Son’s Death Inspires Crusade to Develop Truck Safety Laws

A safety crusade by a 66-year-old Orange County woman has contributed to a sharp decline in truck-related deaths and injuries across California, state officials say.

Fatalities in truck accidents--including tractor trailers and smaller vehicles--dropped 24.8%, from 633 deaths to 476, between 1987 and 1991, the last full year for which data is available, according to a report by the California Highway Patrol. In the first 10 months of 1992, the number of deaths stood at 394.

In Orange County, deaths declined even more sharply--43.8%--from 32 in 1987 to 18 in 1991. There were nine deaths in the first 10 months of 1992. Injuries in truck-involved accidents also have tailed off in the county and state during the same period.

The person behind these statistics is Helen Shanbrom, who turned highway safety activist after her son was killed in a truck-related accident. Former Gov. George Deukmejian once said of her: “She’s performed a valuable service to the people of California. We are all extremely grateful.”

Since 1986, Shanbrom has had a hand in several laws that increased fines for speeding, allowed for surprise CHP truck and truck depot inspections, and barred the use of hand brakes for stopping.

CHP spokesman Sam Haynes said the laws prompted by Shanbrom and other policies have contributed to the reduction in accidents. They include limiting the hours of service for truck drivers, better training for CHP officers and increased law enforcement efforts on roads where there has been a high number of truck accidents.

“We have mobile strike forces,” Haynes said. “They put up mobile inspection stations on the roads and highways, especially those routes that circumvent normal inspection facilities.”

All that is good news to Shanbrom, who lives in North Tustin with her husband Ed, a retired physician.

After the death of her son David, 27, in a truck-related crash in 1986, Shanbrom launched a successful crusade for most of the new truck safety laws now in place.

David, a 1980 graduate of UCLA, was a district manager at Anaheim-based ADP, a data processing firm.

There was frequent news coverage of her efforts, glitzy bill-signing ceremonies in the governor’s office and cash safety awards granted in David’s memory.

Along the way, Shanbrom had to tangle with her neighbor, Gus Osterkamp, who coincidentally owns his own trucking firm and was president of the politically powerful California Trucking Assn., which has about 3,000 members. Osterkamp ended up supporting some of Shanbrom’s efforts.

But the activist had no real evidence that her struggle was producing tangible results. Then the 1987-1991 official CHP accident statistics showed up.

“I would like to think that my efforts helped,” Shanbrom said. “But I can’t be smug and think that it was only me. If I’ve done anything, I’ve helped to raise the public’s consciousness about the problem.”

Former U.S. Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.), now state director of housing finance, recalled meeting Shanbrom in 1986 when he served as a member of the state Legislature in Sacramento. Seymour co-authored many of the truck safety bills that eventually became law.

“It was totally because of her that I introduced those bills,” Seymour said. “Before that, I had only a passing interest in it. . . . At first I worried that she might be some overzealous nut. But everything she suggested seemed to make sense. She was not on the fringe.”

Not everything Shanbrom wanted became law, however. She is still lobbying state and federal officials for regulations that would require commercial vehicles to have a “black box” similar to the data recorders on airplanes.

The data recorders could yield important information about how long the truck was in service before an accident, how fast it was traveling and whether brakes and other systems were working properly.

Some commercial trucking firms have installed such devices voluntarily, but the vast majority have refused, citing the cost--about $1,000 per truck--and opposition from drivers.

As a state lawmaker, Seymour authored a bill to require installation of black boxes, but the legislation twice failed to garner enough votes.

“The unions didn’t want it because they thought it was Big Brother looking over their shoulder,” Seymour said. “The trucking companies didn’t want it because they didn’t want to bear the cost.”

Osterkamp, owner of Orange-based Osterkamp Trucking Inc., said part of the trucker’s opposition is based on fear that California firms will be put at a competitive disadvantage with companies in states that don’t adopt such regulations.

“Some of the counties, even the cities, are trying to over-regulate trucking by setting up their own weight scales and imposing large fines,” Osterkamp said. “Too many cooks can spoil the broth.”

Osterkamp also defends the CTA’s own safety education programs for truckers and support for some safety legislation. He credits most of the improvement in safety statistics to companies doing a better job themselves, good law enforcement by the CHP and improved collection of accident data.

“If we didn’t have the California Trucking Assn.,” said Osterkamp, “I don’t think we’d be able to drive a truck 10 miles without getting killed.”

Despite Osterkamp’s assurances about improved safety, Shanbrom insists there is still more work to do. In September, Shanbrom testified at a federal hearing in Los Angeles and advocated a ban on radar detectors and stiffer penalties for traffic and safety violations.

“Perhaps you do not realize that the fine for simply littering on California highways can be $1,000,” Shanbrom told the federal panel on motor carrier safety. “The fine for a speeding truck is $200 to $300 for the second offense. Considering what devastation to life and property the crash of a big-rig does, the low level of penalties for speeding seem hardly adequate or responsible.”

Truck Accidents Taking Smaller Toll

The declining number of deaths in truck-related accidents, in Orange County and statewide, is a part of a larger trend in which deaths in all kinds of accidents dropped 29% between 1987 and 1991.

Truck Deaths

Orange County California 1992* 9 394

*

Truck Injuries

Orange County California 1992* 716 12,228

* January through October

Source: California Highway Patrol

Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times