Stand Up for Truck Safety - Save Lives and Prevent Injuries!

  • by: Danelle Karth
  • recipient: Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx

Each year 4,000 people are killed and another 100,000 people are injured in truck crashes. This is an unacceptably high number of losses and injuries, but most people don't know about these numbers or the safety equipment that can protect people on the roads until they or someone they know has their lives forever altered in a crash involving a semi truck.

We found out the hard way all about how important truck safety is when AnnaLeah (age 17) and Mary (age 13) were killed in an accident involving two semi trucks on May 4, 2013. In a meeting on September 12th, 2013 with the Truck Safety Coalition and Secretary of Transportation Foxx, Foxx promised to start working on making the roads safer.

We are specifically asking Foxx to:

  1. Raise minimum levels of insurance required for truck drivers--which has not been done for over 30 years.
  2. Decrease driver fatigue and monitor their hours on the road with Electronic Logging Devices.
  3. Take needed steps to improve underride guards, which prevent vehicles from sliding under trucks--causing horrific injuries and tragic deaths.

For more information, you can visit our site at http://annaleahmary.com/

You can also check out our YouTube video http://youtu.be/I-WQBEDpTVw

Please sign this petition in memory of AnnaLeah and Mary and make the roads safer for us all.

Dear Secretary Foxx:

On September 12, 2013, you promised that tangible progress on truck safety issues would be made within a short period of time. That promise has not yet been fulfilled. We ask you to fulfill that promise now. Please do everything you can to protect our families and prevent more senseless tragedies by ensuring that the following truck safety improvements are made:



  • Raise the minimum insurance liability limits that truck drivers are required to carry. This limit has not been increased in over 30 years, and as it stands today the minimum insurance is not enough to cover the damages. It is time for that to change.

  • Improve enforcement of hours of service limits and reduce truck driver fatigue by committing all of DOT's available resources toward expediting the final rule and implementation for electronic logging devices (ELDs) in all trucks, as well as preventing exemptions to hours of service limits. The current logging system is inadequate, both in terms of tracking and enforcement.

  • Implement the requirement for improved underride rear guards and start the process of improving side guards and front override guards. The most dangerous type of truck crashes can be lessened by these improvements.


On average, each year, 4,000 people are killed in truck crashes in the U.S. and another 100,000 people are injured. DOT data reveals 2012 fatality figures show an increase in large truck fatalities for the third year in a row—a 16% increase in truck crash deaths since 2009. Truck crash injuries also increased in 2012. There were 104,000 people injured in crashes involving large trucks –an increase of 18% from 88,000 in 2011.


Our families cannot continue to sustain this unacceptably high number of losses and injuries. We urge you to take immediate action so that more lives will not be lost and to assure us that safety is your number one priority.

Sincerely,

Update #48 years ago
Thank you for signing AnnaLeah & Mary's Stand Up For Truck Safety Petition. On May 5, 2014, over 11,000 people sent a strong message to DOT: Changes are needed in truck safety to stop senseless, preventable deaths.

Be part of our team to keep the momentum going. Help us make sure that these & other vital issues are not allowed to sit on the back burner.

Keep connected & help us push for change; go to annaleahmary.com/thank-you.
Update #39 years ago
Thank you for taking the time to sign our petition to save lives & prevent injuries. This last week we would like to see the numbers jump to make the biggest impact that we can. If each person who signed the petition got 2 more people to sign the petition we would have 32,952 signatures. Please take the time to get others to help us make a difference. Check our website, www.annaleahmary.com, for regular updates--including a press release & video from May 5 to share with your local media(do it).
Update #29 years ago
Our petition to the DOT will not be the first one to address underride guards. In 2011, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety sent a letter to DOT asking for improvement in underride guards. Nothing substantial has been done. It is past time for action to be taken to save lives and prevent injuries. Thank you for signing the petition. Please send out this petition to everyone you can think of and share on social media sites. We need to send Secretary Foxx a strong message—loud & clear!
Update #110 years ago
Thank you everyone for taking the time to Stand Up for Truck Safety. We will be printing off a petition letter for each signature and taking it to the D.O.T. on May 5th whether there are 250 signatures or 50,000 signatures, but it will make a much larger statement if it is 50,000. Please take a moment to share the petition on your favorite social media sites and to share it with others you know. We are trying to reach 500 signatures by Tues., the 25th, to help it go viral and reach more people.
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