FSS DEMANDS SAFER VEHICLES

Eight months after surviving a horrific crash where she was not expected to live, FSS California member Anna Cornelius-Schecter shares her story in Next City and demands action for safer vehicles — starting with mandating anti-speeding tech in the federal fleet.

Here’s her full OpEd in case you cannot access the article:

For all my life, I will carry in my bones the remnants of the crash that changed my life.

This past February, right after the Super Bowl ended, I said goodbye to my friends and shared how excited I was to ride my new bicycle home. My friends, who lived near my home in Long Beach, California, were worried, so I took a moment to walk them through all the safety features. “Look, I’ve got a light in the front, a light and reflector in the back,” I explained. “I’m wearing reflectors around my ankles, I’m wearing white, I’m wearing my brand new orange helmet – it’ll be fine!”

It was not fine. When I hadn’t texted my friends to confirm I’d arrived home safely, they checked my shared location and saw that I was in the hospital.

I have no memories of that conversation about my bike, or anything else that happened for a month after that, because a driver going more than 50 mph in a 25-mph zone ran a red light and hit me.

There was nothing I could have done to prevent the near-deadly crash. But our leaders could be doing more to protect us all from this kind of random suffering. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent decision to veto SB961, which would have imposed a small check on the kind of dangerous driver who nearly killed me, is deeply disappointing.

SB961 would have required that by 2030, new cars sold in California be equipped with technology that issues a warning — an audible beep — when traveling more than 10 mph over the speed limit. This technology, intelligent speed assistance, is already required in Europe, where far fewer people are killed and injured in car crashes. Recent research shows that the technology is effective in improving safety and that it would be welcomed by a majority of U.S. drivers.

For myself and other members of Families for Safe Streets, a group that unites victims of traffic violence, the kind of official indifference displayed by Newsom in his veto adds insult to injury. In the wake of this defeat, we carry hope that our stories can still contribute to change.

One of my fellow members of Families for Safe Streets, Patty Avery, lost her daughter Bethany — an elementary school teacher who was nearly my age when she was killed by a speeding driver. Patty has now launched a petition in memory of her daughter, calling on the Biden Administration to adopt the active form of Intelligent Speed Assistance, which prevents drivers from exceeding a set threshold above the speed limit, across the 600,000 vehicles in the federal fleet. Dozens of organizations have joined our efforts and are urging the administration to act.

Every year, 4,000 Californians lose their lives in traffic crashes. Across the country, more than 40,000 Americans are killed in car crashes every year. Many times more are gravely injured, the way I was.

When I was found at the scene of the crash, I didn’t have a pulse. I was revived by a nurse who saw the crash outside her window. When I was intubated in the hospital. Nobody knew if I would live or die at first. Against all odds, I lived.

Nobody knew if I would regain basic functions at first because I had suffered a serious traumatic brain injury. Again, against all odds, I did. Slowly I learned to walk and talk again. As someone who was on her feet all day at work as an OBGYN physician and who is known for my fast-talking, joke-cracking attitude, this was jarring for me and my loved ones.

Though no one can explain why I was able to survive such a horrific crash, we do know that the harms imposed by traffic crashes can be reduced if we can do more to control driver speeds. A difference of just 5 miles per hour can be the difference between life and death for someone involved in a crash. When physicians see crash victims at the hospital, we always try to learn how fast the car was going because this tells us about the patient’s prognosis.

In medicine, we are taught that when a treatment is proven to improve outcomes for our patients, we have a duty and responsibility to implement it. Newsom’s decision to stand with auto companies, who opposed the measure, shows a lack of moral courage. If he isn’t willing to stand up for safer vehicles and safer streets, perhaps our federal leaders will.