State Rep Mark Gillen Responds to My Letter -- Have You Written Yet?

Dear Michele,
Thank you for your email regarding House Bill 1475, which provides for convictions and points, for speed timing devices, and for specific powers of department and local authorities. Please know that HB 1475 was referred to the House Transportation Committee on May 5, 2011. I am not on the Transportation Committee and, therefore, cannot vote to bring it to the House floor. Rest assured, however, that I will keep your comments in mind if or when this legislation comes before me on the floor. Again, thank you for your email. It is always helpful to have constituent input as I seek to represent the 128th legislative district.

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Mark Gillen
State Representative
128th Legislative District
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District Office
29 Village Center Drive
Suite A-7
Reading, PA 19607
Phone: (610) 775-5130
Fax: (610) 775-3736
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Harrisburg Office
409 Irvis Office Building
PO Box 202128
Harrisburg, PA 17120
Phone: (717) 787-8550
Fax: (717) 783-7862
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My email message to Rep Gillen was:

Action I would like to see:   HB 1475:

Please consider that speed timing devices such as radar are traffic calming devices that save lives.

Traffic Calming Statistics

• Most pedestrian fatalities occur in urban areas (73%) at non intersection locations (77%) in normal weather conditions (90%) and at night (67%). (NHTSA, 2007)
• Road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death among young people (ages 10-24) in the world. (World Health Organization)
• They are also the leading cause of death among children in the United States. (United States Center for Disease Prevention)
• Speeding is the single most common traffic rule violation and contributes to one third of all road traffic crashes . (World Health Organization)
• Traffic Calming measures are a key intervention to road traffic crashes and deaths. (World Report on Road Traffic Injury Protection)
• If current trends continue, the number of people killed and injured on the world's roads will rise by more than 60% between 2000 and 2020. (World Health Organization)
• In 2005 there were nearly 3 million people injured on the roads in the United States. (US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration)
• There were 43,443 people killed on US roads in 2005 alone (US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration)
• There are an average of 117 fatalities per day due to traffic incidents (US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration)
• 30% of the people killed in traffic accidents each day are under 25 (US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration)
• Each year, 400,000 people under age 25 die in traffic accidents, averaging more than 1,000 deaths a day. (World report on Road Traffic Injury Protection)
• In 2005, traffic accidents killed an average of 4 children under the age of 14 each day and injured 556 daily. In total, 203,000 children were injured and 1,451 were killed. (National Center for Health Statistics 2006 Report)
• Two thirds of children who are hurt or killed in traffic accidents are struck and injured within several blocks (.25 miles) of their homes (American Journal of Public Health)