A Poor Example For Highway Safety

Reposted From November 19, 2012


The Daily Mail (U.K) reports that the...

Director of Massachusetts Highway Safety Department has had SEVEN car accidents and nine tickets
By Daily Mail Reporter

"Political connections helped her secure her $87,000-per-year government job even though she had no experience in the field of highway safety...

The Boston Globe reports that she has had 34 different entries on her driving record since 1982... Those charges vary, and include four speeding violations and two instances where she refused to stop for a police officer. There are single counts of times when she was cited for not having her license or registration in her possession, not staying in her lane, and not wearing a seat belt...

...has been on leave from her administrative job since August following the most serious of her car accidents as it left her with an unspecified head injury."I hope they don't let her go. Instead reassign her. Here we have a person who is/was receiving less then $90,000 a year. A far cry less then what the U.S. Department of Transportation shelled out for it's crash test dummy ad campaign for highway safety. The way I figure it every time she screws up, video it and use it for another public service spot on TV. She's a natural!

I've come to this conclusion because of years of experience where I worked. We had one fella we nick named "Pecker Pete" after he got his, well you know, caught in between a piece of production equipment. He also pushed two huge heavy metal doors open (not paying attention) going into the next production area with his outstretched arm when he turned around to talk. The doors then swung shut injuring his arm when it got caught between them. Figuring he provided a perfect example regarding safety, management then decided to make him a safety rep.

We had another guy who if anything would happen, it would happen to him. His eyesight was poor in one eye because a model airplane prop came off and hit him in it. He accidentally stepped into a scalding bucket of steam water being used to sanitize equipment. He even slid on ice in the employee parking lot under his car while trying to hold on to the door handle. One fellow chided him, "What are you doing? Changing your oil?" :-)

Another time he left the employee parking lot wearing his company boots (wasn't supposed to wear them outside the plant). One of them got caught between the brake pedal and the accelerator pedal. The more he pushed on the brake pedal with his left foot the faster his right foot pushed on the accelerator. He shot up the road in front of the plant with ever increasing speed until he reached the end of the road. His car then became airborne as he, with him inside, flew over the top of the slightly elevated railroad tracks. It ended up in a corn field on the other side with his foot still stuck and his body wedged between the dash and front seat. The car made several crop circles before he was able to pull himself up and regain control. Although the guy never drank he went down the road to the bar where everybody hung out after work. Folks came out to see his car, which looked more like a Halloween float covered in corn stalks. They chipped together to buy him a couple of drinks to settle his nerves. Lord why? Didn't he have enough troubles behind the wheel sober? But yes, he too was appointed a safety rep.

So you see this woman would have been a perfect crash test dummy person to lead by way of example what can happen when one doesn't practice safety. She, like the two folks I mentioned, drew a lot of focus on their bad actions. The first challenge is to get people to pay attention.

After all, what better way is there garner attention then by real-life examples...

See what I mean?


UPDATE (11/22/2012)
Road safety chief who had seven crashes and nine tickets resigns