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CONSPICUITY AND UNDERRIDE

Beth Hall's Statement Letter To The FHWA On Conspicuity - September 14, 1998 (LC&GO)
September 14, 1998

The Docket Clerk
U.S. DOT Dockets
Room PL-401
400 Seventh Street, SW.
Washington, DC 20590-0001

Dear Sir,

I am responding to FHWA Docket NO. MC-94-1; FHWA-1997-2222 RIN2125-AD27. I am not qualified to answer many of the questions that are asked in the docket but I can tell you my personal story about reflective tape or the lack of it. This is about my father, Carl Hall.

My story begins on December 19, 1993. I am a critical care nurse in a large trauma center and I had just finished a twelve-hour shift. As I drove home I thought what a dark night it is tonight but clear. I arrived home and was thinking of all the work I needed to do to get ready for Christmas, six days away. About an hour after I got home I received a phone call from my sister. She said, "Beth, Dad was in a bad accident and I need for you to come home right away." I asked how bad and she said, "Very bad. I'll meet you at Mom's house." Being a nurse I knew if she said very bad and I was to meet at my Mom's that my Dad was dead.

I live an hour away from my parents and knew I would have to stay so I packed a bag, got in my car and started driving. I don't know how I did it but I held myself together. I kept telling myself that maybe he wasn't really dead but was critically injured and had been Medi-Vaced to a trauma center. But they would have brought him to the hospital where I worked and that was five minutes away. Even knowing that was probably not the case I came up with many other scenarios. Anything to get myself home.

After driving for about forty-five minutes I came upon a detour. The police had the state highway blocked off. I knew then that was where my Dad's accident was. What I couldn't understand was that it was now 8:45 p.m. and my sister had called me at 8:00 p.m. Shouldn't the road be opened by now? I kept going, unable to see anything but what looked like a dark wall.

As I turned down my parent's road I knew at once that my Dad had indeed been killed. The road was lined with cars. As I walked into the house there were people everywhere. No one said anything. I saw my Mom sitting on the sofa crying. I went to her and said, "Is he dead." She couldn't talk but shook her head yes.

That was the beginning of our nightmare. I still couldn't believe it and asked my brother-n-law, who is a police officer, what happened. He told me my Dad had hit a tractor-trailer backing into a driveway and was killed instantly. Some how, maybe because of the shock, I couldn't even think how something like this could have happened. Shock is a blessed way for the body and mind to protect itself. About midnight everyone left except for our immediate family. We all tried to get a little rest knowing we had many things to face the next day. We all picked a chair or sofa and tried to sleep. About 3:00 a.m. I woke up hearing my Mom cry. This is another moment that will be with me forever. I went in and climbed in bed with her and held her. She was crying and said, "I woke up and thought daddy was in bed with me and then I remembered." To this day this memory brings tears to my eyes.

The next morning at 8:00 a.m. friends and relatives started to arrive at my Mom's house. At 9:00 a. m. a representative from the trucker's insurance company was at my Mom's front door asking her to sign papers that she wouldn't hold the truck driver or the trucking company at fault and they would give her $10,000.00. Needless to say he was escorted off the property and asked not to return. He couldn't understand why we were so upset with him. As the day wore on we started to get more information about the accident.

My Dad had a towing and garage business. When he had the accident he was on his way to tow a car that had broken down. Even though it was a Sunday night six days before Christmas, my Dad didn't hesitate to help someone out. That afternoon my parents had celebrated Christmas with my brother, sister-in-law, and their children because they would be out of town on Christmas day. They put up a tree, opened presents and even had a turkey dinner. My brother wanted to go with my Dad but he insisted that he take the kids and go home since it was getting late.

For the forty years my parents were married my Dad always kissed my Mom goodbye. This night he forgot. The only time since they were married. Right away my Mom said she had a bad feeling. My Dad never reached the car he was supposed to tow and those people called my Mom. She told them he should have been there by now and would try to page him. She had heard on the police scanner that there was an accident on the road my Dad had taken, a two lane state highway. My mom paged him on his beeper but he never answered.

We were told that a truck driver was backing his tractor-trailer into his private driveway at his home. He denied seeing headlights when he started his backing motion. Later he admitted he did see headlights but thought that they could see him and wait for him to back in his drive. A young couple was behind my Dad and they said they never saw the trailer across the road until my Dad's brake lights went on. Other witnesses behind the tractor-trailer said the lights on the trailer were not working, later we found out they were defective. The hood of the tow truck underrode the trailer and the trailer invaded the passenger compartment crushing my Dad from his chest up to his head. The witnesses said there was nothing they could do. He was dead by the time they got to him. I sometimes wonder if he knew he was going to die. Even being a nurse I know his brain wouldn't have had time to perceive the pain, but as his daughter I still wonder. Because of his injuries we were unable to view his body and felt like we were never able to say goodbye. We never thought anything like this could have happened to our family. It did and it can happen to your family.

My Dad was buried on December 23rd. It was cold and that night it started snowing. We had more snow that year than any I can remember. Christmas day came and we had to celebrate because my little nieces and nephew didn't understand. We didn't want the kids to remember Christmas as being a sad time because it was one of my Dad's favorite times of the year. My Dad had already bought my Mom's presents, something else he never did. He was always a Christmas Eve shopper. It was very difficult watching my Mom open the last gifts she would ever receive from my Dad.

I want you to know what kind of person my father was. He was born second in a family of six children. His mother died when he was ten years old and his father was an alcoholic that abused the children physically and mentally. My dad and his older sister raised the rest of their siblings. He didn't finish high school but worked to help support his family. When he was about twenty years old he joined the local police force and worked as a police officer for about a year after my parents were married. He then took what little money they had and bought a piece of land that had been the town's dumpsite. He built a garage and started a towing and auto repair business.

He worked day and night. He was also a member of the local fire department and later became fire chief. He was dedicated to the community and helping people. In the early years him and his tow truck were the rescue squad. This was before there were such things as rescue squads. He saw many tragedies through the years. He even towed Jessica Savage's car when she was killed (the news reporter from NYC). I remember how deeply affected he was by her death and so many others. He even built his own tow trucks and had just completed a large truck that was capable of towing tractor-trailers. He was the type of businessman that would help out anyone even if they couldn't afford to pay him. Needless to say he wasn't a financially wealthy man, but rich in friendships and in life. He was a good person and didn't deserve to die like he did.

In early January we were contacted by a man that told us about the death of his wife in what he called a side underride crash. He told us about reflective tape and what conspicuity meant. Most of all he wanted us to know that the crash was not my Dad's fault. He said that after his wife was killed he started to do research on this and finally found out that hundreds of people each year are killed this way. My sister was doing some research of her own and found articles about underride crashes written by Joseph Badger. (Since then my sister, 43 years old, died from cancer.)

Through him we then contacted CRASH (Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways). With their help we were able to talk to people all over the country that had been in these types of crashes or had loved ones killed like my Dad. That was how we found out about the docket for the reflective tape.

Since then we have been lobbying for the tape. We have visited DC many times meeting with senators, congressmen, and the Secretary of Transportation at the time Federico Pena. We also met with then Administrator Rodney Slater and Deputy Administrator Jane Gravy on September 27th, 1996. They stated that the final ruling for the reflective tape would be out by the following May or June of 1997. They gave us such hope. Later I received information that this was not to be the case. There were proper steps to be taken and they couldn't change that. We were so disappointed.

After that I didn't trust the "word" of anyone. We went to our congressman, James Greenwood, of Pennsylvania and asked for his help. He was able to get language into the ISTEA bill stating the FHWA had to make the final ruling within one year from the signing of the bill. That brings us to June 19, 1999. I strongly urge you to make this ruling even sooner than that.

In the ANPRM in the Spring of 1994 I sent my comments in on the conspicuity issue. It was only a few months after my Dad was killed and we were still in shock. When I think of how pathetic and ineffective my letter must have sounded. I wasn't able to address any of the questions asked.

In the past four years and nine months I have educated myself about reflective tape, trailer underride crashes, and the trucking industry practices. I have worked with CRASH, PATT (Parents Against Tired Truckers), and Americans all over the country to try to improve the safety standards. We have met opposition from some people in the trucking industry. We don't have much money but we have our voices and our stories. The memory of my Dad and the way he died gives me the strength to go on.

I believe the final ruling should be made quickly, before the June 19, 1999 deadline, that the grace period to get the reflective tape on the trailers should be no longer than one year, and that the phase in period for trailers that already have some sort of reflective material, but not to the standard of this docket, should have no longer than three years to comply with Federal Regulations.

I commend the truckers and trucking companies that have attempted to put reflective material on their trailers. But we need to send a message that when you see the red and white configuration you associate with a large truck and trailer.

I know this letter is long. But on behalf of my Dad and the suffering my family has been through and is still going through, I have earned the right to be heard. I still have flash backs as to what I perceived where the last few seconds of my Dad's life. I wanted you to know my Dad because he is not here to speak for himself. There is no way in words that I can describe the pain and sorrow we have had to endure. Every day of my life I think about my Dad and miss him.

The truck driver was charged with an improper backing fine of about $98.00 and was found not guilty in a district court. No one has taken responsibility for his death. The Federal Government has known about reflective tape for thirty years but has failed to act on this knowledge. So maybe the responsibility for my father's death and many other people's lives should be given to our government and primarily to the Department of Transportation.

As you read this letter and review the other letters think about the fact that every day longer it takes to finish this ruling more people will die. Think about the possibility that those people could be someone you know or are acquainted with. You may think that it's not your fault that it has taken so long to complete this work; after all you weren't around thirty years ago. But now it is your responsibility. You have the knowledge and the power to save lives, remember that when you are driving home at night and encounter a tractor-trailer without reflective tape. Take the time to not only think of the cost but to think of the individual people like my Dad that died needlessly.

Sincerely,

Beth A. Hall
Allentown, PA 18104