Moms For Gun Sense And What About Driving Sense?

Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense has over 150,000 likes of Facebook. Fix The Toaster has around 250.

Around 500 children die annually due to gun shot wounds.

According to the National Highway Association around 2,000 children die in America each year due to car crashes.

Car crashes are the top cause of unintentional injury and yet this can not get the attention it needs.

Of course, I'm horrified by any child dying but I'm also perplexed that more people won't and or don't start driving better and spreading the word.

Change needs to happen now. If you haven't already liked Fix The Toaster on Facebook, please do that.

V8 Moment in Regards to Road Safety - A Post from Contributor David Little

This is a post from  new contributor David Little.

Just my attempt to make my FB friends have a V8 moment when it comes to road safety.

Over the past few years I have made some great new friends. Who live all over the country. But these are friends I wish I didn’t have. We met because we were all affected by car crashes. Many of these folks have lost loved ones and it seems I am in a small group when it comes to survivors.Last night I wondered who else am I going to meet because of a car crash? I know I will, because just this week I met someone who lives in Los Angeles, that lost a best friend in a distracted driving crash.

Here’s something to think about. On average, about 35,000 people will die this year in motor vehicle crashes, and statistics suggest that about 80% +/- of those crashes will be caused by human error. My rough math says that's about 77 people a day.

77 people will die tomorrow, in a car crash that was fully preventable, and they don't even know it. Dad's, Mom's, children, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, co-workers.

These folks are at work right now, they are at home getting ready to great kids coming home from school. They are preparing to get married, or go on vacation or retire. They would graduate from high school, or start a new job. Just average, everyday people, like you and me, and by Saturday, they will be gone.

Moms, Still Using Your Phones While Driving? Really?

Car crashes kill a lot of kids.

Using your phone while driving increases your odds of crashing by a ton.

So why are moms still using their phones while driving? Why are dads? Why really are humans? Ask your family not to use their phones while driving. Better yet, moms lead by example.

I don't understand why more attention is not centered on preventing car crashes as they are the #1 cause of death to American kids. More then pool drowning and gun shot wounds.

Fear your child being abducted? Fear your child dying in a car crash more. The odds are way higher that a child will die in a car crash then be abducted.

Start changing your driving habits and ask others to do so too.

Let's go moms.

What' s The Safest Lane on a Highway to Drive On

Yesterday, while  barreling down a LA freeway with my beloved 3 1/2 year-old in the car I wondered which lane was safest.

I tend to stay in the right.

I know that merging causes a lot of crashes but at night I don't like to drive over 65 with a ton of cars, call me crazy.  So I'll go 60. I was also wondering if the speed limit shouldn't be lowered at night but that's another topic.

After Googling it, I realized it was hard to find an answer but found this data from DFKOV.tumblr.com.

So it appears that the right lane is the most dangerous.

Yet the left lane is for the bullies that go 80 MPH. Oh and they do.

Our freeways are deeply flawed if you ask me and I don't understand why we don't make changes such as a reduction in the speed limit.

Researchers Predict Tomorrow Will Have a Lot of Crashes

The holidays bring about a lot of car crashes.

Researches are predicting that tomorrow, Friday, will have the most car crashes within the next week.

Read below and drive safe.

A study released recently by the University of Alabama shows that while increased traffic throughout the holiday season raises the risk for car accidents, more crashes occur during the few days surrounding Christmas than at any other time of the year. Researchers studied the crash data recorded in our state over the past 10 years. With the increase in collisions comes the likelihood of more car crash injuries and deaths.

According to the university's Center for Advanced Public Safety, there were 18 percent more automobile wrecks last year between Dec. 21 and 26 than during a similar six-day period at Thanksgiving. Compared to the period that includes New Year's Day, there were 26 percent more. However, the accidents that occurred around all three holidays were similar in severity, with a little more than 20 percent of them resulting in injuries or fatalities. One researcher attributes the increase of accidents around Christmas to last-minute shoppers and travelers who are unfamiliar with their surroundings.

The crash data shows that fewer people are traveling on the actual holidays, making the roads safer for driving on those days. This year, with Christmas falling on a Wednesday, researchers predict that the highest risk of crashes will be the Friday before, as well as Dec. 23 and 24. As for New Year's Eve -- formerly one of the worst times for drunk driving fatalities -- researchers say that initiatives to cut down on impaired driving have decreased the number of accidents.

Speeding. 10 Minutes vs. 9 Months.

When people on the freeway tailgate you at high speeds you should be scared.

Tailgating accounts for about 1/3 of fatal crashes.

I don't know where this person is going that they think it is OK to threaten your life.

When you speed you might get somewhere about 15 minutes faster. When you bring life into this world you carry a baby in your body for 9 months.

First time mothers deliver around 24 hours with their first pregnancy.

You install the carseat or you have a local fireman do it.

You drive painstakingly safely home from the hospital.

When I hear of people losing their kids in car crashes it scares and saddens me to my car.

Car crashes are the #1 cause of death to kids.

We should be doing so much more to ensure their safety in vehicles then we are.

One thing you can do is to not speed or tailgate.

Life is worth respecting.

"Take It Easy, The Cemetery Can Wait" Great Photo

Great photo someone posted on Twitter this AM.

Reports That "Fast & The Furious" Star Paul Walker Dies in Car Crash

According to TMZ handsome actor Paul Walker has died at the age of 40 in a car crash.

The accident happened in Santa Clarita -- north of Los Angeles -- and according to multiple sources connected to Paul ... the actor was in a Porsche when the driver somehow lost control and slammed into a post or a tree ... and then the car burst into flames.

Several of our sources -- some who are still at the scene of the accident -- tell us Paul and another person in the car were killed. Law enforcement is still on the scene, and we're told the L.A. County Coroner's Office is on the way.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/30/paul-walker-dead-dies-car-accident-fatal-fire-crash/#ixzz2mBhIgD4I

(Photo from Wallpopper.com)

#whyidrivesafe

I enjoy Instagram more then other forms of social media.

I thought it could be a good idea, OK, I'll call it a campaign, to take photos of things you love about life and hashtag them #whyidrivesafe You can add #fixthetoaster if you like as well. Just start to get people's brains thinking about driving better.

I Guess I'm an Activist

My husband came downstairs into our shared office and started chuckling over a post I had written, "Another uplifting post from Lindsay." I know, I know, I said.

I feel sort of ridiculous doing what I am doing but I think the fact that car crashes are such an un-talked about epidemic is more ridiculous so I'm willing to do this. To do something.

Activist makes me sound like a radical chick who doesn't shave her armpits.

In reality, I'm sitting here in my caridgan and lululemon pants trying to bust out a few posts before some of my kids come home.

I think about them being driven home and I think about the other people driving around them. And I know the facts.

Car crashes are the #1 cause of death to kids and it always bothers me.

I try not to think of the young woman I saw just yesterday smoking with one hand and holding her phone with the other, while driving!

I try not to think about the young pretty woman I saw just yesterday FACETIMING while at a stop light in Hollywood.

I suppose I am an activist now.

But I will always shave my pits.

Family Loses 3 Girls to Car Crashes

One family has lost three of their daughters to car crashes. One daughter died 5 years ago and twins just died due to a crash on this Halloween.

This is very sad. The crash is being:

...blamed the wreck on Blackstock’s “purposeful and reckless acceleration,” the newspaper reported. He remains in Skagit County Jail. (NY Daily News)

Janesah and Janeah Goheen of Oak Harbor, Wash., a town on picturesque Whidbey Island, were involved in a car crash around 5 p.m. Halloween evening, according to various local news reports. They were headed to a local haunted house, KIRO-TV said.

Their 1993 Acura was struck by a 2006 Ford Mustang driven by 53-year-old Ira Blackstock, who suffered a broken leg. Police said he showed signs of impairment, and had an Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet on the back seat of his car. Tests showed he was not drunk, police said, but they are testing his blood for drugs, according to the Whidbey News-Times.

Janeah died immediately. Janesah held on for 11 days, and passed away Monday. A service will be held Saturday for family and friends.

The family lost another daughter, Jessica Goheen, five years ago in a car crash, according to the New York Daily News. She was 24.(Autos.AOL)

(NY Daily News)

Fix The Toaster Will be Headed to BlogHer '14

Just bought my ticket to BlogHer '14 in San Jose, CA.

I'll be going with funny LA mom humorist Susanna Morgan.

Looking forward to growing the word about Fix The Toaster.

Are you headed there? Let me know, let's connect.

5 Point Harness Seat Belts, Why Not For Adults?

5 point harness seat belts help to reduce your chance of dying in a car crash. Yet we only put them on little people. Why not wear them, always?

Inconvenient? Embarrassing? It's pretty inconvenient to die as well.

Here is a very sad film about  a little girl who died whose parents have since then become advocates for keeping your kids in 5 point harness for longer amounts of time.

Just today I thought, does my lanky, 7 year-old look ridiculous in his, but I don't care. I would wear one if it were an option.

Says the mother of the little girl who died:

After hitting a tree at just 40km/h, Mrs Broadhead turned immediately to check on her children.

They appeared to be fine. The car itself only had a broken headlight and some minor crumpling of the bonnet.

"She got Madeleine out of the car and when she released Isabelle's seatbelt, Isabelle slumped forward," Mr Broadhead said.

"Until that point she didn't realise there was anything wrong. Obviously the blood had already stopped going to her brain and she blacked out."

Despite support for the campaign, Mr Broadhead has a message for the few parents who complained of the cost of keeping kids in restraints and booster seats for longer.

"Isabelle had three older sisters," he said. "One of the hardest things I have ever done was to tell the girls their sister died.

http://youtu.be/KqcTbIi1-y4

Parents Do You Tailgate?

Tailgating is a leading cause of traffic fatalities.

I literally can not believe how many people choose to tailgate, especially dangerous on highways.

I do not tailgate.

Do you?

Please, speak up if you are a passenger and someone is tailgating someone else. Also, stop calling everyone else an asshole. You will teach your kids to de-humanize the person behind the wheel of the other car.

[polldaddy poll=7543916]

Speed and Teen Drivers

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.

Mom Hit By Texting & Speeding Woman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS8fbJh2H7Y

Please share this video.

Look at this woman's face and hear her story.

A speeding and texting woman killed her husband and severely injured her. It's insane that people still text/use their phones and drive.

Speeding and tailgating are so irresponsible as well.

Attitudes need to change about our role in preventing these tragedies. Because they are preventable.

I know I've posted her segment before but it's so powerful.

A Friend Challenges Fix The Toaster

A friend of mine said he thought that Fix The Toaster needs to be honed in on. He doesn't get what it's about.

I respect this smart man's opinion greatly.

I paused, then said, I disagree.

I'm just trying to bring conversation to the fact that car crashes go largely accepted and that's un-acceptable considering 80% of car crashes are preventable.

I have read of a few women lately, who have lost thier husbands, one was struck while they were on a walk and another went to pick up her husband while he was biking only to be met by your worst nightmare, paramedics and your loved ones bike mangled up and your loved one, dead.

They both commented on how they are slowly coming to terms with finding their voices and becoming activists.

There is little law right now, against people who kill other people with their cars. It's quite insane actually.

It's quite insane that a few days ago a pale woman with short red hair rounded a left hand turn in her Prius all while looking at her iPhone in her left hand.

I think that this topic will become a trend, hopefully sooner rather then later.

Just in my own talking to people, I see their thoughts changing as I talk to them.

So for now, Fix The Toaster stays the same.

The name stays weird, foul language stays and just a broad overview of the insanity that is going on our roads.

What do you think about the name of the site?

Do you accept the high stats as acceptable?

Giveaway, Cell Control & Camp Mighty

I just returned from a conference in Palm Springs at The Ace Hotel called Camp Mighty.

It's about making goals.

My number one goal was to have a celebrity do a PSA that promotes driving safely as down right sexy.

Ryan Gosling didn't knock on my door but my roommate and Fix The Toaster contributor Shannon Noel sang her PSA for driving safe for some attendees outside of our room one night.

The first night I sat down I spoke to a woman about Fix The Toaster, she confided in me that her younger brother died at 21 in a car crash. I spoke to another woman who lost two friends.

BOTH of her friends had minor problems on a highway at night only to be struck and killed while waiting for help. Separate occasions. One was waiting inside the car on the shoulder, the other was waiting in the car.

"So, that's the system we've created?" Your car brakes down at night on a freeway and chances are high you might get killed by another car. I asked her, why not lower the speed limit at night?

It's a different way of thinking but that is what Fix The Toaster is about. I think we need to re-think the way we are accepting the high amount of mostly preventable injuries and fatalities on our roads, nationally and globably.

I heard a man named Lane Wood speak on behalf of individuals and how they can live a life of positive imp ace by creating social good strategy for our life or small business.

Afterwards, I approached him and said, I am not selling goods but rather my idea and handed him my card.

I  was surprised at how many people were surprised when I told them that car crashes were the number one cause of death to kids.

I get that reaction a lot to that fact but it still surprises me.

I returned home tonight to two packages.

One contained these fun socks that someone in my family will be wearing at the Conor Lynch Run that is coming up next Sunday in Sherman Oaks.

Conor lost his life to a distracted, texting teen.

The second package was from a company called CellControl.

They are giving me a product to test out that has technology to limit your ability to talk, text, email and surf the web while driving.

9-1-1 emergency call are always allowed.

They also say that parents, as the device is aimed at teens, but you know me I think parents are equally at fault and to blame, but that parents can easily setup an allowed list of phone numbers for inbound and outbound calling.

This is a product for teens and adults.

Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 15-20.

It's actually National Teen Driver Safety Week starting tomorrow. I look forward to testing this product out and giving one away.

It is an $89.90 product and I will be giving one away at the end of this week.

*****To be eligible I ask that you please like Fix The Toaster on Facebook and follow it on Twitter. It you aren't on Twitter no worries. Please leave a comment below as to why driving safe is important to you.