Category: Blog

Bad Guardrails and Good Governance


Bad Guardrails and Good Governance

October, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times has identified and mapped the 13 States that have banned dangerous guardrails.  Current status: 9 Blue States: MA, CT, NH, OR, CO, NV, VA, VT, HI

4 Red States: AZ, MO, LA, MS
Then consider the 37 States that have not yet banned bad guardrails.  Shouldn’t the American people know about this before election day?  It is a matter of life or death importance. Readers and media can use our Crash Death Mapping Tools to determine crash deaths since 2002 by year, State, and Congressional District athttps://www.careforcrashvictims.com/CrashDeathMappingTools.php
And, what about governance by the DOT Federal Highway Administration?  The Obama Administration should not only review NHTSA but also FHWA for its failures to protect Americans.
We can, and must, do better protecting Americans from crash deaths and serious injuries.

Lou

 

Recalls Not Repaired Endangering Us All


Recalls Not Repaired Endangering Us All

October, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
GM Recalled Vehicles Not Repaired

“More than 1 million GM vehicles recalled are still not fixed….

There has been at least one fatal accident involving a recalled car since the recall was announced. Lara Gass, 27, was killed in an accident on Interstate 81 in Virginia on March 18 when her Saturn crashed into a tractor trailer on a snowy road. The fire that consumed the car made it impossible to know how many keys were on her key ring, according to the state police.”

And that’s just GM recalled vehicles for the ignition switch defect.  

Millions More Recalled Vehicles Not Repaired

An excellent article by Rachel Cohen addresses the larger “recalled but not repaired” problem of vehicles endangering us all – and known about by NHTSA and auto companies for years.“In the United States, about one in every six cars on the road, or 37 million vehicles, has an unfixed safety recall. These are not minor problems; in safety recalls, the manufacturer or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has determined that a car or piece  of motor vehicle equipment poses an unreasonable risk to safety or fails to meet minimum safety standards. When a recall is in effect, manufacturers are legally obligated to do the repairs for free. Consumers, however, are not required to fix their car, regardless of the defect’s severity. In 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found the annual recall compliance rate in the United States averages 65 percent.”

See http://prospect.org/article/road-hazard-millions-autos-us-highways-recalled-not-repaired

More evidence that NHTSA is guilty of DUI — corporate influence.

Lou

 

Your Safety and The End of Daylight Savings Time in the U.S.


Your Safety and The End of Daylight Savings Time in the U.S.

October, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Let There Be Light and Safety

It is that time of year when days are shorter and visibility becomes more important for your safety.  Sunday Nov. 2nd is the end of Daylight Savings Time in the U.S.

For pedestrians and cyclists it is a safe idea and good practice to wear light reflective materials.   Years ago the Federal Highway Administration published a poster for the public with the statistic that 60% of pedestrian fatalities occur between the hours of 6:00pm and 6:00am.  The “Be Safe, Be Bright” poster shows distances at which pedestrians can be seen wearing clothing of different colors – and retro reflective materials.

Check it out at https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/besafe.php

Car Color: Let There Be Light – White, and Safety

For years at NHTSA I tried to get a statistical analysis on the fatality risk of vehicles by color: White vs. other colors.  There were always excuses why it should not be done.  Only after I retired did I see some Researchers in Australia were independent enough to do such a study.  They found White to be statistically about 10% safer.  See it attached and at http://www.monash.edu.au/miri/research/reports/muarc263.pdf

The fact is this is one of the cheapest ways for a consumer to get a 10% increase in safety.   I have often wondered why this has been kept from the public by NHTSA and others.  The public should too. 

Vehicle paint colors can be made iridescent too to be more visible at night.  In fact, the 1973 airbag  vehicles made for the government by GM were painted in iridescent green.  Auto safety expert Byron Bloch sent me the following note and attached picture:

“Attached are two of my photos showing the 1973 Airbag Chevy Impala that I own, alongside the NHTSA “safercar.gov” rendition showing how they modified their 1973 Airbag Chevy.    These two historic cars were displayed at the official NHTSA Exhibit at the 2011 ESV Conference at National Harbor in Washington, D.C.    My car is in the historic GM iridescent green-gold of their original mass-production fleet of 1,000 identical cars, and to my knowledge is the last remaining example. 
Please also refer to  www.vimeo.com/1553230  for further information about this 1973 Airbag Chevy and GM’s early-1970’s development program of their ACRS – Air Cushion Restraint System.”

Note the NHTSA “Safer Car” picture.  It shows how NHTSA painted over the original iridescent green GM paint.  The public should wonder why NHTSA made the color and other changes to the original vehicle rather than preserving it as a historical example of safety vehicles from 40 years ago.

Lou

 

Can We Hope President Obama Will Change for the Better?


Can We Hope President Obama Will Change for the Better?

October, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
President Obama is faced with two decisions on positions to fill.   NHTSA Administrator and Attorney General are two positions that will have an impact on auto safety.  For better or worse.  Who he picks may make a difference in whether history views his record as protector of the people or protector of big money.

The current Bill Moyers Show “Too Big To Jail?” explored this question with regard to the banks and bankers.  Watch it for an understanding of what has been happening.  Hopefully it is not a portent of what we can expect with regard to justice for past, present, and future, crash victims.   The program summary notes:

“Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation last week reminds us of an infuriating fact: No banking executives have been criminally prosecuted for their role in causing the biggest financial disaster since the Great Depression.

“I blame Holder. I blame Timothy Geithner,” veteran bank regulator William K. Black tells Bill this week. “But they are fulfilling administration policies. The problem definitely comes from the top. And remember, Obama wouldn’t have been president but for the financial contribution of bankers.”

And the rub? While large banks have been penalized for their role in the housing meltdown, the costs of those fines will be largely borne by shareholders and taxpayers as the banks write off the fines as the cost of doing business. And by and large these top executives got to keep their massive bonuses and compensation, despite the fallout.”

See it at http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-big-jail/?utm_source=General+Interest&utm_campaign=efe9fcb924-Midweek_0903149_3_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4ebbe6839f-efe9fcb924-168341797

One sad take away is that President Obama may very well be responsible – in more ways than previously recognized – for NHTSA’s failures to protect Americans from crash deaths and serious injuries.

His coming appointments will provide perhaps his last chance to remedy his current record.  In his eight years, the nation is on track to woefully record 250,000 crash deaths – more than twice the number of Americans who died in the Afghanistan, Iraq, Viet Nam and Korean Wars combined.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/MonthlyReportforAugust2014.pdf

Lou

 

Defective Airbags and Defective Recalls Continue to Endanger All American


Defective Airbags and Defective Recalls Continue to Endanger All American

October, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Excellent reporting by CBS found:

“More than 11 million cars have been ordered back because of the potentially deadly airbag malfunction. Safety advocates, and those who’ve been affected, say the number should be far higher.

Clarence Ditlow leads the Center for Auto Safety.

“This is one of the deadliest defects that we have ever seen,” says Ditlow. “Yet 10 years later we are just beginning to get to the bottom of it.”

Documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, show Honda, the biggest buyer of Takata airbags, first learned about an exploding airbag in 2004. They recalled about 4,000 cars in 2008. The recalls have now reached 11 million vehicles.

Nine car makers are currently included, but the recalls are mostly regional, covering up to nine states and two U.S. territories.

That’s because Takata believes the explosions are more likely to happen in humid climates, when moisture gets into the system.

“How in the world can you approve a geographic recall that doesn’t include the two states where people have been killed?” says Ditlow”

Lou

 

The GM OnStar Failure in California Illustrates Need for Regulation


The GM OnStar Failure in California Illustrates Need for Regulation

October, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The San Francisco Chronicle published an article on the rollover crash of a GM OnStar vehicle that failed to provide reliable location information to enable timely rescue.  Rescue was delayed for 19 hours after the crash before the driver was found and transported to an emergency medical facility for care.  Thankfully, due primarily to excellent work by police and rescue workers, the driver has survived.  See http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Wrong-car-crash-location-spurs-OnStar-probe-5825410.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop

The article noted: “Clarence Ditlow, who directs the Center for Auto Safety in Washington, D.C., said the government should regulate safety features like OnStar.”  Ditlow, a lawyer and engineer who has fought for auto safety for decades, is right.  Without a Federal regulation requiring minimum performance standards for Automatic Crash Notification, a potentially significant safety technology, the public is not being adequately protected.

The lady saved in this crash is fortunate to have been rescued.  How many Americans know that every year more than half the crash deaths are not taken to any medical facility for emergency treatment?   Nearly 50 Americans every day.  See https://www.careforcrashvictims.com/assets/2012-00872-FATALITIES.PDF

This crash demonstrates the technology is available to do much better – but the technology has been privatized without having to meet any minimum public health protection performance standards.  So it does not have to work to protect people – just short term profits.
This crash is an example of the failure of Federal safety officials to carry out their duties to protect people since 2000.
Last year I petitioned NHTSA to:
Recommend a National Goal for Timely and Optimal Treatment of Serious Crash Injuries within a decade.

Still waiting for a response from the captive agency as about 18,000 Americans die of crash injuries each year without transport to any facility for any level of emergency medical care. 
Lou

 

U.S. DOT Continues To Fail in Protecting Motorists – Guardrails That Kill & Maim


U.S. DOT Continues To Fail in Protecting Motorists – Guardrails That Kill & Maim

October, 2014

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

The NY Times has excellently highlighted another failure of federal officials to protect Americans. “By last month, state transportation officials in Missouri said they had seen enough.

Federal highway officials had long insisted that guardrails throughout the state were safe. But some guardrail heads had apparently malfunctioned, in essence turning the rails into spears when cars hit them and injuring people instead of cushioning the blow, Missouri officials said.”

Especially Note:  

  • Video Report by ABC “20/20” and
  • Readers’ Picks in NY Times Comments
Hopefully Congressional committees will continue to investigate and publish documents and transcripts to better educate the public as to Federal failures to protect Americans.
Lou