Thursday, February 11, 2010

Secretary LaHood Issues Recall of the American Motorist


"DoT Secretary Ray La Hood has recalled the entire surface transportation fleet to replace an endemic factory defect: dangerous loose nuts have been installed behind the steering wheels of more than half of our cars..."

Too far out to be true? Much has been said lately about the recall of all those Toyotas due to defects in brake algorithms and sticky accelerators. But from what I have read in multiple sources (here is one), there have been about 19 deaths over a decade cause by Toyota's faulty throttles. Not sure how many have been killed by the brakes, but I suspect similar low numbers.

Meanwhile, what about the real "factory defects" in our vehicle fleet? We have killed roughly 400,000 people in traffic crashes over the last decade and according to the FHWA: "Depending on the source, driver error is cited as the cause of 45 to 75 percent of roadway crashes and as a contributing factor in the majority of crashes (Hankey, et al, 1999)."

Out of all those deaths, the defective gas pedal can explain perhaps %0.005. Driver error? 45-75%. Who are we kidding?

While roads and cars have acquired numerous safety features over the last quarter century, we see two big problems. One, that motorists increasingly take safety for granted and often engage in high-risk behavior such as driver distraction. Secondly, many of these improvements, designed to protect motorists, have done little to protect non-motorists such as bicyclists and pedestrians who are at ever increasing risk of being hit by distracted or safety tone-deaf motorists.

DoT Secretary Ray LaHood has been quoted as calling Toyota "a little safety deaf" over the accelerator issue. But looking at the FHWA report, don't you think its about time that the Secretary of Transportation took stronger action to prevent the lion's share of traffic crashes and immediately demand a recall of that most imperfect of designs, the "safety deaf" American motorist, to repair his or her hearing?

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Khal, You remain one of my heroes. Bob Chauncey

Charles Komanoff said...

Khal, your headline is terrific. Now, how about fortifying yourself with a big cup of coffee and writing an entire post along those lines (or even, "Secretary LaHood Recalls American Motorists ...").

I would do it, but you've got the inside track!

-- Charles

Khal said...

Charles, this might be a good lead into your Traffic Justice paper.

Charles Komanoff said...

Khal -- Loved your original version, love the revised one even more! -- CK

Anonymous said...

Wonderfully said!

I hope you've put this in front of Sec. LaHood.

Khal said...

I posted a link on the Secretary's Blog.

Maynard said...

What Bob Chauncey said.

Keri said...

Excellent, Khal!

I love it!

Khal said...

National Public Radio has picked up on this. I guess now we can believe it...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123761647