Press release - how the blind nonsense gets distributed

NewsReleaseWire.com

This is how "news" about "Bell the Hybrid" gets spread about. An organization writes a press release and then for about $1,000, they hire one of these press release services to bombard every news office and political office they can. Seeing one ensures it will be echoed again and again.

Bob Wilson

 

If there were any evidence of a hazard, I would agree. But in the meanwhile, real people, real pedestrian are dying:

This is a photo of a back-over accident from the Chidester report of April 2008, one of 25 kids killed in one year. The black SUV had an object detection system that was turned off when they drove over the kid and didn't stop until the body was in front. That is not a 'chalk' outline in front of the SUV.

If there were any evidence of a hazard, I would agree with looking for solutions and not be limited to just noise generators. I would look at all solutions and test them to find out what works and to what degree. But that is not what is happening with this legislation:

That experiment is already being run every day with the existing, gas vehicles and at the end of each year, 4,700 pedestrians are dead and nearly 50,000 injuries that require hospitalization and treatment.

With the dawn, nearly 100 million auto trips will occur covering what, a billion miles in total? These will by every shape and size of vehicle imaginable. If the accident data shows some correlation between noise and pedestrian accidents, deaths, then I'm all for a study. But let the data, the real fatalities and other accident data be analyzed first and show us the 'smoking gun.' We've already looked and so far, nothing.

Time, money and resources are lost and real people suffer and die instead of taking effective solutions for all pedestrian deaths such as rating all cars by pedestrian hazard. For example:

This is how the Europeans test cars for their pedestrian risk. If we make all of our cars less hazardous to pedestrian injuries, we can take a serious reduction in deaths. There may be more injuries but live people can heal ... the dead rot and are mourned.

Bob Wilson

 

I quite agree and have noticed some buzz about "2009 Washington Seminar" but so far, there has been nothing in the Federal Register. Private groups have every right to hold any meeting they want at any location. They are free to control who gets to attend and the full agenda.

So the best answer is to inoculate:

• Congressional offices - a data package with the facts and data so they are not kept in ignorance
• Press - with a press release and the facts and data

So near as we can tell, their approach is to work directly with Congress:

NFB - NFB Washington Seminar

Bob Wilson

 

This is what I sent:

Hi Dr. Griffith [my Congressman is a physician-rjw],

I tried to call (202)225-4801 this morning but got a recorded message, "Extension 00000 please wait. Extension is not valid." Regardless, I wanted to express my opposition to H.R. 734, the bill that will put noise makers on our hybrid electric cars.

This bad bill is a repeat of H.R. 5734 that died in the last Congress and for good reason:

(1) No supporting accident data - we looked at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) accident data, the Fatality Accident Reporting System, and found the hybrid electric Prius, the most populous hybrid, has the same pedestrian fatality rate as ordinary gas vehicles. I even filed a Freedom Of Information Act request (#ES08-005322) and even the NHTSA has yet to find any accident data supporting the claims of a higher risk to pedestrians by hybrid electric vehicles. But H.R. 734 does not call for empirical data or even a study of accident data. It simply declares our hybrids "extremely dangerous" without _scientific_ data to back up this claim.

(2) Exclusion of hybrid electric owners, insurance companies and medical, public health professionals - the hybrid electric owners will have to pay for the H.R. 734 mandated solution and at a minimum we have a vested interest in getting value for any safety feature. Insurance companies also have extensive data associated with pedestrian accidents to complement the NHTSA, and can provide a valuable check on whether the proposed solution is likely to be effective. Finally, the medical community is used to statistical studies and public health data on accidents and injuries. Any public health issue including pedestrian accidents, should include them in the consultations but they like the insurance industry and hybrid owners are not in the list of parties to be consulted.

(3) Sound only, mandated solution - over and over again, this legislation pushes one solution, noise generators, over all others including wireless and pedestrian accident avoidance systems. Volvo has announced a radar pedestrian detection system to prevent accidents and the Toyota accident avoidance systems use radar and a video camera to avoid accidents. Also, Europe is moving towards making all cars less hazardous to pedestrian by improved bumpers and hoods so adults and children won't suffer fatal head and disabling knee injuries. These alternative solutions would help save the lives of the 4,700 pedestrians killed every year, not just pander to the 5 blind deaths.

A Prius owner, I came to this issue when I realized that adding noise makers only makes them just as deadly as today's gas vehicles. We run that experiment every year, noise generating gas vehicles, and they are killing 4,700 pedestrians per year. It makes no sense to mandate what is already failing.

I understand representatives from the National Federation of the Blind will lobby Congress this week. Certainly listen to their opinions but please take no position until you have a chance to see my materials that I will send out this week. In the meanwhile, your staff can retrieve last year's hearing results from:

www.regulations.gov - search "NHTSA-2008-0108-0020" for our opposition research

During your campaign, you had direct experience with reports being taken out of context. It was a dastardly, cowardly, unethical act but this is what we think the the advocates of H.R. 734 are attempting to do. Please, please, please, check the facts and data. As written today, H.R. 734 only condemns the blind to the same traffic hell they live in today.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson
​

This is what I mean by something from the heart. Feel free to borrow what works for you but be sure to tailor it for your representative. In particular, there are some representatives (if any of these are yours!) who need to be contacted:

Rep. Timothy Walz [D-MN]
Rep. John Lewis [D-GA]
Rep. Fortney Stark [D-CA]
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter [D-NH]
Rep. Keith Ellison [D-MN]
Del. Madeleine Bordallo [D-GU]
Rep. Bob Filner [D-CA]
Rep. Mike McIntyre [D-NC]
Rep. Shelley Berkley [D-NV]
Rep. Phil Hare [D-IL]
Rep. Steve Cohen [D-TN]
Rep. Carolyn Maloney [D-NY]
Rep. Maurice Hinchey [D-NY]
Rep. Clifford Stearns [R-FL]
Rep. James McDermott [D-WA]
Rep. Donald Young [R-AK]
Rep. Peter Sessions [R-TX]
Rep. David Price [D-NC]
Rep. Corrine Brown [D-FL]
Rep. David Loebsack [D-IA]
Rep. Nita Lowey [D-NY]
Rep. Sanford Bishop [D-GA]
Rep. Janice Schakowsky [D-IL]
Rep. Thomas Latham [R-IA]
Rep. José Serrano [D-NY]
Rep. Jerrold Nadler [D-NY]
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-FL]
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger [D-MD]
Rep. John Boozman [R-AR]
Rep. Rob Wittman [R-VA]
Rep. James Moran [D-VA]
Rep. Edward Pastor [D-AZ]
Rep. Russ Carnahan [D-MO]
Rep. Jane Harman [D-CA]

​

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

I get no pleasure from this conflict. While I am sympathetic to the plight of the blind, I live too much in the real world to ignore what a disaster these noise makers would be. Worse, because of this issue, I'm fully aware of the daily pedestrian death toll.

On average, just over 12 pedestrians die every day and least 60 are injured to the point of needing medical attention or hospitalization. There are probably three times this number who just pick themselves up and hobble off to heal their bruises, scrapes and torn clothing. And this is just the daily toll.

It is a shame that the blind community who first brought this subject up, has yet to reach out to the hybrid community to work together on pedestrian safety. But to do this, they must put aside preconceived expectations about the solution and we, the most innovative and adaptable owners in the market today, must agree to pursue a results oriented effort ... one whose goal is reduction of the 4,700 pedestrian deaths and many more injured and disabled.

So let me be clear that I hate having to oppose H.R. 734. But it would be worse; it would be callous; it would be irresponsible to stand aside and let H.R. 734 mandate a failed solution.

H.R. 734, "Bell the Hybrid," would only ensure that someday in the future, the last thing a bind pedestrian heard was a legislated noise maker just before they were crushed to death. Because after all, that is the world the blind live in today only the noise makers are pickup trucks and SUVs and they already kill 5 blind each year. H.R. 734 gives the pickups and SUVs a free ride to continue the carnage.

Bob Wilson

 

I'm pretty sure we'll see in my lifetime, I'm 59, both a substantial sea level rise as well as plenty more "Katrinas" and "Bush fires." <grumble><grumble><grumble> Then there is what happens when industrialized agriculture runs out of oil ... grim times, my friend, grim times indeed.

Bob Wilson

 

No, not at all!

However I'm looking at these emerging technologies and would like to see them standard (and with a generous insurance discount!) on our hybrids first:

• Volvo pedestrian detection and accident avoidance radar
• Denso lane following, pedestrian detection, sign reading, adaptive cruise control, radar and video system
• BMW pedestrian body heat detection system
• Replace these mirrors with cameras and blind spot detectors
• Interactive vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian wireless (using keyfob technology)
• Advanced accident prevention systems including sleepy and impaired driver support systems

Compared to these systems, noise makers are a child banging on a toy, metal drum and just as ineffective as today's pedestrian and vehicle safety systems.

We have the technology to make our vehicles and roads much safer. It is time to apply these advanced systems, learn our lessons, and build better ones for the future.

Bob Wilson