Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Legal Reader has published an article in tribute to Clarence Ditlow’s work and added financial contributions to a new Fund to continue Clarence’s work.
Please see http://www.legalreader.com/tribute-to-clarence-m-ditlow-iii/
The efforts to build a just and safer America continues!
Lou Lombardo
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Christopher Jensen of Forbes reports:
“A woman who lobbied for safety reforms after her daughter died in the crash of a Chevrolet Cobalt with the ignition-switch defect is being honored with the first Clarence M. Ditlow III Safety Champion Award.
“Laura Christian exemplifies the stalwart commitment to consumer protection and vehicle safety that characterized Clarence’s life,” said Joan Claybrook, the co-chair of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, which announced the award this morning.
Ditlow, who died in November, was the executive director of The Center for Auto Safety for four decades. He served on the Advocates’ board of directors for 27 years.
He was generally regarded as the nation’s foremost advocate and expert on automotive safety, consumer rights and the workings of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.” See http://www.forbes.com/sites/
GM Recall Survivors
For an excellent information resource created and maintained by Laura Christian see https://www.facebook.com/
Lou Lombardo
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
This year, the 37th Edition, is out. This edition has a wonderful tribute by author Jack Gillis to the life saving work of Clarence Ditlow.
Jack notes how he and Clarence worked together to continue publishing The Car Book after the Reagan Administration stopped its publication by NHTSA.
Michael Brooks, current Acting Director of the Center for Auto Safety notes in an excellent Preface that when the 1966 Motor Vehicle and Traffic Safety Acts became law the fatality rate in the U.S. was nearly 26 fatalities per hundred thousand population. Today it is about 10 fatalities per hundred thousand population. Had the earlier rate continued 83,000 lives would have been lost in 2014 instead of the expected 38,700 expected in 2016.
The daily losses are still a massive national tragedy:
What I like most about the handy Car Book is that in addition to the one page summary ratings of each model vehicle, there is reliable auto buying advice. Useful information on insurance, tires, warranties, reliability, maintenance, and safety options all in one place. I keep it in my trunk with all auto repair bills.
The Car Book information helps people make wise choices on one of the most expensive and dangerous consumer products.
The Center for Auto Safety web site will have a link to purchase the Car Book up next week. See www.autosafety.org
Please buy it, be safe, write about it, and help us all be safer.
Lou Lombardo
January, 2017
Please watch video of Ralph Nader on America’s Lawyer at https://trofire.com/2017/01/05/pap-ralph-nader-the-corporate-plot-to-destroy-your-legal-rights-americas-lawyer/
Lou Lombardo
January, 2017
Safety record in truck tragedies increase of 15% in U.S. is compared with E.U. progress in reduced truck tragedies of 23%. See attached graphic.
January, 2017
People who can’t afford to buy new cars recently voted for change. The result is an election that put Republicans in political control of the White House and both Houses of Congress.
Both the Democrat and Republican parties and the media have let the public down for decades in the area of auto safety. See http://www.fairwarning.org/2012/09/a-strange-indifference-to-highway-carnage/
Now Michael R. Lemov has written an article on the life or death problems of sale of used cars that have been recalled but not fixed thanks to legal loopholes in existence for 50 years. See http://www.thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/315350-buying-that-new-used-car-congress-must-put-safety-first
January, 2017
At the end of the Obama years, the vehicle violence record dictates we look for how we can better protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our society. Over the last 8 years vehicle violence in America resulted in: * 250,000 lives lost * 1,000,000 serious injuries including burns, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries resulting in paralyses, and crippling limb injuries.
* costs estimated by NHTSA to amount to $6 Trillion
And these vehicle violence losses are growing at an increasing rate.
Consumer Reports is now asking important questions: “As Trump Takes Office, What’s Top of Consumers’ Minds?” See http://www.consumerreports.org/consumer-protection/as-trump-takes-office-what-is-top-of-consumers-minds/?loginMethod=auto
CR survey notes that 66% of Americans do not trust the government to look out for consumer interests.
The CR survey also notes auto safety on the list. “Automakers, as well as the high-tech companies whose products increasingly play a role in the driving experience, must make safety their top priority when engineering and deploying new cars and technologies, and be quick to respond when their products are found to have problems. As CR’s CEO, Marta Tellado, noted last fall: “The world needs visionary companies that push the envelope and create products that exceed our expectations. But ambition must be balanced with accountability: When emerging technologies bring with them new risks, it must be the company and not the consumer that shoulders them.”
CR Tools Empowering People
CR Videos: See http://www.consumerreports.org/video/view/cars/auto-test-track/5276249573001/2018-toyota-camry-preview/
