Explaining Fix The Toaster to My Mom

I let my mom know about Fix The Toaster.

She looked at me like, oh no, what are you doing now.

In trying to explain Fix The Toaster I explain I want to do what MADD has done for drunk driving but for basically just for all people driving cars. It literally sounds ridiculous to explain because it is so simple and basic, yet so many people are not doing it.

My mom laughed and said, "Sounds like you want to say, Just try to pay the hell attention when you drive!" We both laughed and she said that could be my new slogan.

This Person Checked Email While Driving

A good article from NPR on the distracted driving hell we are now putting ourselves in. The author admits to checking email while driving.

Look around you at stop signs and look at everyone looking down. You know what they are doing. I mean certainly they all aren't getting road, OK I won't get ahead of myself there.

The author mentions some ideas. As my great friend who emailed me this story this morning said, keeping the dialogue going is important.

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.

Media Frenzy

Right now a lot of people are glued to their TVs. It's on the tip of their tongues. Sandy.

The bi-line on the front page of Yahoo.com said, "1 person confirmed dead."

As we know, on average 115 Americans die daily due to car accidents. So what about the headline about all of those people who died today? It doesn't make it in the headlines because we have chosen to just accept it? Why?

This pulls back to my question as to whether or not we are a bunch of fatalists. We can not control the weather. But we can control car accidents, up to a large percentage of them anyways are preventable.

Wake up America.

As always, Fix The Toaster does not aim to diminish other problems but rather hold a magnifying glass to a huge problem that flies so far under the radar it isn't even thought about.

Why Car Commercials are Lame & Irresponsible

I have an issue with car commercials. They generally all look the same. Some sleek looking, shiny car is being driven very fast on a road where no one else is driving. They sometimes encounter hazardous things such as slick pavement, but not to worry their super safe tires or brakes will save you. Take this ad from Cadillac for example.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gthAHKUE68&seo=goo_|_2012+Cadillac+Retention+You+Tube_|_Cadillac+PV+YouTube+-+Cadillac_|_Cadillac+Make+-+HV_|_cadillac]

With the windows rolled up you can't hear a thing outside of what is going on in your car. you can shut the annoying world out and just drive as fast as you want to. Because the rest of the world is filled with assholes but not you. You deserve to shut it all out and just drive really fast.

In this commercial from Mercedes everyone is seen smiling while they keep passing each other. Zipping along through  neighborhood and city streets. Ah, so cute.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/user/mbusa/featured?v=0ZPFcibSEpw]

Oh and don't worry because in tiny letters at the bottom of your screen we tell you that this was done on a "Closed course." Check out this commercial for Jaguar.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvvQzXTwy1Q]

Have you ever been on a closed course, outside of bumper cars?

It's ridiculous.

The car companies owe it to the public to start making more meaningful commercials and responsible commercials.

There is so much focus on "how safe a car can be" how much "safe we've made it." People are buying into this.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv7PbFrp6nM]

It's time they bought into a new train of thought.

Driving Safer Advocacy Groups

Over the last 5 years I have, from time to time, looked for safe driving advocacies. Of course I knew about MADD, but what I was looking for didn't seem to be out there. I was just looking for an organization that promoted safer driving in all forms. Now that I'm behind Fix The Toaster and I have all 9 of my likers on Facebook ;) I am finding more groups that are advocacies for distracted driving.

Groups that have been launched out of senseless tragedy like Kate's Krew. Kate was a toddler killed by a distracted driver. Her father has launched the group.

There is Distraction.gov dedicated to making our roads safer by ending distracted driving. They have a beautiful site and highlight people who have died due to distracted driving. Erik Okerblom was a beautiful soul who was struck by a speeding teenager while bike riding at the age of 19. There is also a foundation in his name.

And of course our new contributor Scott Marshall up in Canada, a father driven by his passion for making the roads safer.

So why Fix The Toaster? Well, I'm trying to act as an advocate for driving safer, looking at changing the speed limits, looking at our infrastructure, trying to switch people's brains from accepting these ridiculous statistics to questioning why do we think that's OK. I am not a Harvard grad. My husband is, he will be weighing in on some amazing statistics I've had him come up with on nights I am angrily pacing saying it's ridiculous. I was doing keg stands at the University of Iowa. But I am a mom. I'm passionate about the subject. And I have always driven in the slow lane.

And by the way, I will post on the way I drive in the near future because I know that driving too slow is dangerous as well.

Anyways, I'm hearing of people out there who want change. We just need the masses to hear us. And we need someone to help us implement the change.

Have a safe commute tomorrow. Drive with care for yourself and the people around you. Even if your first thought is "asshole" let's try to slow down and be aware.

Introducing Scott Marshall

Since I have become determined to try and make some difference in the amount of people dying in cars I've come across very few sites that have garnered a big following. Of course there is MADD, which has done amazing things. But what I was aiming for was a bit broader, as my mom would say "weirder." Just a general thought process that this is truly crazy that so many people die in car accidents and that we seem to have accepted this as, acceptable.

I have found one person whom I have really enjoyed reading. I recently emailed him and asked him if he'd be interested in becoming a contributor to Fix The Toaster and he has said yes.

So, Fix The Toaster is happy to introduce Scott Marshall.

He is a father to 4! He is a Canadian and his site Safe Driving offers up a lot of observation coming from a very good place. He is passionate about making the roads safer just as I am. He'll be posting in a couple of weeks.

Fix The Toaster is looking for more contributors, if you know someone who is passionate or knowledgeable about this subject please pass on our info to them.

Walking To School

Having recently moved to an LA suburb I was excited to be in a "family community." My new area does not have sidewalks everywhere, we live close to our school and so we walk out child to school.

We literally hug the curb as cars come barreling down the hill at a speed I'm pretty sure is over 25MPH.

We have a crosswalk guard who confessed to me a month ago, she' surprised no one has been killed walking or dropping their kid off at school. Yikes.

I started talking to other parents and they all shook their heads, yes, saying they too had noticed how fast people were driving through the neighborhoods, I would safely say some go 40.

I also spoke to one mom who said she could walk, BUT DID NOT FEEL SAFE doing so. That's nuts.

Do you feel safe walking your kid to school?

I called the local non-emergency sheriff's number and he said he would send some patrol guys over to ticket. I said great but more then that I really just want a switch in the drivers minds to happen.

I started going off on my tangent with the crosswalk and another mom. The mom snarked, they won't change. I asked her, don't you think they'd feel bad if they killed a kid? I asked her if she thought people would still be flying if more then 1/2 million Americans had died in airplanes since 9/11. I saw her mind change gears. Her face softened. She got my perspective.

I'd love to hear from you. How is your child's drop off? Do you walk to school? Do people speed in your neighborhoods?