I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas.
There is a lot to drive safe for!
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Car Crashes, Looking the Facts in The Eye
When I start to talk about Fix The Toaster with people, they almost always laugh, initially.
Then I start talking about numbers.
Like that fact that about 115 Americans die daily in car crashes. Most of which are avoidable
The fact that about 40,000 Americans die annually in car crashes.
The fact that almost 1/2 million Americans die in car crashes every 10 years.
Bring this up as topic. See what kind of response you get. Let's get the wheels spinning.
Also, do you tell your kids how dangerous driving in a car is? We frighten them about pool safety, walking with scissors, wrapping things around their necks, guns but do you let them know how dangerous it is to be in a car? It is the number one killer of people under 25 in the USA. You probably don't, because you don't want to scare them.
Because we have to drive.
I think we need to really look this issue in the eye, it is scary and it needs to be fixed.
Disagreeing With the Argument That Car Crashes are a Given
I just came across an older article, from 2010, written by a mom who was affected by a piece on NPR she heard. It talked about the fact that about 5 children die every day in the USA in car crashes.
The comments she received on the piece seem very backwards to me. Such as:
"Even if you never rode in a car ever again there are many ways we lose our lives, it is the human condition."
Yes, we will all die. But would you write that same sentence if it were commuter airlines killing 5 children a day? Every time there is a plane crash massive investigation goes into it. Our airlines have become very safe due to the pressure and demand to keep them that way.
Would you fly if 40,000 were dying in plane crashes every year?
Another commenter, whom I agreed with had this to say:
After almost 10 years of being able to use public transportation for my daily commute, I'm back to driving every day. You are right to worry - texting drivers, road rage, blatant disregard of lights and traffic signs (not to mention NO ONE stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks) - sorry to rant, but the things I see on a simple 10-minute drive are enough to strike fear into any mother's heart.
Some Books To Understand the Way We Drive
Gary Kavanagh of Gary Rides Bikes gave me suggestions on books to read that help shed insight unto our culture of driving. One book I had heard of, "Traffic" by Vanderbilt.
If you are like me your first thought might be a book on traffic. Yeah right, I'd rather read Popsugar.com or Google random people.
I will do the reading for you and try to talk about it here. I am curious to hear what Vanderbilt has to say from "Traffic." I think we might disagree on a few things. Although I am now a late merger due to his opinion on that.
Here are some other book suggestions via Gary.
"Driven To Kill: Vehicles as Weapons" by Rothe.
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.
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.
Taking Action to Bring Attention to All These People Dying By Car Crashes
OK. So, I don't have all the answers about what to do. I'm trying to bring about discussion and awareness to the fact over 1/2 million fellow Americans have died in car crashes since 9/11.
What color ribbon do I wear for that cause? Oh wait. Nothing. We are currently accepting this statistic as a given because our roadways have become a place of battle. Literally we are killing ourselves and each other.
I did indeed put pen to paper though and wrote a letter to a local paper.
Chances are maybe one person will begin to think differently about the importance of driving their 5,000 vehicle close to 40 next to my 26 pound toddler next time we pass on the street.
Certainly the man who tailed me down our loverly quiet street yesterday didn't read it or doesn't really give a....
Well anyways, it's a start.
I encourage you to write your local paper. I'd love to hear about it!! Let's get this movement going.
Happy Thanksgiving
Today my two little boys drive back to me from the mountains. My husband will drive them as safely as possible. I can only hope that people around them will do their absolute best to pay attention to the road, not be distracted, drive responsibly.
I know of course that people will die on the roads today.
You might think I'm paranoid but the truth is the most dangerous thing you or your child does is get in the car and go somewhere.
About 780 people die in vehicular crashed every week in our country, an average of one every 13 minutes. (NHTSA)
Here is to hoping people will try their best to get there and let others do the same.
There are so many people excited to see one another walk through the door.
Compromising Safety for Seconds
A few days ago a woman passed me on the right, got in front of me and then got to the exit on the freeway 10 seconds before I did. She looked to be in her early 60's. I'm guessing she's a mother or a grandma.
As she sat at the light in front of me all I could think about was how she had just compromised my life, my babies and her life. For seconds.
Why are we rushing to get to the red light? Why do we rush to get somewhere, perhaps 15 minutes faster then we would if we just drove carefully and slowly.
BTW I was driving 65 MPH.
She was angry at me. Angry I wasn't going faster and she wanted to show me. The highway was quite clear, I could have been going faster. But like I have stated before I do not go above 65, I don't want to crash at high speeds. Do you?
Are we, as a society, just incredibly angry and so we get in our cars and put our aggression out here? Obviously living in LA I am in some pretty intense traffic and dealing with people who commute up to 3 hours. A day.
Perhaps, we are not meant to live this way.
Each post seems to go off onto another post but back to the title. It is not worth it, in my mind, to compromise the safety of others just so you can get somewhere faster. Like I tell people who are in my show. It's LA. There will be traffic, please do not call me and tell me you are stuck in traffic. There will probably be traffic.
A young woman visiting America was killed at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and La Brea a few years back. A man saw the light turning from yellow to red and instead of slowing down he sped ahead, ran the light and hit and killed the girl.
Every time I would head south on La Brea and see that light turning from yellow to red I could feel the manic "go, go" from the other cars but I made myself slow down. It's not worth it.
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.
Tailgating Kills. Are You a Killer?
in Take Action
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.
Automated Cars will Save Lives, Not Before We Lose A Lot More Will This Happen
Automated cars were first introduced to me by my brainy husband. Cars that you can get in and will essentially drive us to where we need to go, no steering or foot on the pedal required.
Sound scary or weird?
Well how is this for both as David Strickland, the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, points out: human error was a factor in about 90 percent of the more than 33,000 traffic deaths in 2010.
90 percent!!!!! We have nothing to lose.
Strickland says, “We have the chance of … saving thousands and thousands of lives as” cars in use today are replaced with automated vehicles, he said.
That is hopeful.
I don't see it happening for a long time due to government sticky tape and red blooded Americans saying, I'm an American, it's my right to drive my car, dang gummit.
So let's say it passes in 10 years, we will only lose about 1/2 million more people to car crashes, because that's how many we have lost roughly in the last 10 years.
If it passes in 40 years, we will lose a mere 2 million more people to car crashes.
My anger aside, it is hopeful and you should click on the link to the article. As the article notes it will be great for the elderly, which we will probably all be by the time this passes. Sounds great to me!
I'm learning as I go and it turns out one of the inventors of the driverless cars is fueled by his passion to save lives. Google's Sebastian Thrun speaks about it here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp9KBrH8H04]
I Forgot to Buckle My 2 Year-Old Into His Car Seat
My husband and friend will often tease me, "Oh no. Fix The Toaster" is at it again. I joke that I'll look like a real ass if I die in a car accident.
Joking aside, chances are pretty high I might die in a car accident.
Sorry to be a Debby Downer, but so are yours.
Your odds of dying in a motor vehicle accident are 1 in 83, that's over your lifetime (if that's of comfort)
Your odds of dying while flying are 1 in 5,000, to offer some comparison.
Anyways, I know car accidents will always happen, I get it. I drive safely or rather I try my best. But those odds need to change.
Yesterday, after taking my two kids who are 17 months apart out and having them cry off and on for the entire outing I finally got them both in the car and was happy to get out of the garage.
I was at a light when my 2 1/2 year-old said, "Mom, I'm not buckled in!"
I threw the car into park, got out and buckled him in, not before kissing him and telling him thank you for telling me. I make mistakes.
I have accidents. (not car related, knock on wood)
I try very hard to drive defensively and I hope that I never cause a car accident.
But things happen, this I get. My point here is that:
1. Accidents happen but most that are happening are preventable.
2. I'm not saying that I'm impervious to car accidents or a fantastic driver.
I know that my heightened awareness for this topic is partly driven by the beautiful souls that are covered in fragile bones and flesh, that I drive around daily. What Lori Coble has had to go through blows my mind. She lost all three of her children in a car accident.
Remembering-Kyle-Emma-and-Katie-Coble-Video
Even though car accidents will always happen so much can and should be done right now to change this.
Infrastructure should be looked at, merging when given only a few hundred feet is absurd and dangerous.
Speed should be reconsidered.
Driving distracted heavily examined.
Driving thoughtfully. As our contributor Scott Marshall said, driving is a team sport, I love that thought.
Anti-Distracted Driving Video Contest from Yellow Light Project
in Take Action
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.
What Do a 1964 Rambler and a Minivan Have in Common? Me.
Let me explain my history with cars. A friends grandpa let me drive his car while sitting on his lap when I was probably 10. It was somewhere in rural Texas.
At 14 I lived in South Dakota and that is the age when you can start driving by yourself. None of my girlfriends were allowed to but some of the boys were.
The 3 times I've had very close calls were with young guys.
I learned how to drive. On a stick shift. My dad taught me in our Isuzu Trooper. I loved it and felt like a pretty cool girl to be driving a stick shift.
My parents bought me a used 1964 Rambler, its was green.
I was 16. Not only was it a stick shift, it was a "3 on a tree." I think I gave every man over 60 an instant boner driving that thing.
My parents were crazy fun nuts that way.
After the Rambler died, I got their old Isuzu Trooper.
After the Trooper, I bought my conservative uncles used Ford Taurus. It was automatic.
I loved that car. It was pretty boring and ugly but a smooth ride none the less.
After that, I got a used Volvo for my graduation from college present.
I drove it to LA with Iowa license plates. A lot of people honked at me. If you want to get honked at drive around LA with Iowa plates in a Volvo and have blonde hair.
You might as well have a sign that signs, "I'm a jerk, please honk at me" on your car.
I drove that for a long time. For so long I began to think, I really am a jerk. Or at least I must be driving like one.
Until finally I could afford to buy my own car.
I bought a used Jetta.
I bargained with the dealer, offering him a seat at a showing of the show I worked at if they'd lower the rate of the car. I was working for Playboy at the time. The guy didn't take me up on the offer. *crazy
My husband and I loved that little car. Zippy. (not in a speeding way, I've never been much of a speeder)
After the birth of my first we could no longer pick up my parents from the airport with all of us in the Jetta. We sold it and got a used Lexus. This was the beginning of my love of white cars.
I was a fancy lady for awhile.
Then I had another child.....
Then I had another child.
And here I am, driving a minivan. A Toyota Sienna. White. Because white is the safest color car you can drive. (that's why my love of white cars)
So see, I'm not just a mom behind a minivan. I've got a long relationship with cars.
I've always been more comfortable in the slow lane. I've always respected the power of the car, well accept for a few times, I'll write about that later.
I like cars. They all have their own personality. I like the smell of new car. And new car with leather seats. I like getting in a "hot" car.
I just don't like driving fast or dangerously.
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.
