Fatal car crash leaves (Tom) Brokaw unhurt

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife said they escaped injury in a three-car accident on a New York City highway that killed one woman and injured a mail truck driver Friday afternoon.

The accident happened about 1 p.m. as Mr. Brokaw was driving in the left lane of the northbound Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx.

The Brokaws said they noticed a spool of cable bouncing in the far right lane, which caused the driver of the green SUV to lose control as she tried to avoid it.

The Brokaws said the SUV slid into the middle lane, forcing a mail truck into the couple's lane. The truck collided with Brokaw's vehicle.

Police say the SUV overturned after hitting debris in the road. The unidentified woman was thrown from the car and killed.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/fatal-car-crash-leaves-brokaw-unhurt/article1389794/

[wtmusic]

1. Fasten your seatbelt. nt

[Zoeisright]

3. +1000

There were two kids killed in my husband's high school last year - both ejected from the vehicle. They weren't wearing seatbelts.

[cali]

16. two of my nephews died when they were trapped in their vehicle

by their seatbelts. The vehicle overturned and landed in a shallow stream. They both drowned along with two other kids in the car.

Alcohol was involved. They were all coming back from a night of drinking across the border in Canada.

[wtmusic]

32. "Trapped by their seatbelts"?

If anything seatbelts temporarily saved their lives by preventing their heads from smashing into the ceiling of the car, or being thrown from the vehicle.

Let's assign blame where it belongs.

[NutmegYankee]

34. The seat belt actually increases your chances of surviving a water plunge

With the belt fastened, you are more likely to maintain consciousness because you didn't impact the surfaces inside the car. Obviously it didn't work in this case, but were they really trapped by the belts?

[kentauros]

36. Everyone should have some way of cutting the seat belts.

I keep a Leatherman multi-tool in my car, but I should get one of these:

BodyGard 5-in-1 Emergency Tool

[Dennis Donovan]

5. Absolutely!!

:thumbsup:

[mike_c]

2. when I was in grad school, one of my prof's family was severely injured...

...by lumber that slid from a truck on the highway near Atlanta.

[Hekate]

30. Apparently that happens more than we know of. Things come crashing through your windshield...

There was a horrifying story a year or so ago in the LA Times about a young woman on her way to work who had her eyes and her prefrontal lobes taken out by lumber that came sliding off a truck straight at her. Yeah, she "survived."

Hekate

[XemaSab]

4. Bummer

:(

[theoldman]

6. I can remember when cars did not have seat belts and children

did not have special car seats. I sometimes wonder what the accident rate was at that time.

[dgibby]

7. I can, too.

No interstates, lower speed limits, cars that weren't designed to go as fast.

[rucognizant]

8. BULL!

"cars that weren't designed to go as fast."
( Cars that were designed to go fast SAFELY!)
I drove my Father's little boxy Hillman Minx up from the Jersey shore 90 mph all the way ( I did blow a rod!) My Mother's Buick achieved 110, under the skill of a teenage boyfriened who later became a minister! Late 50's.
KEY!............POPULATION HAS DOUBLED SINCE THEN!
THERE WAS ROOM FOR ERROR ON THE HIGHWAY BACK THEN.

[Kali]

10. and the cars were made out of metal, with low center of gravity

still, I think the death rates were up there

[Hekate]

29. Cars and driving are QUITE a lot safer now, according to this CDC report ....

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4818a1.htm
Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999 Motor-Vehicle Safety: A 20th Century Public Health Achievement

The reduction of the rate of death attributable to motor-vehicle crashes in the United States represents the successful public health response to a great technologic advance of the 20th century--the motorization of America. Six times as many people drive today as in 1925, and the number of motor vehicles in the country has increased 11-fold since then to approximately 215 million (1). The number of miles traveled in motor vehicles is 10 times higher than in the mid-1920s. Despite this steep increase in motor-vehicle travel, the annual death rate has declined from 18 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in 1925 to 1.7 per 100 million VMT in 1997--a 90% decrease ( Figure 1 ) (1).

Systematic motor-vehicle safety efforts began during the 1960s. In 1960, unintentional injuries caused 93,803 deaths (1); 41% were associated with motor-vehicle crashes. In 1966, after 5 years of continuously increasing motor-vehicle-related fatality rates, the Highway Safety Act created the National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB), which later became the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The systematic approach to motor-vehicle-related injury prevention began with NHSB's first director, Dr. William Haddon (2). Haddon, a public health physician, recognized that standard public health methods and epidemiology could be applied to preventing motor-vehicle-related and other injuries. He defined interactions between host (human), agent (motor vehicle), and environmental (highway) factors before, during, and after crashes resulting in injuries. Tackling problems identified with each factor during each phase of the crash, NHSB initiated a campaign to prevent motor-vehicle-related injuries.

In 1966, passage of the Highway Safety Act and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act authorized the federal government to set and regulate standards for motor vehicles and highways, a mechanism necessary for effective prevention (2,3). Many changes in both vehicle and highway design followed this mandate. Vehicles (agent of injury) were built with new safety features, including head rests, energy-absorbing steering wheels, shatter-resistant windshields, and safety belts (3,4). Roads (environment) were improved by better delineation of curves (edge and center line stripes and reflectors), use of breakaway sign and utility poles, improved illumination, addition of barriers separating oncoming traffic lanes, and guardrails (4,5). The results were rapid. By 1970, motor-vehicle-related death rates were decreasing by both the public health measure (deaths per 100,000 population) and the traffic safety indicator (deaths per VMT) ( Figure 2 ) (1).

Changes in driver and passenger (host) behavior also have reduced motor-vehicle crashes and injuries. Enactment and enforcement of traffic safety laws, reinforced by public education, have led to safer behavior choices. Examples include enforcement of laws against driving while intoxicated (DWI) and underage drinking, and enforcement of safety-belt, child-safety seat, and motorcycle helmet use laws (5,6).

>snip<

SPECIFIC PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERNS

>snip<

Occupant-Protection Systems

Safety belts. In response to legislation, highly visible law enforcement, and public education, rates of safety belt use nationwide have increased from approximately 11% in 1981 to 68% in 1997 (8). Safety belt use began to increase following enactment of the first state mandatory-use laws in 1984 (6). All states except New Hampshire now have safety-belt use laws. Primary laws (which allow police to stop vehicles simply because occupants are not wearing safety belts) are more effective than secondary laws (which require that a vehicle be stopped for some other traffic violation) (6,13). The prevalence of safety belt use after enactment of primary laws increases 1.5-4.3 times, and motor-vehicle-related fatality rates decrease 13%-46% (13).

Child-safety and booster seats. All states have passed child passenger protection laws, but these vary widely in age and size requirements and the penalties imposed for noncompliance. Child-restraint use in 1996 was 85% for children aged less than 1 year and 60% for children aged 1-4 years (14). Since 1975, deaths among children aged less than 5 years have decreased 30% to 3.1 per 100,000 population, but rates for age groups 5-15 years have declined by only 11%-13% (9). Child seats are misused by as many as 80% of users (15-17). In addition, parents fail to recognize the need for booster seats for children who are too large for child seats but not large enough to be safely restrained in an adult lap-shoulder belt (18).

>snip<

[Ishoutandscream2]

9. Brokaw's ego saved him. Such a right wing tool

I am sorry for those who lost their lives.

[Berry Cool]

20. Are you serious????

Being a right-wing tool means you don't die in accidents??? Someone spread the word. :sarcasm:

You are incredibly insensitive.

[Ishoutandscream2]

26. I love you too. Big kisses!

[bamacrat]

24. What a douchy thing to say.

[Ishoutandscream2]

27. You're right! DU sensitity training for me!

Big kisses!

[YvonneCa]

11. I am glad they are okay...

...and send condolences to the family of the woman who was killed.

[kestrel91316]

12. I always used a seat belt on the highway, or going distances, but until

1985 or so I didn't use it for running short errands, like to the grocery store. Then a client of mine came in with her dog and she was all bruised on her face, and gimpy. She had been in an accident one block from her home and wasn't wearing a seat belt. It made a believer out of me. From that day, I have ALWAYS worn a seat belt any time I am in a moving vehicle, no matter how slowly it's moving or how brief the trip.

[joshcryer]

13. The vast majority of all accidents are actually quite close to home.

Glad you wear your belt. I've been doing it habitually for 20 years. It completely doesn't even cross my mind that it's even there.

[ThomThom]

23. That is correct. It is rolling over SUVs that are the problem

I wouldn't think of not wearing a set belt. Thank you Ralph Nader.

[jasi2006]

14. Seat belts dure! But we need laws on safer trucking transport.

Too much shit goes flying off uncovered and unsecured truckloads...all over the country. On our Beltway (495) lots of stuff lays in the highway from trucks that have not locked down their loads or are traveling at high speeds with uncovered loads. No one wants to talk about it but it happens everyday. A seat belt might have saved this woman's life, but this accident probably never would have happend without the debris in the road way.

[yellowcanine]

18. Couple of years ago there was a couch in the middle of the 495 Beltway. Caused all kind of havoc.

I don't remember the outcome but you are correct except we don't need new laws - at least in Maryland. There are plenty of existing laws about securing and covering loads. Maryland has a load cover law for open trucks and all states have laws about securing loads. Police just need to enforce the laws.

[teseal]

33. Cable Spool Caused Woman's Death

When will we be told from what trailer that spool of cable fell off of? I have noticed that in most articles involving semi trucks and trailers the name of the trucking company is rarely revealed. I am sure the media nation wide can't have an agreement with the trucking industry to keep this information from us. For example, a large flat bed trucking company out of Spokane, WA couldn't continue to ignore the risk they pose to everyone in every state who must share the highways with them once their name started to make headlines. If the media would just include the name of the trucking company responsible for things like steel coils or spools of cable bouncing down your interstate, then maybe a family in Ohio wouldn't be grieving for their husband, father, and son because just another steel coil flew off that Washington state company trailer last July. If the media always tried to report the companys involved then we the public would know that this company has been cited repeatedly for failure to properly secure steel coils resulting in numerous crashes and finally in the needless loss of life in Ohio. We can't count on the Federal government to accurately track these company's safety performance. We need to ask ourselves and then the media--why we rarely know the name of the company involved. I am sorry for the woman who died in this accident and her family. Perhaps, if we hear the whole story--where did the coil come from--we will help force trucking companys to improve safety and help to prevent another man or woman from dying due to more lost cargo on our highways.

[Hekate]

35. Good point. Welcome to DU, teseal

:hi:

Hekate

[POAS]

15. Of course!!!!

"Fatal car crash leaves Brokaw unhurt", he was already dead!

[mitchum]

17. So, they didn't have to use the Lockjaws of Life to get Brokaw out of the vehicle?

[DavidDvorkin]

19. Headlines all focused on Brokaw being okay

and the rest of the articles mentioned the death of the non-celebrity in passing.

[Berry Cool]

21. What else did you expect?

The only reason such a story gets picked up beyond the local area is because a celebrity was involved. The death of the non-celebrity, while horrible and tragic, is not newsworthy beyond the area in which she lived.

That is the sad but true way news works. Apologies to those of you who think this somehow diminishes the death of the person who died, or who think that, in order to be fair, your local news should cover the story each and every time someone dies anywhere in the world, with an equal amount of coverage they would give to a celebrity.

You do realize that's an unrealistic expectation, don't you?

[DavidDvorkin]

25. I don't expect anything else, but it still bothers me a lot.

[Odin2005]

22. proof of out society's sick cult of celebrity.

If you are not famous you are nothing.

[mstinamotorcity]

28. Alright everybody

lets remember safety on the road and the most important rule of all.Try and leave enough distance between you and other drivers so that you have more time to react to a possible situation. And seat belts do work. Buckle up.

[shanti]

31. road hazards

always have to be on the lookout for them! i was driving on the 80 fwy many years ago during rush hour when out of the blue i saw a 12x12 metal container in the roadway. the lanes were occupied on both sides of me, so i was unable to avoid running over it. unfortunately, it punctured my gas tank. i made a quick exit to a gas station luckily, which require the fire dept. coming out to clean up the leaking gas. thank god, it could have been worse.