Category: Blog

Senators Speak up For Truck Safety

December, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

For Immediate Release:

December 8, 2014

Contact: Josh Zembik (Blumenthal) – 202-224-6452Josh_Zembik@blumenthal.senate.gov Monique Waters (Booker) – 202-224-8150Monique_Waters@booker.senate.gov

BLUMENTHAL, BOOKER URGE MAJORITY LEADER REID TO REMOVE FROM OMNIBUS PROVISIONS THAT ROLL BACK REGULATIONS GOVERNING TRUCK SAFETY

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) today sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, urging the Senate Majority Leader to ensure that critical  regulations governing truck safety remain in full effect and are not rolled back in the 2015 government spending bill, which will likely be on the Senate floor later this week. The letter comes in support of Administration efforts to ensure that truck drivers receive adequate rest and are not driving fatigued on the nation’s roads and highways.

“We are extremely disappointed that despite our grave concerns, this matter is moving forward through the appropriations process, rather than with extensive study and debate,” the senators wrote. “This issue is far too important to have been altered outside of the committee of jurisdiction and without debate by the Senate.

“The current hours of service rules governing rest requirements for truck drivers are based on years of study and sound scientific research in addition to a review of public comments. They should remain firmly in place.  In 2012 large trucks were involved in 3,700 accidents with close to 4,000 fatalities and 104,000 injuries. With so many crashes, we should be examining further limitations on hours of service, not suspending the rules currently in place. At the very least, hours of service requirements should not be suspended during further study, but rather maintained until evidence illustrates a change would not pose a threat to public safety.”

The full text of the letter is below, and as a PDF here:

The Honorable Harry Reid                        

Majority Leader                                                                              

United States Senate

221 U.S. Capitol                                         

Washington, D.C. 20510                                       

Dear Majority Leader Reid:

We have serious concerns with the suspension of hours of service rules designed to prevent truck driver fatigue in the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus appropriations bill. The suspension of the rules could force tired truckers to stay on the road for longer periods of time, impairing the safety and wellbeing of the public. This provision should not move forward without further study and debate. We urge you not to include it in the omnibus legislation. 

In August, we wrote to Senator Mikulski outlining serious safety concerns and highlighted important testimony from a recent hearing held in the committee of jurisdiction that underscored the dangerous implications of rolling back these critical, life-saving rules. We are extremely disappointed that despite our grave concerns, this matter is moving forward through the appropriations process, rather than with extensive study and debate.  This issue is far too important to have been altered outside of the committee of jurisdiction and without debate by the Senate.

The current hours of service rules governing rest requirements for truck drivers are based on years of study and sound scientific research in addition to a review of public comments.  They should remain firmly in place.  In 2012 large trucks were involved in 3,700 accidents with close to 4,000 fatalities and 104,000 injuries. With so many crashes, we should be examining further limitations on hours of service, not suspending the rules currently in place.  At the very least, hours of service requirements should not be suspended during further study, but rather maintained until evidence illustrates a change would not pose a threat to public safety.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and former Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Administrator Anne Ferro, have both stated the current rules enhance safety and there is no data or evidence to support suspending the rules. It is estimated that the current hours of service rules can prevent 1,400 crashes, 19 fatalities and 500 injuries each year. 

Some in the industry, however, seem more interested in the profits that come with drivers working longer hours than with the safety benefits that come from ensuring truck drivers receive adequate rest.

America’s truck drivers work long grueling hours to deliver goods across the nation.  They are a vital part of our economy, and we owe it to these workers and the people driving on our roads to ensure that fact-based science-driven policies are in place, rather than throwing out the rules to put profits over safety.  

Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter. If there is any further compromise that can be reached to protect individuals from needless accidents, injuries and fatalities, we urge you to give it due consideration. 

Sincerely,

Richard Blumenthal                                                               Cory A. Booker

United States Senator                                                             United States Senator

Takata Hires DOT Officials

December, 2014

Help is on the way coming through the DOT Revolving Door!  American families of people killed, injured, and endangered by Takata defective airbags should know: “Takata said it was forming an independent quality panel headed by former White House Chief of Staff and U.S. Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner. It also appointed two other former U.S. transportation secretaries, Rodney Slater and Norman Mineta, as special counsel as it struggles to handle a series of recalls.”  Seehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/02/us-autos-takata-idUSKCN0JG1V520141202

Volvo On Track To Vision Zero Crash Deaths in 2020 – Where is the U.S. Vision?

December, 2014

Safety progress from Volvo reportedly continues. “Such technology already builds on the active safety systems that debut in the new XC90, in particular the City Safety function that can detect, warn and auto-brake the car if sensors detect an oncoming collision with a cyclist. The Swedish firm also says it is on track with plans to have nobody killed or seriously injured in its cars by 2020.

Mayor De Blasio may achieve Vision Zero in NYC too.  Seehttp://www.nyc.gov/html/visionzero/pages/home/home.shtml

Imagine President Obama setting a Vision Zero Goal for the nation to achieve by 2024.  The new NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind could propose such a goal for the President to take as an Executive Action.

Now that would be a worthy subject for the President’s State of the Union Speech to Congress with crash victims in the gallery.   That would be better than the gallery visitor Mary Barra seated with Mrs. Obama last year as the last Administrator was going through the NHTSA Revolving Door.

Again we must President Obama to set a worthy national safety goal of Vision Zero on the grounds that “where there is no vision – the people perish”.

See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MR-Strickland-NEMSAC-FICEMS.pdf

Lou

Will VP Biden, NHTSA Administrator Rosekind, and President Obama Set A Vision Zero Goal?

December, 2014

VP Biden will probably be at the State of the Union Address.  Will this article on crash deaths in Delaware be cited by President Obama announcing a Vision Zero goal for crash deaths in the U.S. by 2024?“With two weeks to go in the year, traffic deaths on Delaware roads are up 23 percent over the same period in 2013, according to state data.” See  http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/delaware/2014/12/19/delaware-traffic-deaths/20635885/

Crash Victims Lose in America’s Legal System

December, 2014

Chrysler To America: Drop Dead

December, 2014

NY Times reports:

“Chrysler has told federal safety regulators that it would not help thousands of consumers whose recalled Jeeps were too rusty to be fixed for a fire hazard, even though regulators have said that the failure to do so would be a “great concern.”

Chrysler informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this month that it would repair only structurally sound vehicles and that it would not pay for repairs to vehicles that were too rusty or had collision damage in the rear, a Chrysler spokesman, Eric Mayne, wrote in an email on Sunday.

The refusal sets up another confrontation between the automaker and federal regulators in what has already been a contentious issue.

The government contends that those vehicles, which have gas tanks mounted behind the rear axle, are prone to deadly fires in rear-impact collisions. The controversial repair suggested by Chrysler and approved by the safety agency involves putting a trailer hitch on the back of the vehicle. Trailer hitches are typically used for towing, and have never been seen as safety devices.

Chrysler has told N.H.T.S.A. it may not be possible to repair 3 percent to 6 percent of the 1.6 million Jeeps. That would be 48,000 to 96,000 vehicles, although historically it would be extremely unusual for every owner to respond to a recall notice….”  

“Under federal safety regulations, the safety agency has the authority to require an automaker to buy back recalled vehicles if it cannot fix the safety problem, said Allan J. Kam, a safety consultant from Bethesda, Md., who was a senior enforcement lawyer for the agency before retiring in 2000.

But automakers are not required to fix recalled vehicles free — or replace them — if they are older than 10 years, he said.”  See

Sen. Markey Statement on Honda Plan for Nationwide Recall & NHTSA’s Regional Recall Failure

November, 2014

Press Release from Senator Markey:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Eben Burnham-Snyder (Markey) 202-224-2742

Markey Statement on Honda’s Nationwide Takata Airbag Replacement Program

NHTSA should require all companies to do the same, notify all customers

WASHINGTON (November 17, 2014) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who has called for a nationwide recall of the deadly, defective Takata airbags, today released the following statement regarding Honda’s unpublicized plan to allow customers nationwide to replace their airbags, not just the customers in the regional recall zones. Senator Markey is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and this news was reported first by AP.

“Our highway safety agency, not Honda, should have been the first to call for this nationwide replacement of deadly airbags. NHTSA should require a nationwide recall, and should require Honda and other affected car companies to immediately announce mandatory nationwide recalls to protect American drivers.

“Three of the four known deaths that have occurred from these deadly airbags happened outside of the regional recall boundaries, which prove that this haphazard geographic safety regime doesn’t work. It’s time to send this regional recall policy to the junkyard, and protect all drivers on America’s roads.”