The fact that about 42,000
people were killed last year, innocent victims, in violent deaths and
millions more are injured, often severely crippled, simply going about
their daily business in or near automobiles should, and will, create a
groundswell of rage to force solutions to be enacted by those who sit
passively and watch the horror. We need efficient and affordable public
transportation nationwide, safe (truly safe) automobiles, and laws that
give law enforcement agencies the ability to protect and control drivers
and passengers on roads and highways. Perhaps a memorial like the Viet Nam
Veterans Memorial would make and keep people aware of the number of people
who have been killed in and by automobiles. The design of such a memorial
will be difficult, however, for thousands of names will have to be added
each month. The most severe problem facing the citizens of the United States today, the greatest threat to public safety, and one of the most dire, unbelievable catastrophes in history continues, unabated, and the death toll is rising at the rate of 115 per day. Highway fatalities account for 94 percent of all transportation deaths. In 2001 42,116 people were killed by automobiles. A disaster of this magnitude needs immediate and drastic action. The simple act of transporting a child to school or to the library or to visit relatives has become like an act out of a violent horror story. We citizens are responsible. We must hold the government accountable, at the federal, state, and local level. Write them, informing them of your concern. Monitor their voting record on issues of public transportation, automobile safety , traffic law, and funds for law enforcement of traffic violations , and vote accordingly. Let the automobile industry know, with your voice and with your wallet, that our lives, our children's lives, are more important than their profit margin. Encourage them to take the steps necessary to make automobiles safe. Forty-two thousand lives should not be an acceptable standard in determining that cars and trucks are safe enough. Redesign is what is called for, instead of band aid measures, and fights to reduce or limit safety standards to decrease costs. As they build more and more large vehicles, appealing (falsely) to our instinct for self preservation, the death toll will increase as these larger and heavier vehicles share the road with smaller, more vulnerable vehicles. Many auto company advertising campaigns now play to our worst impulses, promoting speed and aggression, over safety and civility. |
Appeal to the media to report what is
truly important to all of us, what the real dangers are, perhaps with
regular features, reporting accident data, status of laws and the stands
of proponents and opponents, auto industry efforts to apply, or
discourage, true safety standards, and reports on law enforcement efforts
in combating unsafe driving and preventing disasters and, perhaps most
important, use their forum to educate us in what safe driving measures
are. Encourage law enforcement officials and officers to apply their
resources where the data declares they belong, in the enforcement of
traffic safety, and to treat unsafe driving as the criminal act that it
is. SUPPORT AMTRACK-PRIVATIZE ROADS AND HIGHWAYS |
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And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. FOR ALL WHO DO EVIL HATE THE LIGHT AND DO NOT COME TO THE LIGHT, SO THAT THEIR DEEDS MAY NOT BE EXPOSED. BUT THOSE WHO DO WHAT IS TRUE COME TO THE LIGHT, SO THAT IT MAY BE CLEARLY SEEN THAT THEIR DEEDS HAVE BEEN DONE IN GOD{John 3:19-21}
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