Category: Blog

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members: Please watch and listen to this short but inspirational video.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-nader/the-tradition-of-charity_b_8828946.html

As the public faces a critical election year, the PBS News Hour interviewed Ralph Nader on the important issues of America’s past, present, and future well-being.

“NH: What about campaign reform? Particularly, following Citizens United and the opening of the spigot to even more donations from corporations or, more likely, the leaders of the corporations that actually have the money and write the checks.

RN: If politics and elections are for sale, guess who’s going to be the highest bidder?  The powerful and wealthy, and they will in effect rent our political system and our government– to service them between elections. And I keep saying, one percent or less of this people pushing for change on an issue supported by a majority of the people can defeat the most powerful corporations and their political cohorts any day of the week.”  See Videos and transcript at 

Second, deep data research is also important in defining the problems and developing solutions.  In a NHTSA report, published in 2007, we examined intersection fatal crash data from FARS to better understand both problems and potential solutions for fatal intersection crashes.  Seehttp://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/810682.pdf

This week the Congress passed legislation that provides some money and some policies for safety.  Hopefully, some of the money  and policies will advance safety in America.  More is needed.

Surprisingly, this week at the Republican Presidential debate on CNN, an important question resulted in an interesting response by Mr. Trump and the audience on the importance of focusing resources on huge clear and present dangers here in the U.S.A. today.

“Mr. Trump, are Americans safer with dictators running the world in the Middle East?

TRUMP: In my opinion, we’ve spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that frankly, if they were there and if we could’ve spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems; our airports and all of the other problems we’ve had, we would’ve been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now.

We have done a tremendous disservice, not only to Middle East, we’ve done a tremendous disservice to humanity. The people that have been killed, the people that have wiped away, and for what? It’s not like we had victory.

It’s a mess. The Middle East is totally destabilized. A total and complete mess. I wish we had the $4 trillion or $5 trillion. I wish it were spent right here in the United States, on our schools, hospitals, roads, airports, and everything else that are all falling apart.

(APPLAUSE)”  See

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/us/politics/transcript-main-republican-presidential-debate.html

Now imagine the Democratic presidential candidates raising the major violence issue of crash deaths and serious injuries.  Candidate Clinton was willing to raise the gun violence issue.  Now let the candidates debate the need for national action on crash violence.  Activists are rightly pushing “End Gun Violence”. It is not just guns that kill people.  Vehicles kill people too. Now activists need to push for a Vision Zero Goal for crash deaths and serious injuries in new vehicles in or by new vehicles in a decade.  End the 100 crash deaths, 400 serious crash injuries, and $2 billion in crash losses occurring in the U.S.A. today – every day.  Seehttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/clock.php

See and subscribe to their inspirational posts to help at:http://annaleahmary.com/2015/12/unexpected-events-progress-in-underride-protection/

GM has deliberately designed a defective SOS System based on the principle of Pay or Die.  More than a decade ago, I recall an OnStar response to a NHTSA question, that shocked some of us as callous, that if the subscription was not up to date OnStar would not help.

“The family is pushing for OnStar to change their ways and their priorities.

“They could definitely make a 911 call. There is no excuse – it’s unacceptable,” Michaels said.

Anthony and his family are fortunate for a happy ending, having their dad back home and safe with the family, but said the outcome could have been far worse.

“A lot of people who are elderly go missing and it’s not a good ending,” Michaels said.

13WHAM News did reach out to OnStar. They apologized for the experience and said if you’re not a subscriber, their computers cannot locate the car. In that case, they call authorities. OnStar added they were not sure whether or not Anthony DePinto’s emergency call was passed on to police.” See

http://13wham.com/news/local/onstar-ignores-89-year-old-emergency-caller  and

I had the privilege of working with Dr. Carl Clark at NHTSA in the 1980s.

Auto safety expert Byron Bloch still owns one of the original GM airbag vehicles.

That development of production airbag vehicles by GM between 1966 and 1973 using 1960s technology shows how much progress can be made when the governmental and corporate will is applied to advance safety.  

Imagine how much progress could be made today using 21st century technologies to achieve Vision Zero deaths and serious injuries in or by a new vehicle in a decade.  Where is the political will?