trucks | Change Is Hard

April 5, 2014
by dawnkinster 23 Comments

For AnnaLeah and Mary

Many of you know that I volunteer for the Truck Safety Coalition, a nonprofit in Washington DC that works to make our roads safer by pushing for legislative and rule making changes. We work both through our members of Congress and through the Department of Transportation and other agencies that regulate the trucking industry. You know that I do this in memory of my Dad who was killed by a tired trucker in December of 2004. So when you read a post dedicated to the issue of safety on our roads you run the risk of having to listen to me get on my soapbox. I’m grateful that you humor me on this because I tend to get a bit passionate, and I know that most of you are already on my side and I’m probably preaching to the choir. Still…

Humor me one more time and listen to the story of AnnaLeah and Mary.

Last May while my family and I were joined in Washington DC with many other families who have been touched by needless tragedy, while we were sitting in the DOT board room being told by different members of that agency why they hadn’t accomplished tasks they’ve been working on for years, while we listened to excuse after excuse why minimum insurance requirements hadn’t been raised yet, why stronger rear underride guards hadn’t been mandated, why there were no studies of side underride guards at all, why the federally legislated electronic onboard recorders weren’t already implemented ..well… while we were there listening to all these excuses AnnaLeah and Mary were dying in a horrific crash. Two beautiful girls just gone, another family irreparably changed.

You can hear their mother tell her story here, she does a lovely job, but I understand if you don’t want to listen. If you want to remain untouched. If it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone. Best not to know, right?

Well, here’s the short version: They were driving from North Carolina, heading to Texas for the wedding of their oldest sister. In Georgia they were hit by another vehicle and were spun under a semi. If that truck had had underride guards perhaps the girls would not have been killed. Did you know that every industrialized country in the world has underride guards on their semi trucks? But not the United States. Next time you’re driving next to a semi glance over and see where that underside of that trailer would hit you in a crash. Even a crash that you didn’t cause.

Think about that. It doesn’t have to be your fault and you can still die. Family and friends can still die. Truck companies don’t want to put protection on their vehicles to save lives of people in cars. They don’t think it’s their responsibility. They don’t want to incur the costs. It’s all about profit. But who is really paying for their profit? You and I and our families are paying that cost. Every single day.

OK. I’ll get off the soapbox now. Please, just go to this site and read a little bit. Sign the petition that we plan to take to Secretary of Transportation Foxx in May, one year after AnnaLeah and Mary died. We want to convince him to join us in the fight on three issues:

1. Increase the minimum insurance truck companies have to carry to cover the damage to families involved in crashes with them. It hasn’t been raised in 30 years.

2. Get the electronic onboard recorders implemented to keep drivers from cheating on their logbooks and driving longer hours than allowed.

3. Act to improve the safety of trucks by requiring better underride guards.

Even if you can’t listen to AnnaLeah and Mary’s Mom talk about her girls and the trip across country that ended not in a family wedding but in family tragedy, take a moment to read to the end to find out what else you can do to help. And think about these two beautiful kids next time you’re on the road driving behind or beside or in front of a semi. Think about these kids and convince yourself it’s not your problem.

I dare you.

March 9, 2014
by dawnkinster 20 Comments

Weekly photo challenge: Perspective

The photo challenge this week from WordPress is to show perspective. As usual my mind pulled me this and that way when I considered what to do with that concept. I think I know what the photo challenge developers are getting at with the assignment. But I think, this week, I have to go in another direction.

Because, you see, I’ve been thinking about truck safety stuff more lately. My family was permanently upended in December of 2004 because of a truck, but that doesn’t mean I eat and breath trucking issues every day. I slip into complacency just like anyone might. But this week a letter was published in the New York Times from Joan Claybrook, who once headed NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), the Joan Claybrook who helped get seat belts mandated, the Joan Claybrook who fights the good fight for all of us on highway safety issues still today. You can read her short letter here. So this week my thoughts on perspective are slightly skewed toward safety and trucks.

I see some awful stupid stuff on my long commute to and from work. In our hurry to get where we’re going some of us driving the cars are making moves that aren’t worth the risk. Let me plead with you. Please, never cut in front of a semi. Never careen crazily around a slower truck. Never shift lanes without warning to gain an extra 100 yards in stopped traffic. Never tail gate behind that big rig. Put down your phone. Pay attention. Stay away from the trucks. Stay as far away as you can get. Because when you look at the big picture, when you see in perspective how small you are next to them, well, it’s obvious who will be the loser in any truck/car altercation.

No matter whose fault it is, if you tangle with a semi truck you and your family are going to lose.

The trucking industry is still lobbying hard to get bigger and heavier trucks on the roads. The roads they share with you and me. Despite overwhelmingly public disapproval for larger or heavier trucks, they are still trying; in just about every major bill before Congress there is an attempt to override states law size and weight limitations.

You can help by calling your Senators and Representatives and telling them you don’t want bigger or heavier trucks on the roads you and your families drive. People are already dying. People are already living with life long injuries. Bigger and heavier trucks will not make the numbers of deaths (approximately 4,000 a year) or injuries (approximately 100,000 a year) go down.

Let’s keep trucks in perspective. Let’s stop bigger trucks. Visit the Truck Safety Coalition’s website for more information.

Please.

December 19, 2013
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

Dreams v.s. responsibility

I’ve been thinking a lot about how people deal with their dreams. Not the crazy out of control dreams in living color I often tell you about on mornings after a restless night, but the kinds of dreams we all had as kids when we thought about our futures. Believe it or not when I was a kid I wanted to grow up to be a truck driver. Given how my family’s life was irretrievably altered by the trucking industry I think it was an ironic dream. But that’s another blog for another day. As a kid I imagined the open road would be romantic, free, nomadic. Of course I knew nothing about the reality of driving big trucks cross country. And I wasn’t interested in the reality of it; it was the chance to see what was around the next curve that pulled me in, that still does.

Now that I’ve spent a good number of years in one spot the restless itch has come back. Truthfully it never really left, it’s just been stuffed down under the weight of responsibility. My folks were nothing if not responsible and all four of us were brought up to be productive, to contribute, to be self sufficient. Yet we were brought up to be curious too and they made sure we got to see as much of this country as they could share with us. We traveled every summer somewhere new and these days husband and I try to travel somewhere new every year still.

So why am I so restless? It’s not as if I never get to go anywhere – you’ve come along with me on plenty of adventures – yet as soon as I’m home I’m looking for the next opportunity to get away. I consciously work at being satisfied where I am, but half my heart is always one step out the door. I could throw a dart at a map and find something interesting to explore at any random location. Often I’d like to do that. Get up in the morning and throw a dart. And the day after that throw another dart.

So where is the balance between dreams and responsibilities? What makes one person stick with routine, follow the rules, maintain the status quo and be happy while another person turns away from responsibility and throws that dart? And can a dart thrower ever be happy with routine?

Can contentment with what is be learned? Or is a dart thrower always a restless dart thrower?

November 20, 2013
by dawnkinster 8 Comments

Sneak attack by the trucking industry. Again.

The fight for safety on our highways never ends. Always and forever we have to keep vigilant. And we at the Truck Safety Coalition do that because our lives have been changed – always and forever.

Most of you know that I volunteer for the Truck Safety Coalition, working with other victims to make change in laws surrounding commercial trucks and the impact they have on all our lives. One of the things we work on is fighting the trucking industry’s constant attempts to get bigger and heavier trucks on our roads.

Their latest attempt is an amendment that has been introduced to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA, Senate Bill # 1197) which is under consideration by the Senate right now. FedEx, UPS and others are trying to get an extension to the current size of double-trailers which are currently 28 feet long. The industry wants to lengthen each to 33 feet; on a double trailer that means the truck will be 10 feet longer.

What’s an additional 10 feet you say? Well, there are several problems. Here’s information from the Truck Safety Coalition intended to provide you reasons why longer trucks are not a good idea:

Truck crash deaths increased last year — AGAIN. Just released 2012 fatality figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show an increase in large truck fatalities for the third year in a row, including a 9 percent increase in deaths of large truck occupants. Last year, 3,921 people were killed on our roads in large truck crashes.

98% of fatalities in two-vehicle crashes between a large truck and a passenger vehicle are the occupants of the passenger vehicle.

Truck crashes impose enormous economic costs on society. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the annual cost to society from crashes involving commercial motor vehicles is estimated to be over $83 billion.

Don’t believe it — Bigger trucks never result in fewer trucks despite industry claims. Over three decades of research and experience show that allowing bigger, heavier trucks will not result in fewer trucks. Increases in truck size and weight limits over more than 35 years have never, ever resulted in fewer large trucks on our roads.

Public opinion polls are clear and consistent — the public strongly opposes bigger trucks. The American public overwhelmingly opposes relentless special interest efforts to increase truck sizes. This new NHTSA data only validates the public’s fears about the dangers to motorists from oversized trucks.

39 states will be forced to allow 33 foot trailers and fund expensive infrastructure improvements. Legislation permitting 33 foot trailers will preempt the existing truck length limits in 39 states. States will be forced to invest in expensive infrastructure improvements to accommodate these oversized rigs on interstates and upgrade freeway on-ramps and off-ramps.

Congress directed the U.S. DOT to study bigger trucks and their impacts on safety and infrastructure. MAP-21, passed with strong bi-partisan support, directed the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct a comprehensive two-year truck size and weight study to provide data on crash frequency and the impact of large trucks on safety and infrastructure. No truck size increases should be considered while the Congressionally mandated study is underway.

Industry funded research making safety claims is neither objective nor unbiased. There have been no independent, peer-reviewed research and studies conducted on the operational and safety issues associated with the use of 33 foot trailers, only industry financed research. The motoring public should not be used as human guinea pigs to conduct this research.

Serious safety problems on state and local roads with longer trucks. As combination trucks grow longer and invade more lower-class roads, the danger of severe crashes rapidly increases because these roads often have narrow lanes, winding alignments, limited sight distances, and inadequate or no shoulders, and often have trees and telephone poles at the edge line.

Congress needs to improve truck safety rather than increase truck length. More than one in every five trucks that is inspected is placed out-of-service for vehicle deficiencies that prevent it from continuing to operate.

For More Information, contact the Truck Safety Coalition, 703-294-6404

So….we need your help again. If you could contact your state’s Senators and give them a heads up that there is an amendment introduced in the NDAA that you oppose we’d appreciate it. All you need to do is go to this website to find out who your senators are. Call their office and ask to speak to the Transportation Legislative Aide or, if that person is not available, ask to speak to the Defense Legislative Aide. Tell them you oppose the amendment that would allow longer trucks. Pick any of the points above that you feel comfortable with.

It will take you a minute or two total. Leave a voice mail if you have to. Help us make a difference. Help us maintain the current size and weights, keep larger trucks from our roads.

You never know whose life you’re saving. But you can guarantee you’re saving someone.

Thanks.

October 2, 2013
by dawnkinster 10 Comments

Reflections on truck safety

Fall reflections

I’ve been thinking about an injured family a lot lately. And as our government grinds to a halt and people express their frustration with the gridlock which is Washington I recognize their frustrations in my own ongoing feelings about the slowness of change toward truck safety. I know, I know…you don’t see the connection. Let me try to illuminate.

As many of you know last May my family and I met in DC with other families who have been irreparably injured by large trucks. Families who have had members lost, injured, families whose lives are altered forever. The first day of our conference, Saturday, May 4, we told our stories, cried, welcomed with heavy hearts the new families, and talked strategy to make change.

That same day a mother and her three children were traveling on a road in Georgia. Their car was hit by a truck, spun, and was pushed under the rear of a semi. Her daughters, AnnaLeah, 17 and Mary, 13 were killed. While we were sitting in a DOT boardroom hearing department after department tell us that they were studying a problem, contemplating a rule, considering change this mother was planning her daughters’ funerals. While we were arguing that stronger wider rear guards should be mandated on commercial vehicles two more beautiful children died. Beautiful people are dying every day. And our government continues to study. To discuss. To consider.

Thoughts ripple

So as I watch the government fight among itself I think the shutdown is a bigger reflection on our own fights for truck safety. If you were to ask most Americans they would side with safety. But the opinions of most Americans are not heard because we don’t have the dollars or the influence that the trucking industry has. Even in the article I linked to this post the truckers are quoted saying the problem is with those of us in cars. We need to pay better attention they say. We need to drive more responsibly they say. That’s all true. But this mother was hit by someone else, and was spun into the semi. A stronger wider rear guard could have saved her children. Why can’t we do this thing that would save lives. Why can’t we get even small changes mandated for the safety of us all.

Expanding changes

I get discouraged. And all the news coverage over the current government shutdown just brings home the sense of hopelessness about getting anything positive done in Washington. I get so discouraged.

But then last week as I was sorting through photos from our trip to DC I suddenly came across a photo of the framed collage full of faces of our lost family members that hangs in a DOT elevator lobby. There was Dad. Like a slap across the face I remembered why I can’t be discouraged. Because these people, and all the people that have been killed or injured since, have no voice but ours. AnnaLeah and Mary have no voice but their mother’s…and now ours. Their family is now part of our family. They are our children.

We just can’t afford to let the incompetence in DC discourage us. We can not give up. No matter what. You never know when you throw a pebble into a pond just how far the ripples will go. Change is like that too. Sometime, somewhere, somehow we will get safety mandated. We just have to keep throwing those pebbles into the pond.

Marianne Karth, AnnaLeah and Mary’s mother, has a facebook page celebrating her daughters’ lives. Put faces on the numbers I so often quote…go visit her page. Please support her now at the beginning of her new reality.

I’ll keep tossing those pebbles.

Tree of life

September 6, 2013
by dawnkinster 16 Comments

When is $750,000 not enough?

I was driving home the other night when bits of the news caught my attention. Someone was putting a bill together to raise the fine retailers pay if they are caught selling cigarettes to minors. I didn’t catch the beginning of the story, but apparently the fine has been $50 for a number of years. Based on cost of living increases some legislator figures the fee should be at least $98 and has put together a bill to get it raised to $100.

Now I’m all for fining organizations that sell smokes to minors and I’m glad that someone noticed and is doing something to make it less attractive to do so. But I can’t help but compare that problem to the minimum insurance levels mandated for injury and death caused by commercial trucks and the total lack of attention this issue has received.

In 1980 as Congress deregulated the trucking industry they set a minimum level of insurance mandated by a trucking company at $750,000. In the past thirty years that minimum has never been increased. And to make matters worse, the $750,000 is paid out per incident, no matter how many people are injured or killed. Many companies, mostly larger commercial carriers, do carry more than the minimum, but smaller companies and many independents carry only as much as they have to.

So lets say the trucking company that hits your car carries a million dollars of insurance. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it. Lets says someone in your car has a traumatic brain injury, spends a month or more in intensive care, and many more months in rehab. How far do you think that million will go? Or maybe the truck that hits your car also careens into 2 or three more cars. Maybe multiple people are injured or killed. That million dollars has to be split up among everyone. Do you think any one of those affected is worth less because they are one of many involved? I didn’t think so.

We have members of our truck safety family who have turned over their share of the insurance, money won to compensate them for the death of their son, to the one survivor of the crash, someone in another family, a stranger, because she needs the money for care and will need that care the rest of her life. That’s the kind of families that are touched by these crashes. Really great, compassionate people.

So all of this has been swirling around in my head the last few days. There’s a bill to raise the fine for selling cigarettes, but we can’t get a bill introduced to increase the mandated minimum amount of insurance for commercial carriers. It makes no sense to me.

And it makes even less sense when I learn of a terrible crash that happened in Indiana a couple of weeks ago. Seven members of the same family were killed; two young mothers, their four children and an uncle. Hit from behind by a careless, probably speeding, driver who already had speeding infractions on his license. Someone that shouldn’t have been driving at all. A company that only has to pay, by law, $ 750,000 to the family if they are found at fault. A family that will never, ever be whole. A company that likely considers the payout a cost of doing business. The only thing that makes a commercial truck company take notice is a large monetary loss. These days $750K is chump change.

Unfortunately the chumps are us.

August 25, 2013
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Combining some of my favorite things

This morning Katie and I ventured out to the garden looking for flowers to put in the beautiful vase that Truck Safety Coalition presented to me this past spring during our Sorrow to Strength conference. (See? Some of my favorite things; Katie, flowers and Truck Safety. And you didn’t think I could find a way to combine them into one post!)

I haven’t been out in the garden for awhile and it was a beautiful, sunny, warm morning. Katie immediately plopped down to enjoy the sun on her fur, closing her eyes. I set about clipping blooms. Pretty soon I had enough, and I called out for Katie to follow me back into the house. She did, reluctantly leaving her sunshine to race me to the front porch, trailing her leash behind.

I got myself, the bucket full of water and flowers, the scissors and Katie inside the front door, closing it behind us with my hip. The door didn’t close right, but I figured I’d come back and shut it the rest of the way after I got the flowers into the vase. This is what the flowers looked like when I was finished:

Truck Safety vase with garden flowers

Then I went back into the kitchen, cleaned up the water on the counter, put the bucket away, the scissors back in their drawer and commenced to make myself a peanut butter sandwich. Katie barked – one yip. I ignored her. She barked again. I called her to come and she didn’t. She’s so stubborn. She yipped again. I told her to shhhhhhh as her dad was still sleeping. She yipped back. Darn it all….Katie…be quiet!

Then it struck me that she hadn’t been under my feet in the kitchen while I cut the flowers and put them in the beautiful vase. Nor had she followed me into the dining room where I took my time photographing them. And she wasn’t back in the kitchen with me even though I was making a sandwich. Very odd.

So I went searching and there she was, out in the foyer at the end of her leash, the handle of the leash caught in the front door which had not closed correctly when I pushed it with my hip. That I was going to go back and check after I put the flowers down. That I forgot all about because I have no short term memory.

I won’t tell you what Katie said when I started laughing as I released her from the leash. I don’t think it’s printable.

You FORGOT me Mama?!?

August 3, 2013
by dawnkinster 20 Comments

Funny

Funny how it happens.

You’re going along in your life, handling stuff, feeling like you’ve moved past the sad place. You’ve written some about truck stuff and felt strong doing it. You spent an evening talking to a young woman whose mother was killed by a truck a year ago and you were glad to give her an outlet, help her plan some of her new and unexpected future. You felt good about being able to listen objectively with less personal emotion.

Missing them.

Yet this morning you feel a little off. The dog gets you up early, before light, and as you stumble into clothes to take her out, wander through the house to get a jacket, it occurs to you that the house was being remodeled the last time your Dad was here and that he never got to see the fireplace. Why not just send him an email with a photo attached you reason. Seems like a sensible thing to do.

And then you find yourself in the driveway staring up at a beautiful moon sitting low in the sky, beside a bright planet off to the north. And you realize that the moon is not blurry because of sleep in your eyes but because you are staring through a sheen of tears. There’s no email in heaven. Is there.

As you and the dog wander you contemplate the long road of life and how you don’t know what’s over the next hill. You are lost in thought, memories.

Long road.

Then just overhead a cardinal begins his morning song and you can just see him through the soft morning light. He flies right over your head, still singing and you figure it’s Dad cheering you up. It works as you realize you’re not in the dark place. This place, this morning, is more a gentle blue place with shadows around the edges. Soft, not scary.

And then your dog stares up at you with big eyes, wondering, and grins because you do and the two of you hustle back to the house for breakfast.

Funny how it happens.

Love you Mama

August 1, 2013
by dawnkinster 13 Comments

Need some help here

There’s been a lot going on in Washington that has potential to make traveling on some of our roads even more scary. I know, it’s hard to believe things are actually happening in DC, but it’s true.

As most of you know I volunteer for the Truck Safety Coalition. One of the things the group does is monitor Congress, looking for attempts from some organizations and lobbyists to get around the safety regulations, to gain exceptions in order to get heavier or larger trucks on the roads. The American Trucking Association (ATA) is always looking for ways to make more profits and they don’t much care who ends up paying. And in the end, bigger, heavier trucks cost all of us; some of us pay with our lives or the lives of our loved ones, but everyone pays with taxes used to repair the roads and bridges that heavier and larger trucks damage.

So lately there’s been a push for exemptions for heavier trucks in some states. The House has already passed a bill that allows heavier trucks on some Wisconsin highways. Now there is a similar bill in the Senate. It’s S 1299 and it’s up for discussion right now. They’re going to try to get it to pass by consent. I guess this means that if no one objects the bill will pass. It will allow heavier trucks on federal highways in Wisconsin. If the Senate passes it’s bill and the House already has a bill it’s only a matter of time, and not much time, before heavier trucks will be rolling on federal highways in Wisconsin.

You might wonder why I care about what happens in Wisconsin. After all I don’t live there. You probably don’t either. So why care what they do? I care because this is the way the ATA works. They get an exemption here, an exemption there. Pretty soon the rules are no longer consistent on federal highways between states. Then they pressure states who haven’t increased weights to go along with the plan in order to be competitive and keep business in their state. You can guarantee that once weights are increased in WIsconsin the ATA will be moving on to a state near you. Maybe even your state.

80% of Americans are opposed to heavier trucks. In my experience politicians will tell you they are against heavier trucks in their jurisdictions too. But when it comes right down to it, the trucking industry has money. A lot of money. And money talks. No one is talking about the other side of this issue — the cost to regular people like you and me.

So you can help. Call your Senators. Ask them to object to the Baldwin/ Johnson Senate Bill 1299. Remind them that even though this is in Wisconsin it’s a FEDERAL highway, so it’s relevant to all of us. We only need one Senator to object and they won’t have their consensus. Maybe it will be your Senator that makes the difference, your Senator that is brave enough to stand up for what is right, maybe it will be your Senator that will put safety before profits.

Please call 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senator. (You each have two Senators…please call them both if you can!) You can leave a message with a real person. It only takes a minute. Your vote counts. You count. If we all call our Senators tomorrow (Friday 8/2) one of them is BOUND to object to this bill.

We can do this, but I need your help. Lots of people thank you for all your support.

I do too.

May 8, 2013
by dawnkinster 25 Comments

Patience. Not so much a virtue.

Hart Senate Office Building

We’re finished, finally, with our meetings on The Hill. We’ve talked to legislative staff members, subcommittee members, transportation aides, heads of agencies, chief of staffs, a Senator, cab drivers and a Cabinet Member. Everywhere we go we express our frustration with the lack of speed we see coming out of the DOT (Department of Transportation), an agency tasked with the admittedly huge responsibility to implement many of the safety advances spelled out in the Reauthorization Bill passed last August.

Russell Senate Office Building.

Sitting at the huge conference table in the Transportation Secretary’s suite we heard over and over that mandating strong rear crash guards and speed governors, finishing the rule that mandates Electronic On Board Recorders, moving ahead to increase minimum insurance levels required by truck companies, putting together an objective study on size and weight, well, these things all take time. And study. Lots and lots of study. Because they want their T’s crossed and their I’s dotted. Repeatedly we were told we didn’t understand that it’s hard to get things finished in Washington. That there are lots of levels that had to be moved through before the common sense issues could be resolved. That we were impatient and naive.

Yea. We get that.

But let me tell you, if I preformed at my job the way it seems these projects are being handled I’d be unemployed. In the world of business, industry, retail, just about any workplace you can imagine, results are what matter. How many times, when asked by your boss to meet a deadline have you been able to respond with a study? Particularly a study to study the previous studies that have been done on your problem? How often are you allowed to miss a deadline, consistently come in late with a project, and make the excuse that it’s hard? We all have hard jobs. We all face difficult decisions. But eventually we all have to be adults and make a choice…go one way or another…do the best we can with the information we have.

Cannon House Office Building.

Nothing in this world is perfect and you can spend a lifetime trying to be sure you don’t make a mistake, trying to find the perfect solution, a solution that will make all people happy. Handling problems is hard. That’s why they’re called problems. But some problems have easier solutions than others. Some problems are no-brainers.

Strengthening rear crash guards is a no-brainer. The ones mandated on trucks now fail at an unacceptable rate. Canada and Europe have a better guard, and have for years. It shouldn’t be that difficult to transfer information from them to our own trucks. Raising the amount of insurance carriers are required to have is a no-brainer. $750,000 per crash isn’t enough to handle the medical bills for the first week a victim is in the hospital, not to mention a lifetime of rehab and care. Recognizing that heavier trucks will cause more destruction, more death, more injury is a no-brainer. But let’s be sure. Let’s put together a 2 year study. That’s the ticket.

Permanent memorial to truck crash victims.

We met with the DOT Monday afternoon. While we were there people died in truck crashes across the country. Monday afternoon in Charlotte NC the driver of a disabled SUV and a good Samaritan were hit by a semi. The good Samaritan was able to stop his car, get out and try to help the driver a the SUV, but the semi couldn’t stop? Why is that? Also Monday an Arizona public safety officer was killed, sitting in his car on the shoulder of the road while investigating another crash. So at least 3 people died while we were sitting in meetings discussing moving along on projects that will save lives. Not perfect solutions, but solutions that will save lives nevertheless.

Patience. We were told to have patience. The federal government moves slowly they said. These things take time they said. We need to study the ramifications they said. We’ll get back to you on that they said. Well. Tell all that to the three families devastated Monday. Ask them for a little patience. Then imagine it was your family. How patient would you be?

Exactly.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

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