I had thought about this in my head for sometime and kept putting it off because I knew that if I started this one, I would wouldn’t be sleeping and there for not driving for a few days. Now it’s Veterans Day weekend and I am missing Shanny so much that I just can’t put it off any longer. She should be here either still serving her country or home enjoying a weekend of appreciation the Veterans should actually be getting daily, not just one weekend a year. Weekend that many people take as a license to party leaving me wonder how many people died like Shanny did this weekend.
With election day over and the harassment from Politian’s tapering off I want to say I am deeply disappointed in many of the outcomes from this election. We won’t discuss my disappointment my disappointment in the fact we are stuck with a democratic tampon in the Governors spot, thanks to the twitterpated voters of Multnomah County. No, I am angry that so much focus is put on gun control but not on stopping DUII crashes. People have been murdered daily by DUII drivers and yet the only thing the Politian’s can focus on is gun control. That is so hypocritical, you can’t say you care about human lives when it comes to guns and not deal with the other.
2022 is almost over and I am feeling disheartened by how little I seem to have accomplished in the goal I set last April at the DUII Conference. I had learned so much and came to the conclusion that I want to do victim impacts statements for school bus drivers and other CDL holders. We not exempt from making bad choices and they should be required to listen to victim impact statements. Before you ask why I will tell you. If a CDL driver makes a mistake or a bad decision while in their commercial vehicle someone can and/or will die. In the case of a school bus driver not only will somebody out side the bus be seriously injured/killed but the children on the bus could be injured. It is hard enough for School bus drivers to do their jobs with all those distractions the transporting up to 50 kids can bring throw in driving impaired and you have a potential major disaster on your hands. Having victim impact panels going in and talking with CDL drivers and saying “HEY YOU ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM THE RULES” could not only save a life but prevent a Commercial Driver losing their CDL privileges.
I called several truck driving schools and nothing, one actually told me they don’t have issues with impaired drivers, well of course not they are in school not on the road yet. One school said they would discuss it and get back to me and nothing. It is very discouraging to think that they seem to not put much value on what could happen after their drivers leave their schools. As trainers you would think they would want to protect their reputations, because if it is anything like school bus training that reputation could be called into question anytime something goes wrong, it why when I was train new school bus drivers, I made sure to be as thorough as possible, the last thing I wanted was for someone to ask me why I didn’t cover something in training.
My regional manager gave me the go ahead to put something together for maybe a start up meeting but that it had to be a one-person thing because of proprietary considerations. Which sucked because there are people that could come and add something that I don’t know. When I sent him my power point of what I had done so far for feedback he never responded and that is just plain wrong given what we do and how many CDL drivers are violating the standards we all work by. You can’t tell that it doesn’t matter or that it isn’t important when it clearly is. Especially when you bounce back to the whole reputation thought process. School bus companies base their reputations on students first and safety. Having drivers getting DUII’s whether it is in their own vehicle or a bus can damage the reputation of the company, it will have people questioning the hiring policies and background checks. Being proactive with training about driving impaired, doing victim impacts and information what substance cause impairment could potentially reduce the risks and save lives.
You also can’t tell me that gun control is more important than stopping impaired drivers, really why is death by gun more important than death by impaired driver, both are equally traumatic and brutal but why is one more focused on then other, why do people care so little for those murdered by impaired drivers, shoot, even the impaired driver doesn’t care that they killed someone, they don’t own what they did and try to get out of any punishment that they rightfully deserve. The victims and survivors of impaired drivers are further victimized and harassed for even wanting justice for what was done.
I am feeling pretty discouraged about I how little progress I have made but there is a bright spot that will keep me pushing along. A Carlton City Council member (up for re-election) came to my door, with another person looking for write in votes and I told her I was frustrated with something going on in our area and ready to go to a council meeting and do a victim impact statement there and point out that our police officers would be better off looking for impaired drivers then harassing local citizens about what is parked in front of their homes because of some pathetic outdated complaint-based ordinance. The council member thought it was a great idea for me to do come to a meeting and give my impact statement. It gave me hope that something good could still happen, that is if they let me say what I need to say. I guess we will just have to wait and hope, but it will also be a start.
Laura's Book Binge 