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USA, New York, 15.11.2008 PDF Print E-mail
On Saturday, November 15, 2008 members of driveAWARE will travel to the site of the first traffic crash fatality in the Western Hemisphere and place flowers in honor of all the lives lost in the USA - over 2,000,000 and counting.

- On September 9, 1899, Henry Bliss became the first fatality at 74th Street & Central Park West in New York City. There is a street sign monument erected commemorating the event. Let us learn from all these tragic losses to not repeat the mistakes and sacrifice additional lives.

This Sunday, November 16, 2008 is World Day of Remembrance in honor of all victims of traffic crash fatalities.

This worthy project was started by Road Peace in England in 1993. It was embraced by the World Health Organization; and in 2005, it was proclaimed by the United Nations. Traffic crashes are the No 1 cause of death in the world of all people aged 10 - 24.

driveAWARE (a USA nonprofit traffic safety advocacy & victim support group) wishes to say kudos to these organizations (especially Road Peace) and their respective efforts in raising global awareness regarding the magnitude of traffic crashes. Also, driveAWARE wants to acknowledge the related work performed by Make Roads Safe organization.

driveAWARE members feel a deep kindred spirit with these associations and their endeavors and goals. They are congruent with our Mission Statement: “It is our goal to significantly improve overall traffic safety awareness and substantially reduce traffic crashes through education, engineering and enforcement; while providing support to those affected by these tragedies.”

Problem
Driving is the most dangerous thing the average person will do in their lifetime. driveAWARE is pleased to see the increase in the world-wide recognition of this silent epidemic. Most people are shocked and frightened when they learn of the statistical realities of traffic crashes. Most people are unaware of the extent of the catastrophic devastation associated with traffic crashes, nor the pervasiveness. Many succumb to the obstacles of apathy, ignorance, denial, and fear.

Education – is woefully inadequate, grossly disproportional to the life & death decisions which must be made instantaneously. These decisions are further compounded and degraded by distractions and sometimes impairment.

Engineering – has made good improvements, yet produced counterproductive elements creating distraction problems, i.e.cell phones, texting, and GPS systems.

Enforcement - is drastically insufficient. Far too little deterrent due to lack of manpower and penalties. Bottom-line violators are not likely to get caught and receive comparatively minor sanctions (if any) if they do.

The statistics are staggering: the number of people killed worldwide annually in traffic crashes is 1.2 million. That is the equivalent to 6,000 commercial passenger jet crashes such as the one that occurred in Spain: that’s 16 planes a day with over 3,000 deaths.

Would the world tolerate this scenario? NO! Why? Because the media coverage would create such awareness, that government officials would react before the public would demand action.

Part of the awareness problem is because traffic crashes are spread out; one killed here, two there, etc. It does not garner the headlines like a plane crash with 200 dead. However, the numbers do add up.

Solution
The solutions involve: concern, knowledge, awareness, and courage. Of course, these need to be converted into actions. Awareness is the first key to traffic safety. Awareness is the first step to solving any problem. The public needs to know the scope of the problem along with expert safety tips.

Sadly, traffic crashes and their respective issues do not receive the recognition they warrant. The recent USA Presidential election received immense media coverage globally. Unfortunately, neither party’s candidates for President and Vice-President addressed the issue of traffic safety in any of their debates; even though, they all had children, including, Vice-President Elect Joe Biden who lost his first wife and infant daughter in a traffic crash. All hearts go out to him and his family over their losses. We look forward to reaching out to him for support in the hope he can champion this cause. We realize that his forte is on foreign affairs and that is important. There was great emphasis in all the campaigns and debates on the potential for terrorism. Again, this is an extremely important issue. We understand the attention spent on it. What we don’t understand is the lack of attention placed on traffic safety.

There needs to be greater awareness dedicated to driving safety issues. Consider the following facts:
(The comparisons are used for reference perspective and in no way are meant to devalue the loss of any lives.)

(1) Since 9-11, how many people have been killed in USA by terrorists? None, thank God!
(2) Since, 9-11 how many people killed in major plane crashes in USA? None.
(3) Since 9-11, how many people killed in traffic crashes? Over 300,000 (Yankee Stadium filled 5 times). We went to war over losing 3,000 lives.
(4) Every year, in USA, 6,000 teens die in traffic crashes; the equivalency of the World Trade Towers collapsing twice a year filled with teens.
(5) During 5 years in the Iraq War, the USA casualties were about 4,000. During that same period, about 30,000 teens died in road crashes.
(6) More people have been killed in traffic crashes in the USA during the past 109 years than have been killed in all the wars we fought in past 232 years; from the Revolutionary War to Iraq. (over 2 million)
(7) The Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC is 493 feet long displaying the names of the 58,260 casualties.
(8) A comparable memorial for all USA traffic crashes would be 16,949 feet long: 3.2 miles. At the current rate, it would grow 364 feet longer each year.
(9) Over 100 Billion dollars are lost every year due to traffic crashes.

This is a multifaceted problem that requires multidisciplinary solutions using the 3E’s; Education, Engineering, & Enforcement. Substantial improvements must be made in all three sectors. It can be done! Thousands of lives can be saved! It all begins with awareness.

Education –
It is reprehensible to continually place young people in harms way. Societies are failing our children by continuing to inadequately prepare teen drivers for the No 1 threat to their lives.

Societies can and must do a better job training and testing new drivers both in the classroom and the hands-on skill performance. Students need to learn proactive driving strategies. You can not eliminate all the inherent risks associated with driving; you can greatly minimize them.

Engineering –
Significant improvements must continue to be made while not compromising the focus of the driver. There are some game changing innovations on the horizon that will enable parents to be able to better monitor and interact with their teen drivers.

Enforcement -
It is atrocious that we tolerate these catastrophic losses. We don’t have to! They are preventable! They are not “accidents”, they’re crashes. Accident is a cataclysmic event; a tree falls across road and lands on car. In an accident, nobody did anything wrong. In a crash, somebody did something wrong. Someone is responsible and needs to be held accountable. Recklessly driving on roadway puts lives at risk and is tantamount to
recklessly handling a gun. There needs to be strong penalties that are strictly enforced to severe as an appropriate deterrent. This is critical since we cannot afford to substantially increase the manpower. We also have to raise the driving age and use graduated license restrictions.

Call to Action
It is appalling and unconscionable that driving is the No1 cause of death of young people in the world. It is especially egregious considering how long it has held this position of terror. If nothing changes it will be #1 this year, next year, and the year after.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Albert Einstein

We need to stop this insanity. We can with substantial changes and a concerted endeavor. Help, get involved: support, volunteer, donate, learn, teach, write, speak, pray. If nothing changes, a baby born today living a normal life span will see 3.4 million people die on USA roadways and 96 million world-wide.

Things are changing but not enough in both scope and time. We need greater involvement. Traffic danger is a threat to everyone. Be proactive and protect yourself and your loved ones. Knowledge is power. Knowledge and action save lives.

driveAWARE Lives depend on it!

John E. Langan,President driveAWARE, Inc. (Non-Profit Organization)

www.driveAWARE.info