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State of Union Address 2015 – Will America Finally Get Its Vision Zero Goal?

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Safety Opportunity & Need On January 20, 2015 President Obama is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address.

President Obama has been in charge of NHTSA for 6 years. And in each of those 6 years he has failed to set a Vision Zero Goal — for crash deaths and serious injuries in or by a new car by 2024 — for Americans.

* Volvo has such a goal.

* Mayor de Blasio also set such a goal for NY City. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-volvotrackzero.php

* The Swedish Parliament, in 1997, adopted a “Vision Zero” policy that requires that fatalities and serious injurious be reduced to zero by 2020.

All are making progress.

President Obama, however, has not yet set a Vision Zero Goal for the U.S.A. And crashes in the U.S.A. under President Obama’s expected 8 years in Office are on track to record 250,000 crash deaths, 1 million serious crash injuries, and $7 Trillion in societal losses. Current daily rate in the U.S.A. is nearly 100 crash deaths, 400 serious injuries, and $2 Billion per day.

President Obama has appointed people who have failed to adequately protect Americans from crash injuries. NHTSA’s failures are symbolized by the classic NY Times art showing three NHTSA crash test dummies that neither see, hear, nor speak of evil.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/29/opinion/weak-oversight-deadly-cars.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C{%221%22%3A%22RI%3A10%22}Empathy or Indifference?President Obama, VP Biden, and NHTSA Administrator Rosekind each have personal knowledge of the tragedies of crash deaths and serious injuries. So will they act to set a worthy 10 year goal to end such tragedies? See http://www.fairwarning.org/2012/09/a-strange-indifference-to-highway-carnage/ There are safety scientists and engineers all over the world that believe this worthy goal is achievable. Unfortunately, mostly these safety experts work in organizations that value immediate profits over auto safety improvements. Safety technologies sit on shelves awaiting government mandates and corporate decisions to purchase safety technologies. These scientists and engineers, as well as citizens everywhere, need and hunger for leadership and commitment. As Ralph Nader has said:“This country has far more problems than it deserves and far more solutions than it applies.” See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-vpbidenzero.php

Empathic Presidential Leadership

In 1938, FDR created the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. In 1955, less than 20 years later, using technologies of the 1950s the Salk vaccine for polio was created.

Imagine what empathic presidential leadership today could accomplish using 21st century technologies to achieve a Vision Zero Goal for crash deaths and serious injuries in a decade.

As the proverbs (29:18) have advised humankind for 2,000 years: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

President Obama: You can do it! Yes you can.

Lou

Delete the Jan. 31, 2015 Deadline of the GM Ignition Switch Compensation Program

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The GM Ignition Switch Compensation Plan – Status

The GM Plan is scheduled to end January 31, 2015. See http://www.gmignitioncompensation.com/index

As of January 16, 2015 the GM Plan reports 2,818 claims received and only 121 claims deemed eligible. * 49 claims eligible out of 311 claims made for fatalities

* 7 claims eligible out of 207 claims made for catastrophic injuries

* 65 claims eligible out of 2,300 claims made for hospitalization injuries

See http://www.gmignitioncompensation.com/docs/program_Statistics.pdf

The GM Ignition Switch Compensation Plan – Needs Extension

The number of claims made appear to be too few in comparison with the number of GM fatalities each year over the calendar year period 2001 – 2013 during which ignition switch related deaths and injuries occurred and continue to occur. NHTSA data on GM Vehicles in Fatal Crashes by year are as follows: Crash Fatal TotalYear Crashes Fatalities 2001 15,543 17,699 2002 15,366 17,524 2003 15,097 17,159 2004 14,986 17,065 2005 14,631 16,633 2006 13,889 15,704 2007 13,208 14,917 2008 11,797 13,192 2009 10,540 11,914 2010 10,268 11,404 2011 9,714 10,828 2012 10,094 11,265 2013 9,580 10,617

_______________ Total 164,713 185,921

In 2013, GM vehicles involved in fatal crashes resulted in 10,617 crash deaths, i.e., an average of 29 American deaths per day in the U.S.A. This is occurring in the 21st Century.

These 10,617 crash deaths involving GM vehicles in 2013, valued at $9.1 million in accordance with DOT Policy Guidance (copy attached) amount to a societal loss of $96 billion in monetary terms — not moral terms.

Note: Not all of these GM deaths are ignition switch related. But NHTSA should publish an analysis of these fatal crashes to determine how many may have been. And what more could GM and NHTSA have done to reduce their contribution to all these tragedies then and now. It is neither fair, nor moral, for GM to place the onus on crash victims families to have to document, to the satisfaction of GM, their claims – especially without help from NHTSA and other government agencies. And do so in the few short months of the GM designed plan.

The January 31, 2015, GM created, deadline for receiving claims from victims is unfair, immoral, and untenable. Millions of Americans continue to be at risk. A recent reported fatality occurred on Oct. 9, 2014. See http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/business/Recalled-GM-cars-remain-unrepaired-as-safety-concerns-persist.html The arbitrary deadline for claims should be deleted by GM. If necessary, it should be done under pressure from NHTSA and the Justice Department. It is the right thing to do.

With 185,921 GM deaths – not including serious injuries – we need an independent national Crash Victims Commission to examine what can be done to reduce such tragedies. One recommendation would be for NHTSA to publish fatality and injury data by auto company to spur competition for safety advances. See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReport-May2014.pdf Lest NHTSA or GM seek shelter in the declines since 2006, we must recall that one major factor was the effect of the Great Recession. See NHTSA Figure 1 http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812093.pdf

Additional Information on GM Ignition Recall

Center for Auto Safety http://www.autosafety.org/general-motors-ignition-switch-recalls-homepage

Safety Research & Strategies http://www.safetyresearch.net/search/node/GM%20Ignition

Quality Control Systems Corp. http://www.quality-control.us/nhtsa_gm_switch.html

NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/business/after-a-gm-recall-a-fiery-crash-and-a-payout.html

GM and NHTSA can and must act this week to protect Americans, compensate victims, and build a Safer America. Delete the GM deadline, now please.

Lou

Safety Inequality in America: Fatal Risk for Used Car Buyers

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

NY Times Reports:“Buying a used car in the United States can be a dangerous proposition — if the vehicle has an unadvertised safety defect.

This month, Carlos Solis died after the airbag in a used car he bought last year from a Texas dealer exploded, sending a piece of metal into his neck. Mr. Solis, 35, was not aware when he bought the vehicle that its airbags could be defective and had been recalled, according to a lawsuit filed by his family on Friday….”

“Federal laws do not require used-car dealers to repair vehicles with safety defects before putting the cars back into public use. Nor are dealers required by law to disclose to customers that a vehicle is the subject of a recall. Legislation to address the issue has languished in Congress.

With no progress in legislation, consumers are left on their own to check whether a used vehicle has been recalled for a safety defect, by running their vehicle identification numbers through the federal safety database or on an automobile manufacturer’s website, or by purchasing a vehicle history report from a vendor like Carfax.”

See http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/business/buyers-of-used-cars-are-left-to-find-recalls-on-their-own.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150130&nlid=37926955&tntemail0=y&_r=0

Good News from NHTSA in 2015

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

NHTSA has published some good news on its programs over the years:

Saving an estimated 613,501 lives since 1960. See

“Lives Saved by Vehicle Safety Technologies & Associated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, 1960 to 2012 Passenger Cars and LTV’s” (DOT HS 812 069): NHTSA began in 1975 to evaluate the effectiveness of vehicle safety technologiesassociated with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. By June 2014, NHTSA had evaluated the effectiveness of virtually all the life-saving technologies introduced in passenger cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and vans from about 1960 up through about 2010. The total number of estimated lives saved by these technologies and programs from 1960 to 2012 is 613,501.

So yes safety programs can save lives!

And we need to do more and better. See “Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities for the First Half (Jan-Jun) of 2014” (DOT HS 812 093): A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2014 shows that an estimated 14,950 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes. This represents a decrease of about 2.2 percent as compared to the 15,294 fatalities that were reported to have occurred in the first half of 2013. Preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) shows that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the first 6 months of 2014 increased by about 6.5 billion miles, or about a 0.4-percent increase.

You might think that President Obama might have thought this good news was worth mentioning in his State of the Union speech. Maybe next year…

Lou

Honda & NHTSA Fail to Report Crash Deaths

January, 2015

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Honda Fails to Report Deaths – Honda Fined $70 million Recently NHTSA (with Honda’s agreement) fined Honda $70 million for failing to report information on deaths involving Honda vehicles. See http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2015/DOT-fines-Honda-$70-million And see: https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/blog-withstandingmsg.php And see:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/business/honda-fined-70-million-in-underreporting-safety-issues-to-government.html?_r=0

And see: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/business/honda-in-japan-distances-itself-from-us-subsidiary-after-record-fine.html

NHTSA Fails to Report Honda Deaths – NHTSA Fined $0

NHTSA regularly collects data in FARS about deaths associated with each automaker. But NHTSA does not bother to summarize fatalities and publish the results by each automaker. So how many people died of crash injuries involving occupants of Honda vehicles (not including data on Honda motorcyclists that is attached separately) in recent years? Randy and Alice Whitfield of Quality Control Systems Corp. kindly provided such information. They reported that in the years 2010 – 2013 the total number of Americans who died of crash injuries as occupants in Honda passenger vehicles was 6,280 people.

One particularly important thing to note about these statistics — that NHTSA has, but will not publish — is their regularity. Year after year!

20101,594 2011 1,536 20121,593 20131,557

Why does NHTSA not publish the data on fatalities it has by automaker?

What holds NHTSA back? NHTSA frequently publishes fatal crash data on involvement of alcohol, restraint use (buckled), speed, age, and gender of crash victims — but not by vehicle manufacturer. See http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812032.pdf

Honda Motorcyclist Deaths

Data on Honda Motorcyclists’ Deaths summarized from NHTSA files are attached for the years 1982 – 2011. In 2011, the number of Honda motorcyclist deaths were 817, i.e., occurring at an average rate of more than 2 deaths per day. These data that NHTSA has failed to publish by vehicle manufacturer for decades are important to note. They provide deadly evidence of NHTSA captivity since Reagan was elected President.

If NHTSA had been regularly publishing such data by automaker, there would have been a market pressure on automakers to improve the safety of their products.

NHTSA’s failures to report such data by manufacturer to the public for more than 30 years deserves much more than a $0 fine. NHTSA can publish such data today! NHTSA can and should do better. Lou