Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Category Archives: trucks


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Truck drivers can be heros too

On one of our busiest freeways last night a couple of truck drivers saved some lives, probably even their own.  Apparently a car, speeding around a curve  on I-75, drifted from it’s lane and crashed into a tanker truck which was hauling thousands of gallons of fuel.  A semi truck driver, seeing what was unfolding, moved out of the way to give the tanker more room.  If that driver hadn’t been paying attention and had collided with the tanker an explosion would have occurred immediately, probably killing both truck drivers and perhaps other people as well.  As it was, the tanker rolled over, its driver was able to get out of the cab and scramble up the embankment, the semi driver was able to stop and run from the area, and all the other drivers of cars were able to run away from the area as well.  The tanker exploded into a huge fire ball seconds later, flames shooting 100 feet into the air.  The heat from the fire caused a major overpass to collapse on top of the trucks.

Last night as I watched live footage of the flames everyone wondered how many fatalities there would be.  Firemen could see multiple vehicles  but the fire was so hot no one could check to see if any were occupied.   I went to bed wondering how many families would get that awful telephone call.  This morning a miracle shows its face.  No one died.  Only three minor injuries.  It’s amazing, and yet it isn’t.  People paying attention while they’re driving is the key, whether they’re truck or passenger vehicle drivers.

Last night a observant truck driver saved lives.   As I’m quick to criticize truckers who make errors that cost lives, it’s only fair to acknowledge that truck drivers can be heros too.

Here’s a link to the story:  http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/15/michigan.tanker.fire/index.html


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It's not all about Michael

Yes it’s sad that Michael Jackson died too young, another divinely talented soul  gone from this place.  But there are other important stories in the news today, stories that are overshadowed by the pop star’s untimely death.  In Oklahoma yesterday afternoon nine people died horrible deaths in a highway wreck that sounds hauntingly familiar.

When my husband told me there had been a wreck in Oklahoma my heart already knew.  He began by stating that traffic had been stopped on the freeway.   I knew the rest of it before the words were out of his mouth.  A semi slammed into the back of an SUV, then into other vehicles.  Eight adults and a child are gone.  They didn’t live extravagant lifestyles,  they didn’t cause crowds to scream, they weren’t worth billions, didn’t owe millions, weren’t particularly special.  Except to their families; to their friends and families these nine people were priceless.

So.  Is nine lives enough for us and for our legislators to take notice?  How many is enough?  Five thousand people are truck crash victims every year.  When is enough enough?   Of course we don’t know yet what kept that truck driver from seeing all the traffic stopped ahead.  We don’t know if fatigue was a factor.  The news report indicate alcohol was not involved.  If not drink, then what?

We need to find out.  And we need to make sure this tragedy isn’t buried under celebrity news.  These nine people deserve as much attention as the other stories of the day.  Their lives were worth as much, their deaths should not go unnoticed.


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StopBiggerTrucks.org

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The gist of my statement at last Monday’s press conference was to ask for people to go to our new website: http://www.StopBiggerTrucks.org and sign a petition to continue the freeze initiated in 1991 on the size and weight of semi trucks. If you’re interested in this issue, please go to that website, look around, and if you can, sign the petition. Below are some of the comments I made Monday morning to the press:

Good morning.  My name is Dawn King and I am here today along with my siblings to honor my father, William H. Badger, who was 75 years young when he was killed two days before Christmas 2004.  He was stopped in traffic when a tractor-trailer driver fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into his car.

My dad was a husband, a father, a brother, a friend and a colleague.  He was a world traveler and life long learner, he was interested in everything, and shared the things he knew and the stories he lived with us all.  He was everyone’s handyman, comfort and support; everyone was his friend.  And his friends called him Bill.

Since my family’s tragic loss I have joined CRASH — Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways.  I am now on it’s Board of Directors and I have been part of our First Response team to assist other grieving truck crash victims.

The American public needs to know that the American Trucking Association is once again pushing Congress to increase the weight and size limits of trucks on our highways and bridges.  If the ATA gets its way, the current 80,000 pound limit will increase to 97,000 pounds.  That’s a 21% increase.  They won’t tell you that history has repeatedly shown that truck size and weight increases do not result in fewer trucks on our highways.  They also won’t tell you that the engines needed in these heavier and more dangerous trucks produce more pollution than today’s standard tractor-trailers.

Between 2003 and 2007 alone, 535 people were killed in truck crashes in Michigan.  To our elected officials who we entrust with our lives we say, you can change our laws, but you can’t change the laws of physics.  We know that bigger and heavier trucks will result in more damage to our roads and bridges and more deaths and devastating injuries to people who attempt to share the roads with these big rigs.

Let’s not forget the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007 that killed 13 unsuspecting people, injured an additional 145 people, and horrified our entire nation.

Today, an estimated 162,000 of the nation’s 600,000 bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.  As Congress makes a decision on the next federal surface transportation act, they should consider this:  Will giving into the truck lobby cause more or less damage to our nation’s network of highways and bridges that we as taxpayers pay to repair?  Will bigger trucks mean more or less death and disabling injury?

We all know the answers to these questions.  That is why I am here to stand with other daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers who are turning their sorrow to strength to make sure that decisions made by our lawmakers in Washington this year are truly in the public’s interest.

Please visit StopBiggerTrucks.org to sign the petition in support of the Safe Highways and Infrastructure Protection Act – known as SHIPA, to freeze truck size and weight limits at the current level.  The SHIPA legislation is endorsed by the truck drivers of the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association and the Teamsters, by environment groups like Environment America, and by safety organizations like CRASH, Parents Against Tired Truckers and the Truck Safety Coalition.

We also know that public opinion is on our side.  So, please go to StopBigger Trucks.org and let your voice be heard so that together we can draw a bold line in the pavement against bigger and heavier trucks.  Before it’s too late.

Thank you.

dad-wince


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Here in DC it's raining

It’s raining here in DC.  Outside and in our hearts.   We’ve attended two days of meetings with other grieving families. We’ve learned a lot about pending trucking legislation.   We’ve hugged a lot. We’ve cried a lot.

We’re headed off now to meetings on the Hill. I’m doing a press conference this morning which makes me nervous, but I remember Dad, and he makes me strong.

I’ll tell you all about it when I get back home. It’s sad, it’s empowering, it’s confusing, sometimes it’s overwhelming. Always Dad is in my heart.


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Going to DC

I’m in the midst of preparations to attend a Sorrow to Strength conference in Washington DC. The conference, the first weekend in May, is put on by The Truck Safety Coalition (see http://www.trucksafety.org/) and is attended by survivors and families of truck crash victims. We spend a few days together talking about truck safety issues, lobbying on Capital Hill and remembering the people we’ve lost. It’s an oddly fun and sad experience all at the same time, and one that my siblings and I look forward to in a weird sort of way. It’s comforting to be with people that know how we’re feeling and have been through the same wide range of emotions, yet it’s hard to look around a room filled with people all hurting from the same experience. Especially when so many of our losses could have been avoided.

What really gets me the most is  listening to the stories on the first evening.  We all stand up and tell the short version of what happened to our family, the horrific events that led us to this conference room in a DC hotel.  You hear the stories, one after another, and so many of them are exactly the same; someone was struck from behind by a tractor trailer driven by a tired, inattentive, or sometimes drugged driver.  Usually a driver who had been on the road more hours than was legal, trying to make a buck, trying to support a family, trying to get by.  And now here we are, just a fraction of the 5,000 families affected like this every year,  in a room trying not to cry as we each describe “our” crash.  Regardless of the details most stories end the same.  Someone is gone.  Sometimes someone survives, but at such a cost.  Always the pain is there.   That’s what gets me mad.  And sad.  And what makes me go to Washington, to talk to Senators and Representatives, to their staff people, to the press.  To anyone that will listen.  To you.  Because so much of what the trucking industry appears to view as “collateral damage” doesn’t have to happen.

I know that I’m just one person.  But in that room this year on the first weekend in May will be too  many people, too many families, too many broken hearts.  For one weekend we stand united; we will have a presence and maybe someone will see us.  Maybe someone will listen.  Maybe, just maybe, we can begin again to make a difference.  We’ve lost family members, but we haven’t lost hope that change is possible.  Change can start with one person.  Dad believed that and so do I.

This trip is for you Dad.  Miss you.

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