Archive for September, 2009

The push to ban drivers from texting while operating motor vehicles on America’s roadways just got a powerful and influential ally recently — the Ford Motor Co.  is the first automaker to embrace a proposed new law that would cut federal highway funding by 25% to states that refuse to outlaw the dangerous practice.

“Ford supports a ban on hand-held text messaging while driving – and we endorse the legislation introduced by Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) that would encourage a more rapid transition to hands-free and voice-activated technologies,”  Sue Cischke, Ford’s Group Vice President for Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering,  said in a statement.  “This legislative approach addresses a nationwide problem we can all agree is necessary to improve safety.”

Watch this public service announcement from British television (posted on YouTube.com), for a graphic depiction of the dangers of texting while driving a motor vehicle.  Caution — this video is very graphic and disturbing.

This is good news for all of us on the roadways, and more needs to be done to pass national laws that will prohibit operators of motor vehicles from texting while driving.  All the evidence so far, in study after study,  shows clearly that drivers who are distracted by texting instead of keeping their eyes on the road are dangerous, and that means they are involved in a higher rate of accidents.

“At Ford, we think driver distraction is a critically important issue,” Cischke wrote.

So do we.

And by banning texting while driving, everyone will be safer.

There are still other issues, of course.  Drivers will still be able to use cell phones while driving — the Schumer bill only addresses texting. Some states have already enacted laws that prohibit cell phone use, while other states permit cell phone use while driving only if they are used with a hands-free, voice-activated or wireless system.  Critics argue that that’s an improvement over hand-held cell phones, but that it doesn’t really prevent drivers from being distracted.  That’s true, but blasting radios,  screaming kids in the back seat and beverages that spill inside the car while driving all can’t be outlawed and they certainly contribute to distraction.  At least the texting ban is a start.

In a story in the New York Times, Schumer lauded Ford for taking a position against driving while texting.  “Ford deserves credit for stepping up as the first car company to endorse a ban on this dangerous habit,” Schumer said in a statement.  “We are gathering a critical mass of support for this bill, which will give us the momentum we need to get it passed.”

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia already have banned drivers from text messaging while operating motor vehicles, according to the New York Times.

Now it’s time for Pennsylvania to follow that lead to protect you, your friends and family members from such unnecessary hazards on the road.

The premise of tort reform is popular with politicians and big corporations, who use it as a target for  “cleaning up”  our complex legal system.  But if you or your family needs to sue for damages following an injury, the wrong kind of tort reform could be very harmful.

The idea behind tort reform sounds logical – to reform the legal system to prevent unnecessary lawsuits against doctors,  especially under the premise that such suits cause health care costs to skyrocket and medical professionals to quit their practices because of ever-increasing malpractice insurance premiums.

The problem, though,  is like gravity – what goes up, must come down.

U.S. Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C. Image credit: © iStockphoto.com/hundreddays

So while the idea of tort reform sounds logical, the problem is that such measures are usually written by medical and insurance company lobbyists who are looking to cut the risks for medical professionals who either make the occasional mistake while providing medical care or,  worse yet,  are those who are incompetent and regularly cause injuries to patients.  Rather than looking out for patients, tort reform looks out for those medical professionals who have wronged their patients.

And that’s simply not acceptable.

Supporters of tort reform, the loud, accusatory advocates who inflame the issue by targeting “trial lawyers” – as though lawyers are the evil at the core of the issue – don’t ever mention that if it weren’t for poor medical care in these cases, there wouldn’t be such lawsuits.

Tort reform as it is touted by its predatory advocates would mean that you and your family would give up or be vastly limited in your legal rights to sue in the event you were the victims of poor medical care.  So instead of doctors and other medical professionals being held accountable for their mistakes in diagnosis, treatment and care of patients, costs would be contained – at the expense of injured and aggrieved patients and their families.

In fact, medical corporate America doesn’t really care about tort reform.  Instead, they care about cutting their losses and damage awards when poor care is given. They care about leaving victims with no means of recovering their deserved damages,  all in the name of supposed “reform.”

That’s not “tort reform.”  That’s passing the buck at its worst.

Tort reform is a euphemism used by doctors and corporate America who don’t want to be held accountable for their misdeeds that ultimately and unfortunately have maimed and killed our friends and family members.

Negligent parties should be responsible for all of the damages that they cause (including punitive damages).  How else will we ever get more careful doctors and better health care for our families?

Just say “no” to such “tort reform.”   If you are ever injured by a medical professional, your long-term well-being will depend on maintaining your right to sue.  Your family and your financial future depend on it.

9/11.

Somehow, it’s been eight years today since terrorists attacked the United  States in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pa.

On that perfectly gorgeous late summer day on Sept.  11, 2001, we watched as the World Trade Center’s twin towers were hit and ultimately toppled by hijacked commercial jetliners filled with innocent people.  We watched as a third hijacked jetliner was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon.  And we learned of a fourth hijacked jet that was heading toward another target in D.C. when its passengers refused to succumb to their hijackers and fought back on the doomed plane. As the passengers tried to overtake the hijackers, the hijackers corkscrewed the plane into the ground outside Shanksville, Pa., never reaching their target.

It was an unreal day in the history of our nation, filled with tragedy, horror and fear.

The rubble of New York's World Trade Center towers following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Image credit: © iStockphoto.com/Terraxplorer

At the same time, it was one of our best days — as we pulled together as a nation, not as New Yorkers, Texans, Pennsylvanians and the rest — but as Americans all.  Through our tears and sorrow, we pulled together and helped one another, in our towns, in our cities, across our state borders, to send help, supplies and volunteers to New York and D.C., and to find common ground in our communities, despite our past differences.

Across the United States, we flew American flags outside our homes.  We went outside and we talked to our neighbors. We hugged our children and loved ones more often.  We were friendlier to strangers and more civil to one another.  We were truly one as a nation.

Many people said that the terrorists thought they would tear our nation apart by conducting the devastating attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but instead learned that their attacks brought us together more than any political speeches or civics program could have ever accomplished.  Truer words were never spoken.

But as America began wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of fighting terrorism and ridding Iraq of dictator Saddam Hussein, those feelings of togetherness and national unity began to fray and fade.  The deaths of thousands of U.S. and allied soldiers will do that, and continues to do that.

Today, as we remember the deaths of the more than 3,000 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and the almost 5,000 American soldiers who have died so far fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s a good time to reflect on what has happened to us since our modern day of infamy in 2001.

Instead of togetherness as a nation, we are again mired in political and civil bickering on everything from the economy to healthcare to both wars.

It’s been tiring. It’s been draining. And it’s not helping us.

It’s time to honor all the victims of Sept. 11 again by remembering how we all were as a nation in the days and weeks and months after the attacks.  It’s time to return that sense of civility, respect, togetherness and strength that we all found together after the towers fell, after the Pentagon was hit, after the heroes of United Airlines Flight 93 forced their hijackers to crash their plane into a Pennsylvania field.

It’s time to remember those feelings and work to bring them back, for our nation, for our world, for each other.

We need that same civility and respect for each other again as we face the challenges that are before us as a nation, from tackling health care to getting our economy back on track, to ending the wars that our nation finds itself involved in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We owe that kind of effort to each other, to our nation and to all who taught us on that day what it truly felt like to be Americans again.  It was a lesson we can truly repay if we try.

Tuesday, September 8, was the first day of school for many children across the country. As the excitement of the new school year began, children from kindergarten to senior high had the opportunity to hear President Barack Obama speak on something important to us all ¾ education.

Unfortunately, not all schools and parents agreed that the message in Obama’s speech was beneficial to the younger generation, that it gave hope and inspired our children. Rather they turned it into a political controversy and demanded their child be excused from the classroom during the showing.

My question is: why? What in the speech made it so controversial that parents would refuse their child to watch it ¾ the fact that it encouraged children to work hard and stay in school? Is America really so polarized that we feel threatened by anything or anyone associated with the “other party?”

We are a nation dedicated to promoting equality and freedom throughout the world. We cheer when young girls are allowed to go to school in developing countries. Yet when it comes to our own education, we divide ourselves on encouraging children to take responsibility for their future.

I agree that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and has the freedom to express it. It is a basic right that too few people enjoy in this world. However, we need to take a step back and think about where our opinions and beliefs come from. Are we denying our children an important message because we are blinded by ideologies?

An excerpt from the speech reads:

“The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.”

I believe this is a lesson for us all. The story of America should not be about taking kids out of school because you disagree with the President’s policies. It should be about encouraging our children and ourselves to work together for the common good, to share ideas that further our country and our world, and to reach for excellence in all that we do.

The preamble to the United States Constitution starts with “We the people…”  We pledge allegiance to our flag saying “…one nation.” We tell our kids not to be mean to other children because they “are different.” Perhaps President Obama should have addressed the adults. We could have learned a thing or two about unity and taking responsibility for the good of the United States and ourselves.

Image credit: © iStockphoto.com/ruchos

If you have been injured in a vehicle crash involving a Toyota car or truck in the last few years, pay special note – the company has just been sued by a former corporate attorney who alleges that Toyota illegally withheld critical information about hundreds of rollover crashes involving injuries and deaths.

In a report posted on CBSNews.com, the former attorney, Dimitrios P. Biller, the former managing counsel for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., filed a 75-page lawsuit alleging that Toyota executives were “not producing e-mails and other electronically stored information to plaintiffs as he said was required,” according to the CBS story. The lawsuit alleges that his complaints to superiors about the situation cost him his job. The company and key executives “conspired … to unlawfully withhold evidence from plaintiffs and obstruct justice in lawsuits throughout the United States against Toyota,” the lawsuit states. “Many of the plaintiffs in these lawsuits sustained catastrophic and fatal injuries in rollover accidents involving Toyota vehicles.” Biller alleges in his lawsuit that he was intimidated and harassed by the company due to his persistence in arguing that the crash evidence should be revealed and that the company engaged in a “ruthless conspiracy and relentless effort to prevent evidence of its vehicles’ structural shortcomings from becoming known.”

In a statement published in the CBSNews.com story, Toyota “called Biller’s charges ‘inaccurate and misleading,’” saying the company “takes its legal obligations seriously and works to uphold the highest professional and ethical standards.”

So where does this leave you, the public?

Yes, the case is pending, but it already opens some amazing and disturbing potential legal questions. Assuming that these serious allegations are proven true, however, we are all being made the fool by Toyota.

If Toyota executives are eventually found to have conducted themselves in such a manner, where they withheld evidence in legal cases involving injuries and deaths caused by their vehicles, it is absolutely, positively reprehensible. It would throw a huge wrench into every Toyota accident case that has already been decided, leaving it open to new reviews and investigations into the company’s conduct.

Certainly the claims in this fascinating and very disturbing case are still far from being resolved, but it is a huge case to follow and watch carefully for it has legal implications for all of us.

Negligent parties should be responsible for all of the damages that they cause to others, including punitive damages, because such court awards serve as warnings for other companies of the consequences of their misdeeds. How else will we ever get safer products and safer roadways?

Accountability and removing the financial benefits of bad behavior protects us all.