of persistent efforts to build a safer system of transport.

Thank you to Mr. Richard Foot for years of reporting, research, and documentation of this heart touching story of safety work in DRIVEN.

May DRIVEN help us all do better.

Lou Lombardo

Additional resources available are:

60 Minutes II Video on 15-Passenger van rolloverhttp://vimeo.com/618459

My previous Blog on the Canadian safety efforts at

https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/update1-rollovercrash.php

Canadian documents at:

CCMTA Evaluation of 15-Passenger Vanshttp://ccmta.ca/images/publications/pdf//CCMTA_Evaluation_of_15-Passenger_Vans_2013_2_22_1138a.pdf CCMTA Evaluation of 15-Passenger Vans FAQshttp://ccmta.ca/images/pdf-documents-english/Evaluation_of_15-Passenger_Vans_-_FAQ.2.2013.pdf Safety Guidelines for the use of 15-Passenger Vanshttp://ccmta.ca/images/publications/pdf//15-passengers-vans-guidelines-english.pdf

Associated Documents:

Click on file names to download:

1 – PassengerVan15_1990_2010_C

2 – Traffic Safety Facts – May 2009

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

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/insurers-restricting-choice-of-doctors-and-hospitals-to-keep-costs-down/2013/11/20/98c84e20-4bb4-11e3-ac54-aa84301ced81_story.html

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.

Consumers Buying More White Cars and Greater Safety

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.

States Ranked by Crash Fatality Rates and Election Probabilities Red, Blue and Yellow (for Swing)

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.

 

http://www.ccmta.ca/english/pdf/CCMTA%20Evaluation%20of%2015-Passenger%20Vans%202013%202%2022%201138a.pdf

 

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:

 

https://www.wtxl.com/news/more-dead-in-florida-church-van-crash/article_bd0dec62-1ec9-11e3-b5ec-0019bb30f31a.html

 

NHTSA issued a press release warning earlier this year:

 

http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/Consumer+Advisory:+NHTSA+Reminds+Drivers+of+15-Passenger+Vans+to+Guard+Against+Rollover+Crashes+During+the+Warm-Weather+Driving+Season

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:

• 002007 The National Archives, Nixon Transcriptions-1
• Analysis of Crashes Involving 15 Passenger Vans
• Stopping Rollover
• Roof Crush Final Rule

 

 

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:

• • Currently in the U.S. each day nearly 100 people die of crash injuries — more than half die without transport to a medical treatment facility — and another estimated 400 people suffer serious injuries. U.S. DOT dollar values for preventing such losses currently amount to about $1 Billion each day.
  • In the year 2013, the total number of crash deaths in the U.S.A. since 1900 now exceeds 3,585,000 people. The number injured is estimated to exceed 255,000,000. That is 5 times the number of Americans who died and 150 times the number wounded in all wars since 1776. https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/clock.php
  • In 2013, the National Academy of Sciences reported that the U.S. ranks last in mortality from transportation injuries. “In 2009, the United States had the highest death rate from transportation related accidents among the 17 peer countries…” See Shorter Lives, Poorer Health, p. 32, available at http://nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13497
  • Since 1978 in the U.S., more people have died and suffered serious crash injuries than died or were wounded in all wars since 1776.
  • Since President Obama was elected in 2008, the number of Americans who died of crash injuries is 132,350 and another estimated 500,000 suffered serious crash injuries.

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.