Waiting For Answers About the California Bus Crash

Yesterday a Fed Ex truck crossed over unto oncoming traffic and struck a bus. 10 people died.

We are all waiting to hear what happened.

I'm guessing, this is just a guess, excessive speed might have been a possibility but who knows.

It is a crash that has claimed headlines. Many crashes, scratch that, most don't.

But when a lot of people die in on crash they do tend to make the headlines. It has to do with our monkey origins. We tend to be more afraid when a lot of us die at once.

So despite the fact that around 100 Americans die every single day on our roads we will focus on yesterday's tragedy when 10 died.

It is tragic, it's just also tragic we accept the high amount of deaths.

I will be curious to see what they say is the reason to the crash.

I can only hope we will sooner, rather then later, begin to make drastic changes to end the high amount of fatalities. It's incredibly sad so many people had to die yesterday in a collision that possibly could have been prevented.

NHTSA Releases Gruesome Anti-Texting & Driving PSA

There is a gruesome new video, yeah! That is trying to dissuade people from texting and driving. Because they aren't listening apparently.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a disturbing new 30-second video aimed to inspire drivers to keep their phones in their pockets while behind the wheel.

Someone actually tweeted a few days ago that she would never agree behind scaring people but I had to politely disagree.

People are not listening.

Here is the video.

http://youtu.be/S_-6EoNhitg

Norovirus vs. Car Crashes

I am not a germ phobe but I do fear the "throw up bug." Or if you are from the mid-west the flu. If you are from the East Coast the "stomach bug." Whatever you call it, it's killer, especially if you have kids. You just know it will run its course.

But did you know that the Norovirus, as unpleasant as this sickness is and awful it causes between 570-800 deaths in the USA annually according to Forbes.

(Tommy Media.com)

Car crashes cause around 30,000 death in the USA annually.

Let's look at those number by each other:

800

30,000

800 goes into 30,000 37.5 times.

I'm bad at math so that's where we will end the numbers but 30,000 is a LOT more then 800.

Yet, we talk about the Norovirus, it makes the headlines. We fear it. We don't let our kids play with other kids who are yakking their brains out.

But we let our kids be driven by people using their phones, which is proven to be unsafe.

We choose to tailgate.

We choose to excessively speed.

Wash your hands, break out the Lysol but keep your fears planted where they should be.

Veterans Especially At Risk For Car Crashes

I am thankful for our veterans.

I saw this article that grabbed my attention saying that veterans were at risk for dying in car crashes upon returning home from duty.

According to research conducted by insurance companies and the Department of Veterans Affairs, more military personnel are killed in car accidents than by any other cause. Too often, the veterans driving are the parties at fault for causing the crashes.

Between the years of 2007 and 2010, the insurance industry reviewed the driving records of thousands of troops. In comparing the records before and after deployment, it was discovered at-fault accidents increased by nearly 15 percent following deployment. Further, accidents were more common in the six months immediately following an overseas tour.

In studying the driving behaviors of returned soldiers, researchers discovered that many of the accidents were caused by erratic driving behaviors such as:

• Exceeding speed limits
• Crossing lanes without signaling
• Ignoring traffic lights and signs

They also tended to engage in risky behaviors such as not wearing seatbelts and/or helmets and using drugs and alcohol.

The poor driving behaviors of many returning veterans may be attributed to something more than bad choices. Researchers have discovered erratic driving behaviors are often symptomatic of traumatic brain injury (TBI) or even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Veterans Affairs has stepped up to help protect returning soldiers and those sharing the roads. In partnership with the Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense, the agencies have launched the Veterans’ Safe Driving Initiative. This program focuses on two components: an awareness campaign and a research plan to help veterans drive safely.

Private organizations are also moving forward with solutions. California-based researchers are developing therapies to reduce anxiety behind the wheel. It is also hoped that soon mobile phone applications will be available to ease road rage tendencies. (QuellerFisher.com)

Road Deaths Are A Global Epidemic

Road deaths are a global epidemic.

And the news is not good, it's set to get worse.

Some days I question myself for doing this blog but it's a way to try to fix something that drives me nuts. Even if it is only a handful of people I'm currently reaching.

I was hoping to get more mom bloggers on board, car crashes are the #1 cause of death to kids in America. I see so much campaigning for cancer and children who are hungry, which is awesome but we really do need to start focusing our attention on this very fixable problem.

Read this:

Every six seconds, someone is killed or seriously injured in a traffic accident. Every day, 3,500 people are killed in car crashes.

That means traffic fatalities are a global epidemic on par with malaria and tuberculosis, according to a new report issued by the Campaign for Global Road Safety.

"The epidemic has reached crisis proportions," wrote Kevin Watkins, a Brookings Institute researcher whoauthored the report, and the problem is "set to worse over the years ahead."

There are 1.3 million annual global road deaths, and they are the No. 1 global cause of deaths of young people ages 10 to 24. Approximately 260,000 children die in car accidents annually, according to the World Health Organization.

Air pollution also kills an estimated 1.3 million people each year, according to the report, and 70 to 90 percent of fatal pollutants, such as carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide, originate from automotive traffic, the report says.

"There are no surprises or hidden magic bullets for tackling the road traffic injury crisis," Watkins writes. "Vehicles need to be separated from vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists." (Autos AOL)

Selfies While Driving Are Beyond Stupid

An article just came out saying that there are a lot of people taking selfles and tagging them on Instagram. According to Huffington Post:

"There are over 3 million posts on Instagram tagged with '#driving,' nearly 50,000 with '#drivinghome,' over 9,000 tagged '#drivingtowork' and more than 3,500 tagged '#drivingselfie,'" reads the report.

I have trolled these selfles before and once or twice politely asked the person to think about the danger of doing this while driving.

(Pictures is from the original Huffington Post article)

It's really interesting to me as many of these people would probably claim that car crashes are "tragic accidents" yet they might run in a race to find a cure for breast cancer. Yet they won't discipline themselves enough to not jeopardize their life by taking a selfie.

Wow, there is even a #drivingselfie hashtag.

I think these people should be criminally reprimanded. If a person walked into a public space and pulled out a gun people would scream and call 911. Car crashes are the #1 cause of death for young people. Young, being under the age of 35. That's a lot of people.

Around 30,000 Americans are dying annually in car crashes.

Around 110 every single day in America die.

Please do not take a selfie while driving.

Way to go Toyota, they just released an ad saying "Don't Shoot and Drive." We need more car companies to step up like the phone companies have been. Car companies should be selling safe driving. More people to buy your cars auto industry.

Kids Are Twice As Likely To Be Hit on Halloween

I wasn't certain myself so I just Googled it and kids are twice as likely to be hit on Halloween!

Children are twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween than on any other day of the year, according to Safe Kids Worldwide.

Halloween is a extra deadly due to drunk drivers and people out of foot. What a shame.

Over the five years from 2007 to 2011, 23 percent of pedestrian fatalities on Halloween night involved a drunken driver, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“This is a night we have to be more mindful of safety and protecting our kids — from constant supervision to planning your route to taking your cellphones and flashlights,” said Beverly Losman, program manager of injury prevention at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and director of Safe Kids Georgia. “It’s also important to be safety-conscious with costumes — reflective tape costs pennies at a hardware store.”

I would also like to ask human beings to please, just slow the fuck down on at least Halloween. And please for the love of God, don't drive drunk and/or text and drive on Halloween.

If humans can't figure that out, then forget about it.

As parents we should use flashlights and kids can wear some reflective wear.

Stay safe.

Drownings vs. Car Crashes

Summer is here and so is pool season.

There has been a video lately that has gone viral talking about how when someone drowns it is silent, not loud like we see in the movies.

http://youtu.be/YuvowmktLIc

An important piece and reminder to us all.

I have a pool.

I enjoy it and fear it. We use a lot of precautions so I by no means am undermining the importance of drowning prevention.

Behind car crashes drowning is the second unintentional way to die for children.

That is significant.

According to the site Child Death Review: In selected causes of death, ages 0-19, per 100,000 in 2007 for unintentional deaths:

6,683 children died in car crashes with a mortality rate of 8.1.

1,056 children died in drownings with a mortality rate of 1.3.

These are categorized under unintentional injury as firearms are logged under homicide. Unintentional death from firearms were 138 mortality rate 0.2.

I've just had a lovely day, well pretty lovely the weekends are a "bit" challenging with 3 young kids, but overall lovely day. I watched my kids like a hawk while they swam and even thought of that viral piece going around about the silent killer, drowning.

I also thought about why aren't we advocating to change the way we drive so that we could save so many lives? Why isn't some politician or entertainer making a racket about this?

All I can do is drive as safely as I can and you too. Until someone starts realizing the fact that this is not making significant waves is crazy.

Car crashes are not a silent killer. They are loud and yet the silence lies in our acceptance of the high number of crashes and or the unwillingness to significantly change our ways.

Backing Up Nightmares

This is a topic that has received a fair amount of media attention. It is especially horrific because a lot of times it is another family member running over a loved child. Backing up over a child sadly is something that happens too much. In the U.S. at least fifty children are being backed over by vehicles EVERY week. Forty-eight (48) are treated in hospital emergency rooms and at least two (2) children are fatally injured.  every WEEK. (Kids and Cars Org.)

http://youtu.be/q7W4RCyTj3E

• The predominant age of victims is one year olds. (12‐23 months)

• Over 60% of backing up incidents involved a larger size vehicle. (truck, van, SUV)

• Tragically, in over 70% of these incidents, a parent or close relative is behind the wheel. (Kids and Cars Org.)

You know what's equally disturbing is the fact that backup cameras are not federal mandate yet. Probably due to blue tape BS.

Here are safety tips from Kids and Cars.Org.

I find it interesting that the last tip is to be extra cautious during holidays when kids schedules vary. Be vigilant parents.

KidsAndCars.org recommendations to keep children safe include:

• Walk around and behind a vehicle prior to moving it.

• Know where your kids are. Make children move away from your vehicle to a place where they are in full view before moving the car and know that another adult is properly supervising children before moving your vehicle.

• Teach children that “parked” vehicles might move. Let them know that they can see the vehicle; but the driver might not be able to see them.

• Consider installing cross view mirrors, audible collision detectors, rear view video camera and/or some type of back up detection device.

• Measure the size of your blind zone (area) behind the vehicle(s) you drive. A 5-foot-1-inch driver in a pickup truck can have a rear blind zone of approximately 8 feet wide by 50 feet long.

• Be aware that steep inclines and large SUV’s, vans and trucks add to the difficulty of seeing behind a vehicle.

• Hold children’s hand when leaving the vehicle. • Teach your children to never play in, around or behind a vehicle and always set the emergency brake. • Keep toys and other sports equipment off the driveway.

• Homeowners should trim landscaping around the driveway to ensure they can see the sidewalk, street and pedestrians clearly when backing out of their driveway. Pedestrians also need to be able to see a vehicle pulling out of the driveway.

• Never leave children alone in or around cars; not even for a minute.

• Keep vehicles locked at all times; even in the garage or driveway.

• Keys and/or remote openers should never be left within reach of children.

• Make sure all child passengers have left the car after it is parked.

• Be especially careful about keeping children safe in and around cars during busy times, schedule changes and periods of crisis or holidays.

Why You Should Care About Distracted Driving Month

Today I had my kids color in free, printable pages I downloaded from AT&T's site.

They read "No Text On Board"

I taped them into the inside of my car.

Hoping someone will see and think twice. You are probably thinking, yeah right lady. Before you leave this page, hear me out.

Car crashes are the leading cause of death to people under the age of 12.

A lot of fatal car crashes are avoidable. That is what drives me mad. But that fact drives me. And it is a fact.

Adults are now texting and driving more then teenagers. What a pathetic statistic.

Look around you when you are at stop signs. People have their heads down, looking at their phones. They are probably talking or texting to people they like or perhaps love. They risk not only their own life but yours and others as well.

April is Distracted Awareness Month.

You should care.

Around 110 Americans die in car crashes every single day. And what pisses me off is that a lot of these crashes don't need to happen. They are not accidents. When you are given a diagnosis of cancer the majority seek treatment. Why are we Americans driving around pretending that "accidents" just happen and there's nothing to do to avoid them but buy a safer car? That's the big fat lie we are living by. When we are sick we take care of ourselves. We need to take care of ourselves by driving safely.

I'm talking to as many people as I can now about the dangers of texting, talking and using hands free while driving. It is not safe. Please help us spread the word.

I had printed out on the table a page that had information about a little 9 year-old girl who was run over by someone texting and driving. My 6 1/2 year-old asked who she was. I hesitated and then said, she was a little girl who got run over by and adult texting and driving and she died.

My son was quiet.

A few minutes later I heard him ask my nanny, "Where is this little girl?" My awesome nanny explained that the girl went before her time.

We talk to our kids about danger. The dangers of pools, guns, strangers. We need to talk to them about the danger of cars. But we need to stop being the danger.

We have to start driving with more care for one another.

Because who wants to die in a freaking car crash? Speeding and zipping through lanes just to get somewhere 10 minutes before others is senseless. Especially if you never get there.

There is so much that can be done so I hope you can do something in honor of Distracted Driving month for all of the people who have died in car crashes.

And in the last 10 years alone that number is over 1/2 million, in America alone.

Where are the ribbons for that cause?

Why Do We Have Road Rage and Not Sidewalk Rage?

There is rage on our roads. (warning this is graphic)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhmOzhPRxQs]

People are pissed.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRduBE8OoE0]

I'm not sure about what. But they are mad. I live in Los Angeles and I'm surrounded by acts of angry drivers almost daily. This video is pretty funny about how intense it is trying to park at a Whole Foods in LA. Ever parked at Santa Monica and Fairfax? Uh-huh.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU]

Road rage, according to Wikipedia,  is defined as : an aggressive or angry behaviour by a driver of an automobile or other motor vehicle. Such behaviour might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. Road rage can lead to altercations, assaults, and collisions which result in injuries and even deaths. It can be thought of as an extreme case of aggressive driving.

And guess what the term was coined here in LA! Due to a rash of people shooting each other in their cars in the late 80's. So LA.

Here are a list of actions that fall under the category of road rage:

The following are common manifestations of road rage, via Wikipedia:

• Generally aggressive driving, including sudden acceleration, braking, and close tailgating.
• Cutting others off in a lane, or deliberately preventing someone from merging.
• Chasing other motorists
• Flashing lights and/or sounding the horn excessively.
• Yelling or exhibiting disruptive behavior at roadside establishments.
• Driving at high speeds in the median of a highway to terrify drivers in both lanes.
• Rude gestures (such as "the finger").
• Shouting verbal abuses or threats.
• Intentionally causing a collision between vehicles.
• Hitting other vehicles.
• Assaulting other motorists, their passengers, cyclists or pedestrians
• Exiting the car to attempt to start confrontations, including striking other vehicles with an object.
• Threatening to use or using a firearm or other deadly weapon.
• Throwing projectiles from a moving vehicle with the intent of damaging other vehicles.

I am tailgated nearly every single time I hit the freeways.

Why are we doing this? Where is this rage coming from? I'm going to give you my opinion based on my 35 years of living.

1. They feel rushed.

2. They are having a bad day.

3. They are a serial killer.

4. They think everyone else driving is an asshole.

Now I have to say that 3 is highly unlikely but 1, 2 & 4 sound pretty feesible. I think that with all of the advancements we have made, technologically speaking, over the past 100 years, our primal little selves have not caught up. We are freaking out. That's why so many of us are on anti-this or thats. A lot of us have long commutes. Our lifestlyes are cram packed with a lot to do.

So two ideas:

1. Plan less things into your day

2. Leave earlier

Humans are not perfect. We make errors.

We will make errors with our cars. We need to be more forgiving and understanding on the roads.

Every day in LA I see acts of kindness, mostly out of my car. It is only once people slide behind the mask of their thousands of pounds cars that they seem to make so many unkind actions. I think that is why this rage is so pervasive. That and the fact that cars represent freedom. And if there is traffic, where is the freedom? How can you escape?

Here is a clip to the doctor who intentionally sped ahead of two bikers in LA, who were not going fast enough for his liking, he then braked and they crashed into his car. Seriously injuring them both. I wonder how much time he has pissed away by that horrible, barbaric act. He was sentenced to five years in jail. As he was sentenced he said:

"I would like to apologize again, deeply and profoundly from the bottom of my heart," said Thompson.

"The physical and mental scars are my fault. I think Mr. Watson said I've not been remorseful or accepted responsibility, I do," he said, telling them that he has recurring nightmares about one of the cyclists crashing through the windshield of his car.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7208332

I know that when I am rushed, I have far less patience and encounter more aggressive situations. But as I say, it's LA. There is traffic. Plan accordingly or expect to be late.

Have you ever driven with rage?

[polldaddy poll=6758932]

A Graphic Video About Texting And Driving

Wow. I just stumbled upon this video about texting and driving. I had to pause it at 1:00 as I truly feel like I might pass out. It is graphic.

But I applaud this video.

We are killing ourselves and other people, grandparents, moms, dads, hot single young women and men, babies. Over our greedy desire to text.

Warning this video is very, very graphic.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQB5Bl_2GKI]

Giving Tuesday

Today was Giving Tuesday. I only learned of it yesterday.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO7jxUQXIP4]

Here is their mission statement:

Mission Statement

#GivingTuesday™ is a campaign to create a national day of giving at the start of the annual holiday season. It celebrates and encourages charitable activities that support nonprofit organizations.

Though Fix The Toaster is not a charity I tweeted that I hoped people could give their heart today and drive as carefully as possible.

Self restraint and not thinking that world is "filled with assholes who don't know how to drive" is something we seem to be a hard time giving a second thought to.

Hopefully someone out there thought about it for a second and possibly it changed one of the hundreds of potentially life threatening choices we make daily in our cars.

But what a great free thing to give.

Jacy Good lost both of her parents to a distracted driver. Hear her testimony here. If only someone would have given their attention.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwAUkh_7pKA]

Some Car Crash Facts

I just Googled "unusual car crash facts" and came across an article by InfoBarrel. Here are the facts with my *thoughts. 1. About 40% of crashes that are fatal involve alcohol. If the accident takes place between midnight and 3am the percentage increases to about 75%.

***having been a waitress I can unofficially confirm that most people on the roads in the evening have been drinking. I used to be amazed at the amount of drunk or highly buzzed people getting into their cars at the valet line as I walked back to my car after my shift. So, there's my research there. Oh and just living life, I think we might be able to concur on this fact. Although MADD has done an AMAZING job at helping lower the amount of drunk drivers!

2. On average 15 pedestrian school children are killed by school buses each year. These deaths tend to take place between 3pm and 4pm on weekdays.

**This is news to me.

3. Survey's suggest that male drivers cause twice as many accidents as female drivers.

**I can say that the couple of times I have felt very unsafe have been with young male drivers. Either trying to show off for me, this was a long time ago, or show off for the other males in the car. I believe this one. Which make me wonder, ladies does a speeder turn you on or a safe driver?

4. Different types of car accidents include head on collisions, rollovers, rear enders, suicides, side impacts and more. The most deadly of these accidents are the vehicle rollovers.

**My best friend in LA died in a rollover in 2008 here. Sucks all around.

5. People between the ages of 16-20 face a higher chance of being injured or killed in a car crash over any other age group.

**disheartening, teenagers are such a different mentality. I kind of understand this one.

6. Most car accidents actually occur within 5 kilometres from home. There is a common misconception that car accidents occur while travelling to a vacation destination, but this is not the case.

**Easy to forget this one.

7. Car accidents are the most common and most deadly source of personal injury in the world.

**Hellooooooo world. Let's change this.

8. Cars that are more prone to accidents are sports cars and hatchbacks. Although cars that have a bigger engine that have the greatest chance in being in a car accident.

**Wondering what the variable is, the sports car or the driver of a sports car? Why do cars with bigger engine have the greatest chance of getting into a car accident? That requires a google or my human google machine, my spouse. OK just googled it and Freakonomics answered that. Here is what they say:

Ever since the SUV craze began in the late 1980s, we’ve all known that heavier vehicles are safer for those driving them, but more dangerous for others on the road. Which is why we all started driving them.

We show that, controlling for own-vehicle weight, being hit by a vehicle that is 1,000 pounds heavier results in a 47% increase in the baseline fatality probability. Estimation results further suggest that the fatality risk is even higher if the striking vehicle is a light truck (SUV, pickup truck, or minivan).

9. Each year, approximately 300,000 teens are injured in a car crash. In the United States alone 5,000 teens die each year. On average that equals to 14 teens a day.

**Very sad. Moms, we need to change this stat. Stat.

10. Your chances of getting into a car crash while talking on a cellphone increases by 400%.

**Get off your phone while driving. Get your friends of their phones. Get your mom off her phone and dad. Never, ever worth it.

How 9/11 Affected our Roads

An interesting article from The Guardian UK says that after 9/11 a lot of people were afraid to fly and therefore took to the roads. But according to Professor Gerd Gigerenzer, a German academic specialising in risk, has estimated that an extra 1,595 Americans died in car accidents in the year after the attacks – indirect victims of the tragedy.(Guardian UK)

He goes on to say something really insightful about how we humans operate:

"We have an evolutionary tendency to fear situations in which many people die at one time. This is likely a hold-over from when we lived in small groups, where the death of a small part of the group could place the lives of everyone else in jeopardy.

"That's no longer the case, but it is very difficult to elicit the same fear for the same number of deaths spaced over a year."

So maybe our evolution is to look at in regards to the fact that so many of us just glaze over the high number of car crashes annually. Around 40,000.

I love this part "But decision-making is defensive. Politicians would be held responsible if a plane had crashed when flying through the ash cloud. If people are killed because they are forced to take their car instead, they are not blamed."

I feel there is a culture of blame in the USA. Yet, we don't hold personal responsibility as closely when it is actually something we could change. We could prevent a lot of our car crashes. We might be slightly inconvenienced, slowing down or just letting someone who makes a bad move in their car have more space, realize they are just driving unsafely.

Thanksgiving is One Of the Deadliest Holidays

Sorry, that is not a very uplifting title. But is is the truth and the truth seems to be ignored or accepted and that, to me, is ridiculous.

According to an article from Forbes:

In 2008, "502 people were killed on the road that day. On a typical day, 102 people die in traffic accidents. Robert Sinclair, a spokesman for AAA, says the combined factors of more than 50% more drivers on the road and higher-than-usual alcohol consumption contribute to its danger."

502 people died on Thanksgiving!!! In their cars.

That's nuts.

Yet, we don't talk about it. When I talk about it often I'm met with smirks. But when I keep talking people usually become somber and say, yeah, yeah, it is weird.

I hope you and your loved ones have a safe and nice holiday.

The facts are a lot of people will die in the next week in car accidents. But I guess that is currently the American way. My family will be on the roads as well. It is hard for me to put us in a car, zipping along, knowing the numbers in my head. On California freeways. But I don't want my fear to cripple me or my kids. So I will put my beloved treasures out there. And just hope. While of course, driving as safely as I can.

6,484 People Die in LA Every Year in Car Crashes

Living in Los Angeles I am faced with driving around millions of people daily. I have seen far more accidents then I ever did living anywhere else. It is a part of our daily lives here.

After driving by the accident on the 134 West last night I couldn't help but think of the people in those cars, their soft flesh possibly hurt. Their spirits possibly gone.

Because their fragile bodies could not handle the impact of going, say 70MPH to 0 in a second.

I just looked up how many people die in LA  each year.  6,484 people die in Los Angeles every year in due to car crashes. That is a lot of people.

You argue, yes but there are a lot of people living in Los Angeles. True, but should we just sit back and take it that, that's a given? Car crashes are not cancer. We don't need to do a ton of research going after then unknown. Sometimes I feel like we are just a bunch of fatalists regarding car crashes.

There are some answers.

There are ways to help lower the amount of deaths. But are we willing to sacrifice 15 minutes here or there? Will the car companies let new advances that are available now happen?

Check out how many people die in your city here.