Yesterday, a person who is very close to me was rear-ended while stopped. The person was not hurt, but the vehicle was seriously damaged. I asked if the driver was distracted. The driver denied it, but…..Today I read an article in the Detroit News about Mitchel Kiefer was rear-ended by a distracted driver who failed to stop during traffic back-up on I96 near Webberville, east of Lansing. Please do not drive distracted. The three seconds you take your eyes off the road, may change your life forever. Texting behind the wheel makes a wreck 23 times more likely — at that point, barely even an accident. Here are excerpts from the story.
Steven Kiefer would still like to know why his son Mitchel died. Mitchel was 18, a Michigan State University freshman headed back to school in mid-September 2016. He was westbound on Interstate 96 between Webberville and Williamston, a stretch in Ingham County where the highway briefly veers north, and brake lights often glow even after the road straightens again. He was driving a new Chevrolet Malibu, the kind of car you enjoy when your dad is on his way to becoming president of GM International. Behind him, in an older Pontiac, was 21-year-old Western Michigan student Kelley Lange. “What was so important?” Kiefer wonders. Why was she tapping out a text or reading an email or whatever else it was that kept her from noticing that traffic had nearly come to a stop? She never touched the brakes. The impact launched the dark blue Malibu across a 52-foot-wide grassy median into oncoming traffic. A white Chevrolet pickup hauling a horse trailer loaded with construction tools hit the sedan broadside. Lange was treated for minor injuries at a hospital. Mitchel was buried at a small cemetery near Kiefer’s home in Northville.
Lange pleaded guilty to a charge of moving violation causing death, a misdemeanor. The sentence was two years probation, 24 days of community service and a $1,900 fine. The prosecutor asked the Kiefers if they wanted her to go to jail. “I thought about it,” Steve Kiefer said, but she was working two jobs and her family seemed solid, “and what good does it do?” At the sentencing, her lawyer asked if Kiefer would be willing to speak with Lange, then walked her over. “She was shaking, sobbing, hysterical,” Kiefer said. She fell against his broad chest. “Here’s the girl who killed my son,” he thought, and he held her. In the moment, he did not think to ask his question. He still does not know why Mitchel died. But he knows what he has to do.
Steven Kiefer started the Kiefer Foundation. “We can mourn,” he had told his surviving kids, “or we can make something.” In this case, they could make a difference. The Kiefer Foundation works in three areas: attention to the problem and perils of distracted driving, public policy and technology. One of its first successes was splitting a $600,000 tab with the state to install 1.7 miles of cable guard rail on the stretch where Mitchel died. In the first month, Kiefer said, a driver careening across the median took out four posts — and stopped. In the first year, the cables were struck a dozen times.
Per multiple sources, the University of Michigan has agreed to a $490 million settlement with those who claimed they were sexually abused by the late university sports doctor Robert Anderson, three sources with direct knowledge of the agreement told The Detroit News. About 1,050 mostly men will share in the settlement, ending one of the nation’s biggest sex abuse scandals that began in the late 1960s and stretched over decades until it publicly emerged two years ago. It means that each accuser will get an average of more than $438,000. The exact amount, however, for each individual will vary depending on circumstances. The average is roughly half of the settlement reached between Michigan State University and the women who were sexually assaulted by the now-incarcerated Larry Nassar. This is a major step forward in moving past this terrible chapter in U of M’s history. The last week the headlines for U of M have been about sexual abuse/harassment both past and present. The Board of Regents and U of M senior leadership have much work to do to gain the trust of the employees, students, faculty, alumni, donors and public. Business as usual will not cut it.
What are you doing today to stop violence? What are you doing today to expand mental health services for those in need? What are you doing today to make sure your guns are not are accessible to minors in your household?
Stay Safe. Social Distance. Wear your mask when indoors in public places. Schedule your vaccine and booster.
Orchid of the Day: Steven Kiefer for taking a family tragedy and turning it into a positive movement. See above story.
Onion of the Day: Andre’ Spivey, former Detroit city councilman, who was sentenced to two years in federal prison for receiving almost $36,000 in bribes, part of a sprawling corruption scandal engulfing City Hall and the police department
Quote of the Day: “Driving is a complex task. It really does require our full concentration.” Robert Ritter, who directs the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency’s office of impaired driving and occupant protection.
Song/Video of the Day: “It’s a Wonderful World/Over the Rainbow” by IZZY.