Category: Blog

Marianne Karth’s Latest Post – Are You Aware That Death By Motor Vehicle Is One of the Leading Causes of Death?


Marianne Karth’s Latest Post – Are You Aware That Death By Motor Vehicle Is One of the Leading Causes of Death?

February, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

One our members continues to examine the major problem of crash deaths and serious injuries – and what we can do to end preventable tragedies that have been going on for way too long.  See her post that cites Lemov’s book Car Safety Wars.

How do we get enough people to understand the problems and the solutions, and then to take action to end such tragedies?
Lou

 

Volkswagen Deliberately Designed Diesels To Poison Our Air & Our Lungs, Then Lied, Cheated, and Covered Up the Crime For Years


Volkswagen Deliberately Designed Diesels To Poison Our Air & Our Lungs, Then Lied, Cheated, and Covered Up the Crime For Years

February, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Newsweek reported:“By the end of 2016, VW’s cars, rigged with “defeat devices” to cheat on emissions tests, will have pumped out enough excess toxic pollution to directly contribute to the premature deaths of around 60 people in the U.S. alone, MIT and Harvard University researchers determined in a new study published Monday in Environmental Research Letters .”  Seehttp://www.newsweek.com/60-people-will-die-early-thanks-volkswagen-388117 
And now the NY Times reports on the public relations problem of Volkswagen.

“In the months since it admitted it designed its diesel cars to cheat on tailpipe-emissions tests, the company has struggled with its messaging. A low point came last month when Matthias Müller, the new chief executive, visited the United States and told NPR, “We didn’t lie,” when VW clearly did. The outcry forced Mr. Müller to call NPR back and revise his statement.

The reaction to the scandal has been swift. A recent Harris Poll of Americans’ attitudes toward the 100 most visible companies ranked Volkswagen dead last.”

See http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/business/international/vws-crisis-strategy-forward-reverse-u-turn.html?emc=eta1

Consumer Reports’ rating of Which Brands Make The Best Cars? ranks Volkswagen 15th and average for Predicted Reliability.

The Car Book, 2016 gives mostly low safety ratings to Volkswagen models. Only the gasoline powered Jetta earned a “Best Bet” rating. 
What happened to German engineering?

 

Very Important Safety Questions Raised By a Citizen Activist


Very Important Safety Questions Raised By a Citizen Activist

January, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

One of our members, Marianne Karth, is asking very important questions that come from the heart, soul, and head. Her questions deserve to be read, heard, and heeded for the greater safety of all of us.

Please see them at http://annaleahmary.com/author/marianne/

Spread the word and help her help us all to a Safer America.

Lou

 

Fwd: URGENT: Important Highway Safety Presser Tomorrow


Fwd: URGENT: Important Highway Safety Presser Tomorrow

January, 2016

Dear Care For Crash Victims Community Members:

Here is an important Embargoed Report to be released tomorrow from Advocates from Highway and Auto Safety titled “Missing”.

Missing refers to State Safety Laws missing in each State.

Buried in the State summaries are statistics on the number of people who died of crash injuries in each State for the past 10 years.  Add them up and we find that 362,532 Americans are “missing” i.e., lost their lives due to vehicle violence over the 10 year period.

Using NHTSA figures of estimated injuries nearly 1.5 million additional people suffered serious injuries in America over the 10 year period.  These people are also “missing” – i.e., not counted. 

Using DOT values of $9 million in comprehensive costs per fatality, America “missing” losses would be valued by DOT to be about $3 trillion.

The press conference will be telecast live Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 1 p.m. EST at  https://scontent.webcaster4.com/web/2016highwaysafetylaws

Numbers of vehicle deaths by Congressional District over the 10 years up to 2013 are available at https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=e21e612d64654d75943f85a1a6035472

Hopefully, media will not be “missing”.

Lou 

———- Forwarded message ———- From: Jackie Gillan <jgillan@saferoads.org> Date: Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 6:01 PM Subject: URGENT: Important Highway Safety Presser Tomorrow To: Jackie Gillan <jgillan@saferoads.org>

Attached for your use is an embargoed copy of Advocates 2016 Roadmap Report that will be released tomorrow at 1 p.m. EST. I hope you can join us at the National Press Club or by webcast.  Please contact Beth Weaver for more information at 301.814.4088 orbeth_weaver@verizon.net

 

Thanks, Jackie

MEDIA ADVISORY

IMPORTANT HIGHWAY SAFETY EVENT TOMORROW

 

Highway Deaths Expected to Have Dramatically Increased in 2015,

Yet States are Missing Lifesaving Laws and Legislators are Missing in Action

 

Report Rates States on 15 Commonsense Traffic Safety Laws That Prevent Crashes,

Save Lives, Reduce Injuries and Contain Costs

 

WHAT:           NEWS CONFERENCE – Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety releases its thirteenth annual report card grading all 50 states and the District of Columbia on their performance in adopting 15 basic highway safety laws on adult and child occupant protection, impaired and distracted driving, and teen driving. The2016 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws will focus on the “missing laws” and “missing leadership” in state capitals despite a projected eight percent increase in deaths during the first half of 2015 compared to 2014. In 2015, there were fewer optimal traffic safety laws passed in state legislatures than in the history of the publication of the Roadmap Report. Advocates will also unveil a list of the “best and worst” states, though no state has adopted all 15 of the optimal recommended laws.

 

In 2014, there were nearly 33,000 people killed and 2.3 million more injured in motor vehicle crashes. The steep economic toll amounts to $836 billion in comprehensive costs annually. These figures are expected to climb while legislative action is plummeting. 

 

WHEN:           Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 1 p.m. EST

 

WHERE:        National Press Club, Murrow Room, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC

 

WHO:             Jacqueline Gillan, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

Mark Rosekind, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (invited)

J. Thomas Manger, Chief of Police, Montgomery County, MD Police Department.  Chief Manger’s Department recently suffered the tragic death of Officer Noah Leotta who was killed by a repeat offender drunk driver while serving on a special DUI assignment.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association (APHA)

Tammy and Paul Kalp (Dover, DE), Paul was involved in a motorcycle crash in 2012.  He was not wearing a helmet and sustained serious injuries including the loss of the use of the right side of his body and a traumatic brain injury.

Joan Claybrook, Consumer Co-Chair of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, President Emeritus of Public Citizen, and former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Bill Vainisi, Insurance Co-Chair of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Allstate Insurance Company

 

Catherine Chase, Vice President of Governmental Affairs, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety

 

LIVE WEBCASTof the news conference at https://scontent.webcaster4.com/web/2016highwaysafetylaws

 

BACKGROUND: Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety is a coalition of leading consumer, health, and safety organizations and insurance agents and companies that work together to advance state and federal highway and vehicle safety laws, programs and policies.  The 2016 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws will be available on January 28, 2016, 12:01 a.m. EST at www.saferoads.org.

 

###

 

 

 

Jacqueline S. Gillan President Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety 750 First Street, NE Suite 1130 Washington, DC 20002202.408.1711 (office)202.408.1699 (fax)www.saferoads.org

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A Judicial Victory Against Chrysler For Public Safety, Accountability, and Transparency


A Judicial Victory Against Chrysler For Public Safety, Accountability, and Transparency

January, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

“Corporation conceals deadly defect. Someone dies, and their family sues. Corporation settles quietly. Court records are sealed. Nobody finds out.

Jennifer Bennett Public Justice

Jennifer Bennett Public Justice

More people are hurt. More people sue. More settlements are reached. More records are sealed.

“This is how GM was able to hide an ignition switch defect that killed over a hundred people for more than a decade,” says Jennifer Bennett, an attorney with Public Justice in Oakland, California.  “It’s how Remington concealed evidence that its most popular rifle can fire without anyone pulling the trigger.”

But be because of a Ninth Circuit decision handed down in Velasco v. Chrysler, “it is now much harder for corporations to enlist courts in keeping their secrets,” Bennett says.”

– See more at:

http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/ninth-circuit-hands-safety-advocates-victory-over-chrysler/

 

Policies and Politics of Auto Safety


Monthly Report: Policies and Politics of Auto Safety

January, 2016

Dear Care For Crash Victims Community Members:

To help us all advance safety in this election year, I have put together some political facts and figures on auto safety.

Please see the January 2016 Monthly Report attached.  Let us hope it helps us all build a Safer and more Just America.

Lou

 

Nader on Costs to Humanity of Monetized Elections


Nader on Costs to Humanity of Monetized Elections

January, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: Nader explains the system that enslaves us and he encourages us to act:

“Voters, you can change all this rancid defilement of our Republic and its democratic dreams. Do your homework on the parties and the candidates, form informal groups to demand debates and agendas that you preside over, push for more choices on the ballot, make votes count over money. The internet can help speed up such efforts.

You outnumber the politicos and their entourages everywhere.  You are the ones who keep paying the price for letting politics remain a deadly form of distracting entertainment with a mainstream media obsessed with the horse race rather than the human race.”  See 

https://blog.nader.org/2016/01/21/the-devastating-cost-of-monetized-elections/ Read Nader’s article for a better understanding of why in the 21st Century we still do not have a Vision Zero goal for an end to crash deaths and serious injuries in or by a new car in a decade – despite the unprecedented availability of unused safety technologies.  Are we to have crash deaths and serious injuries forevermore?  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforJanuary2016-Corrected.pdf

We can and must do better protecting our health, safety, money, and sovereignty.  This election gives us an opportunity and responsibility to help build a Safer America.