Moms, Are You Fed Up With a Dangerous Walk to School?

I held my second meeting for my community deemed "(my community) Walks" based off of Los Angeles Walks.

We had 8 people in total there. But the greatest part was that one of these people was a reporter from our local paper, SO I have been receiving some wonderful emails from people around the community saying they too are so fed up with the lack of safe streets to be able to walk and ride.

A man from an organization here in LA called WalkNRollers reached out to me. I'm very curious to learn more about his program.

They feel sad telling their kids they can't walk and bike to school because people simply aren't driving safe enough to allow it.

I'm basically starting a grassroots effort and hoping that this will go somewhere and with the reporter's help possibly it will.

I will admit it's a bit overwhelming as I have three young kids and produce/direct my show and I'm an artist people I don't know much about city rules or government policies. But if I can just make some noise those of us who are better at paying attention to the rules will help us get some stuff accomplished.

If you are a mom frustrated by your communities lack of safe walking I hope this will inspire you do gather your own group! I know of another fantastic mom in Minnesota who has great plans up her sleeves, I'll write about that as soon as she gets it ironed out.

If you ever want to chat feel free to email me or leave a comment here.

Finish The Ride

Today while walking I saw a poster for something called Finish The Ride.

I stopped and read what it was about.

What it is about it so exciting and amazing to me.

Last February 7th, 2013 cyclist Damian was involved in a hit and run that left him very injured. He was drug for awhile. It was all over the news.

And here he is just a year later doing this. These people are trying to "mend the situation between cyclist and  motorist." "To make a safe environment for people to be safe and healthy to walk and cycle in."

I'm all for that.

Go to their website to learn more.

My family and I will be there!!

http://youtu.be/KTP2eP3ji9A

Notes From My Meeting I Held For the Neighborhood

A lot of moms I hear from, across the country and world really, are fed up with people driving too fast through their neighborhoods. Making it unsafe to simply walk and bike. If you are one of these moms or dads, I wanted to share with you what I've been doing to try and activate some community support to slow people down in our very dangerous neighborhood.

Last summer I held a community meeting.

One person showed up.

But over a toast we formed a group called "Insert Your Community Name Here" Walks. In reference to Los Angeles Walks.

We talked about getting sidewalks installed and we both set off with our respective petitions.

Last night I held my second meeting. PTA was nice enough to email the whole school about it and I put a letter, hand signed in 70 mailboxes.

8 people showed up, including a reporter from our local paper, that's the best part.

I have never been an activist as I've mentioned. So I did what I do. I printed out interesting article and highlighted them. I printed out emails from the City reps I have been talking to.

I served some food and wine.

A big thanks to Tom from Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 for his advice. I bought 10 signs from him and 3 neighbors bought some from me.

So, we are trying to get people to put signs in their yards and I just shot off a letter to the city guy asking what about speed bumps, what about cameras, what about lowering the residential street that is 35MPH?

One parent mentioned how even though a street, one of them, has a sidewalk, people are plowing down it so fast that one false step from a child and boom, hit. It's very scary.

Look, we want to give our kids freedom but it's simply way too dangerous right now in our neighborhood.

If you have any interest or frustration please don't hesitate to email me or take some tips front this post.

At least I feel like I'm doing something.

Holding My Second Community Meeting

Next week I'm holding my second community meeting for people interested in making my community safer for walking and biking.

Last time 1 person showed up.

This time the PTA president generously put it in an email and I'm going to circulate a letter to neighbors. I also have a reporter coming from the local paper.

I have collected clippings from the local papers where safety is talked about and printed out stats on speed in neighborhoods.

I'm excited for this one.

I think I might get a handful of residents and hopefully some change will happen. Our community desperately needs this.

Tell The UN You Want Safer Roads

If you click on Make Roads Safe looks on the right hand side and you will see a sidebar that says: Vote at the UN, tell the UN to include Road Safety in its Post-2015 priorities.

I already voted.

The number one issue was education. Road safety ranked 15 on a lot of the categories, which is interesting as it is the number one cause of death to kids.

Make Roads Safe also sells some cute t-shirts and contributor Shannon Noel can teach us how to cut them to make them even cute. Meaning insert a v-neck or make it a tank.

Cut It Out-A Guest Post Shannon Noel Webb

This is a guest post by Fix The Toast contributor Shannon Noel Webb. Shannon lives in LA and commutes over 2 hours a day to work. This is her wonderfully funny battle with not using her phone while commuting, I think she has won. 

When someone tells me to “cut it out,” it totally turns me on.

I’m a strong woman and I need this kind of blunt, somewhat aggressive command to be reigned in a little.  Don’t get me wrong.  I have to actually know the person commanding me to ‘cut it out’ or at least feel a sense of security with him or her.  Let’s not get too dirty here.  But…if my husband were to read this post (doubt it) he might find himself getting lucky if he would find a way to simply use these three little words.  Oh man, I’m getting off course here – this is not the intended subject of this posts.  What I want you to understand is that I love the expression ‘cut it out!’

I use it often too.

Not to turn people on mind you but to reign in my little ones.  I have two toddler boys who are awesome and fun and WILD.  If I walk in on them say; punching each other in the face, I might loudly, in a low commanding voice yell, ‘cut it out.’  It gets their attention, stops them in their tracks, and allows me the one second opening I need to get down to their level and calmly walk them through some kind of teaching moment.

‘Cut it out’: a multipurpose expression that can be used on various ages.  (Noel’s Dictionary 40^th Edition) OK, now to the point…

A few months ago I realized that my texting-checking e-mail-surfing the web while driving habit was becoming, to put it simply, STUPID!

I mean really, what was I thinking?  I was giving myself all kinds of excuses too; I’m in standstill traffic, I can text safely.  I’m using SIRI, I’m not actually typing.  I’m just going to check this website for one thing, it’ll be fine.  WT?  Every day I was reading posts by @fixthetoaster about terrible accidents and loss of life due to this addiction that has taken over me and about 78.4%* of all other drivers on the planet. (*fictional stat to make a point)

I would find myself horrified at the numbers, disturbed by the videos and yet I was STILL finding sneaky ways of feeding my iPhone-while-driving addiction.  And then one day I almost – almost- thank GOD, rear ended a cyclist while I was – wait for it – checking FACEBOOK of all things!  Holy shit. “Sorry bicycle dude I was updating my status.”

‘CUT IT OUT’ I screamed at myself as I threw my iPhone on the passenger side floorboard.

Just ‘CUT IT OUT!’  This is the moment that I committed to ending this life threatening habit.  For my kids.  For my husband. For myself.  For the planet.  I mean seriously people, what are we thinking?  Put it on the passenger seat, turn up the volume for all incoming texts and calls and if you must answer a call and you do not have a Bluetooth, PULL OVER for goodness sake.

The best way to kill one habit is to add another.

I commute over 2 hours a day so I do need something – something to take my mind off, but not too far off – the road.

So I chose Audible.com.  A great, healthy, not too expensive, new habit.  By listening to audio books I can stimulate my mind, entertain myself, and get smarter.  (*Maybe I should listen to a book on grammar – nahhh) Since I picked up this new habit I am no longer iPhoning it while I’m driving.  This could be the equivalent to donating quarts and quarts of blood, volunteering at hospitals, serving my country.  OK, OK pipe down.  I do not mean any disrespect to our service men and women, maybe it’s a stretch to compare, but is it?  Our roads can be dangerous and by not using my phone while driving I am potentially (probably) saving lives.

For $14.95 a month I get one audio book per month and a clear conscious.  If I don’t use the credit it rolls over to the next month.   Although texting is hip and social media keeps me current – with Audible.com I have read (cough cough – listened to) over 10 books in the past 4 months.  Titles ranging from – wait, I need to keep some things private. But let’s put it this way – you can get ANYTHING (almost) on this website – fiction, non-fiction, self-help, history lessons, comedy, classics, whatever you fancy.  A piece of advice – there are SOME books that should not be listened to while driving – you know what I’m talking about.  CUT IT OUT!

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?

April is Distracted Awareness Month

We brush and floss. Shower and shave.

We need to start driving with as much devotion.

What's a drawer full of hair products if you kill yourself or someone else in a car crash due to distracted driving?

Make a change in April. Or today.

Distracted Driving Month: April

Distracted Driving month is coming up in April.

Make it a point to not use your phone while driving, that includes talking.

Thousands die needlessly each year because people continue to use their cell phones while driving, handheld or hands-free.

Help debunk myths!!

Drivers using their cell phones are 4 TIMES as likely to crash, there is no difference in crash risk between handheld and hands-free.

Urge your loved ones to put their phones down, park it in the back seat.

The Sarah Lily Grace Fund

I went to an event this afternoon in Pasadena, called The Sarah Lily Grace Fund. 

I mention it here on Fix The Toaster for two reasons.

One, I was beyond inspired at the cause that the father Matthew Badger fights for. I'm beginning to look at the way other organizations with a mission run themselves. I blogged about the afternoon via my Expressing Motherhood blog.

Reason Two: While walking my 6 year-old and holding my 2 1/2 year-old to the private home I was not shocked at the fact that a few angry people sped by us on the slick roads, pissed off that a bunch of cars were parked on their beautiful, what I am assuming can only be a very quiet street in Pasadena.

Matthew Badger has spent almost a year dedicated to this fund, spurned by the unimaginable loss of his daughters.

A beautiful afternoon on a rainy cool LA Sunday, surrounded by supportive artistic LA parents and their kids.

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.

Have You Liked Us On Facebook?

I hate to grovel but I'm told Facebook is a great way to spread the word about your organization. If you have an interested in lowering the amount of people dying in car accidents please help us spread the word of Fix The Toaster by liking us on Facebook.

Thank you.

Tailgating Kills. Are You a Killer?

According to Wikipedia: Approximately one third of rear-end collisions involve tailgating.

I live in a place that requires me to go down a huge hill, basically a mountain. It's a freeway and it's surprisingly uncongested for LA.

I have to stay in the right hand lane as the freeway I need requires one to exit on that side.

This leads a bunch of people in the right hand lane, the slow lane, all going down a mountain on a freeway. Fast.

I am comfortable going between 60-65. I'm pretty sure the speed limit is 65.

You would not know it from the cars whizzing by me. Fine let them whiz. I can't control them. But what really rattles me is when someone gets behind me and tails me on this freeway. I become stuck.

I need to exit so I need to stay in that lane. They say the safest thing to do is you are being tailed is to let the person pass you. But it would be unsafe for me to get over and then get back over again.

I believe that if you are tailgating you are saying F#$% you to the lives in front of you. Because if an incident occurs where the car in front of you has to stop, you will, 100% hit them. And if you are going down a freeway, downhill, at 70 miles per hour you will really hurt the lives in front of you and possibly many more from the sadness they would feel at the loss of life.

I think even the tailgater would probably suffer huge remorse from killing someone.

Remember the 3 second rule from drivers ed? Why aren't we adhering to it? My cousin was in a crash here on the LA freeways this year and she said it was incredibly frightening seeing all of the cars scramble to stop.

Since I have to go on this freeway a lot I've wanted to place a bumper sticker on my car, much to my husband's horror. I bought one that says:

Tailgating Kills, Please Leave Space

I like this one someone home made.

I haven't had the cajones to put it on my car but I think I might start making my own revolving bumper stickers. I want people to really get where I'm coming from.

Do you tailgate? Is it a problem in your area?

The faster we go the longer it takes to stop.

I don't want to crash at 70 MPH, do you? Have you ever been hit at 20MPH and said, "Wow, that hurt?" Imagine crashing at 50, 60? Imagine your kids crashing at that speed.

Don't we want to stop in time?

Do you value life enough to leave space? Daily I feel as if I'm surrounded by heartless, angry people on the roads, but I believe they just have not connected the dots yet. Or we as a society have forgotten the very basics.

A Guest Post by Act Out Loud's Julie Kettner

I connected with Act Out Loud's Julie Kettner via Twitter. She is Act Out Loud's National Campaign Manager. This is a guest post by her. Car crashes are the no. 1 cause of death and injuries for teens in the United States. We want to change those statistics and we know the best people to do it – teens themselves!

Act Out Loud is a teen-led contest held each May as part of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month hosted by National Organizations for Youth Safety® (NOYS) and funded by The Allstate Foundation. At NOYS, we know that peer-to-peer interaction creates change, so we ask teens to ACT OUT LOUD to take back the streets for safety. Over 300 high schools across the country participate in Act Out Loud and we want more teens involved in this movement to spread traffic safety messages through fun projects while earning great prizes!

This year high school Act Out Loud teams will plan a school rally to take place in May as part of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month. As they plan this rally, there are fun projects along the way to help their team earn up to $1,000, and qualify for the grand prize of $10,000! The projects are simple and can be done in a number of ways. In addition to the $1,000, teams also receive a FREE toolkit full of resources like pens, pencils, buttons, wristbands, thumb bands, posters, postcards, and much more to use at their rallies.

We have many other opportunities for youth to be involved and win prizes. Check out www.ActOutLoud.org for all the contest details and www.NOYS.org for more information about us.

Please contact Julie Kettner at jkettner@noys.org with questions. You can follow us on Twitter @NOYSNoise and Facebook www.facebook.com/4NOYS or www.facebook.com/ActOutLoud.

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

November 21st is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, road crashes are the leading cause of death in people aged between five to 34 years in the United States. It is the leading cause of death globally for children and young people aged between 10 to 24 years, and the third leading cause of death globally among people aged between 30 to 44 years. Every six seconds someone is killed or injured on the world’s roads, including drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians.

I'm sure most people know nothing about this and will continue not knowing. But now you know

Anti-Distracted Driving Video Contest from Yellow Light Project

Project Yellow Light is heading up an anti-distracted driving video contest for high school students and college age students to apply. Scholarships are awarded to winners and more, see below. Here is the winning video from last year, warning, it's creative and bound to make you feel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKe5SrUwEGI&feature=youtu.be]

Wooh. Powerful.

According to D!straction.gov this contest is  being held:

To build greater awareness among teens on the dangers of distracted driving, the U.S. DOT, Mazda Motorsports, Project Yellow Light, the Ad Council and the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) are co-sponsoring a nationwide search for the best viral video with a message against distracted driving. Now in its second year, the contest will expand to both high school and college students. The winning PSAs will be announced as part of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month® in May 2013 and will be distributed nationally by the Ad Council. Winners will receive prizes that include college scholarships and One-Day Teen Survival Skills Classes at the Skip Barber Racing School, presented by Mazda Motorsports.

For information visit Project Yellow Light.

Project Yellow Light is a scholarship competition designed to bring about change. As an applicant you have one clear mission: encourage your peers to develop and embrace safe driving habits.

Reasons to Drive Safely

Reasons to drive safely vary. For some of you it's your kids, others it's a moral code of feeling bad if you we're to hurt someone else. For a lot of people I think they are not connecting driving safe = life.

And I think life can be pretty good. So whether it is your kids you love, beer or girls drinking beer in bikinis please try to think of these things or people. You hold so much power when behind the wheel.

Here are a few reasons I drive safely. Things I enjoy:

Contributor Shannon Noel Webb weighs in on using a Kid Alert! Street Sign

This is a post by Fix The Toaster contributor Shannon Noel Webb.  Meet Frank.

Frank moved into our neighborhood about a year ago.  He’s a nice guy.  The quiet type.  But he carries a big stick.  Literally, he never puts that flag down.  And he always wears that red hat. Isn’t he cute?  We just love Frank.  He’s a safety guard and his job is to save the lives of our children.  And let me tell you something, Frank is good at his job.

Rumor has it that he moved across the country to be with us.  We did some research and we think he used to live here and that it only cost him $29.95 total in moving expenses.

My neighbors and I feel so lucky to have Frank looking out for our kids.  We live on a narrow street in the hills of Los Angeles.  It’s steep and curvy.  Our front yards are the sidewalks and the driveways and this is where our little ones play.  People drive so fast down our little street.  We don’t understand it at all.  Frank says it’s because everyone is in such a hurry these days.  He says people text and read e-mails while they drive.  He thinks people are angry and fed up with all kinds of things in the world which also makes them drive faster.  He says there’s only one thing to do: Make people notice.  Make them have to slow down to pass by.  So that’s what he does.  He stands in the middle of the street whenever any of our kids are playing and he makes people notice!

And he has saved a life.  Look at this:

This is my oldest, almost falling off the curb.  This happens, it’s a tough turn for a tricycle.  I know some readers might be wondering how I could just stand there taking pictures while this was happening.  Believe me, I was having a minor heart attack and running towards him, which is why this picture is fuzzy.  But see, Frank was there too.  He’s like a secret service man, throwing himself in front of a car or a bullet to protect our kids.  And this car slowed down the minute he saw that little red hat.  You do not mess with Frank.

We know that Frank can’t do it all by himself.  We parents are there, monitoring our little ones, but it takes a village and we’re very happy to have Frank living in ours.

National Teen Driving Week

It is National Teen Drive Safely Week this week. Join Fix The Toaster tomorrow for a twitter party use the hashtag #teendriving2012 to join in.

The Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP @SafetyMD will be hosting this live chat.

It will take place between 3-4EST. That is 12-1for us West coast dudes.

Back Up Cameras Save Lives: Why The Delay Then?

When I first started driving my Lexus about 5 years ago it came with a back up camera. At first I thought it felt very strange and unsafe to me. I didn't trust it.

Cut to today, driving my minivan (gag, I know but so much easier with 3 kids) it is a Toyota Sienna and it too has a back up camera. Now when I get into my husbands car, which does not have a back up camera, I feel like I am backing up blindly. Literally, I can not see and neither can you. People under a certain height have no chance of being seen. At a certain point you really are just backing up hoping a child is not walking behind you.

Fixt The Toaster contributor Scott Marshall has written more about the dangers of it here.

Did you know that there is a federal mandate that was supposed to go into effect for all new 2014 cars to all have back up cameras?

This has been delayed (shocker) over a the camera having a 1 second delay versus is a 3 second delay once the car is started up. The DOT has estimated the backup camera could prevent about 18,000 injuries and save 300 lives a year.

This was all talked about 5 flipping years ago.

According to an article from USATODAY

The Feds reportedly have insisted on one second; automakers have argued for three seconds, because if the car has just been started, the more complex dash systems with navi, etc., take a moment to "boot up." But the feds say that leaves too much time for the car to move rearward before the image appears.

So 300 more people, normally elderly and kids likely died this year due to this delay. Here is the letter from the Secretary of Transportation Ray La Hood and another article on the delay.

What should we do to? I'm not sure, but here is a link to contact the DOT. Let's hope Ray La Hood get's this going in January. Come to think of it, this guy has a huge task on his hand. I mean, really he is the head of transportation. He's got one hell of a big crisis on his hands if you ask me.