Join the Conversation
Come and join the fun!
The fourth gathering of Libations & Liberals, an informal, progressive social group, will be held Thursday, April 18, at Glyn Mawr Winery–The Local in downtown Mount Vernon. Drop in any time between 6 and 8 p.m. to talk with like-minded friends and neighbors about the concerns and issues of the day, the month, the year. New faces are most welcome. Snacks will be provided; you buy your own drinks. (the lemonade is great, too)
If the spirit moves you, feel free to wear your favorite political t-shirt, hat and/or button; old or new. Hope to see you there.
Linda Kemp
Mount Vernon
Speeds in trucks needs questioning in crashes
The “speed” of the big rig truck is never “questioned” when it is involved in a crash. We’re not supposed to even think those crashes wouldn’t happen if the speed was within limits, or within “reasonable and proper. Iowa always makes one of the WORST states in the U.S. for having an ABOVE average of its fatal crashes with large trucks involved. You’ll never get this fact from regular news. Google 1. “NHTSA National Center for Statistics and Analysis. Large trucks involved in fatal crashes, by state.” 2.”2021 Data Large Trucks-stats NHTSA.”3. “scroll to Table 5, Percent of total vehicles.”
Iowa did 15.5%. Only Nebraska was higher at 16.1%, The lowest was Rhode Island at 3.2%. The national average was 9.3%.
Iowa lawmakers make a big ballyhoo about”the sanctity of life”, but care nothing about the above ugly facts. Instead, they made big rig owners/operators immune.
They know where their election funding comes from lawsuits over a certain amount from, and it doesnt come from the victims that get ran over by 80,000 pound Big Rigs. Governor Reynolds got rid of the Motor/Commercial Vehicle enforcement Dept which was primarily responsible for large truck enforcement. Safety organizations tried to get a law to require constant working speed governors in large trucks in all states at U.S. level but the Republicans shot that down. I only know of two organizations working for truck safety, they are “Roadsafe America” and “Truck Safety Coalition.”
There has not been any increase in the numbers of enforcement personnel to keep up with the exploded numbers of large trucks that have come on in recent years. Most of them are going “un-enforced.”
Herman Lenz,
Sumner