How Can a Man Who Runs Over and Kills His 2-Year Old Son While Backing Up His Car Become a Hero?
I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Dr. Greg Gulbransen at Nickerson Beach last Saturday. Read the story of a beyond memorable afternoon here. You can see Greg's copulating tern image here.
How Can a Man Who Runs Over and Kills His 2-Year Old Son While Backing Up His Car Turn Tragedy Around and Become a Hero?
Ordinary People/Extraordinary Lives…
In 2008, Congress mandated that the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) pass a federal standard that would help prevent drivers from running over small children and the elderly while backing up their vehicles. At the end March 2014, after 3 years of repeated delays and stalling, NHSTA announced that in May 2018, all new cars and light trucks must be equipped with rearview cameras.
The agency acted one day before a federal appeals court was to hear arguments concerning the delays from a consortium of safety groups and two individual plaintiffs. According to the DOT more than 200 people are killed and 17,000 injured every year in backover crashes, when drivers back up over unseen objects behind them. Children under the age of 5 account for 44% of the fatalities. In a high percentage of those cases, the motorist is a parent or family member. For children of all ages, an average of two die every week and 48 are injured when someone accidentally backs over them, says Janette Fennell, president and founder of KidsAndCars.org, a nonprofit group that pushed the government to begin tracking such tragedies.
NHSTA, now playing the role of savior after years of needless delays, estimates that 58 to 69 lives will be saved each year once all vehicles on the road are equipped. What the **** were they waiting for?
One of the two individual plaintiffs was Dr. Greg Gulbransen. I had the pleasure of meeting Greg and photographing with him at Nickerson Beach yesterday afternoon. In 2002, thinking that his son Cameron was safely in the house with his wife Leslie, Greg backed over his son in the family’s driveway. Leslie, deaf since childhood from meningitis, had not heard Cameron go outside. When Greg realized that something was amiss, he stopped, got out, and saw the horror.
There, in the dark, Cameron died in his Dad’s arms.
Cameron’s death and the family’s suffering will not go in vain. Though it took far too long, Greg’s involvement in getting the original law passed—Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton and local Republican Congressman Peter King–sponsored the original bill, and Greg’s dogged persistence were rewarded with the passage of the new regulation two months ago. In addition to requiring the rear-view camera systems in new vehicles, the final rule establishes basic criteria for these systems. It is now mandated that the area behind a vehicle that must be visible to the driver when the vehicle is shifted into reverse be expanded from the current guidelines. That field of view will have to include a 10-foot by 20-foot zone directly behind the vehicle. And the system must meet other requirements as well, including the size of the image displayed for the driver. Greg testified at a Senate hearing and was instrumental in developing the language in the original bill.
Greg wrote in part in an e-mail last week:
I fought the fight and won the battle last month after 10 years of pushing, dealing with a president that disagreed with my mission, and an automobile industry lobbying hard against me tooth and nail. I was ridiculed on a national scale with my family watching the whole way….
Greg practices pediatrics in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York. He lives happily in Syosset with wife Leslie, their 17 year NBA-fanatic son Scott, and their unexpected gift, 10-year old daughter Julia Grace. Greg very much wants to become a skilled nature photographer. I am betting on him.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
With all due respect I do not think that folks need to be told that it was an accident. It was approved in advance by Greg as I though that it might be too strong. I will admit at times to over-dramatizing blog titles to get folks to click on the link :).
Best of all, Greg e-mailed and said that the whole family read and loved the blog post. Having sobbed for the better part of 7 years after losing my wife Elaine to breast cancer in 1994 I can only say that the Gulbransens are now in a very good place. And I am glad for them.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
A very moving story Arthur, and I understand the purpose of over-dramatising the title, it makes people pay attention. I hope you convince Greg to join BPN so he can share his images with us.
Thanks Gabriela. That is my plan. Greg is already a pretty decent photographer but he is super-busy with his medical practice--he takes care of the health of children :)
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Indeed a very demanding and stressful job, Artie. This is where photography comes in - I tend to forget all about work and the pharmacy, and especially when I get home and start processing my images. So does my partner Andre. Being in nature and observing things while looking for a subject to capture does wonderful things for the soul, so glad that Greg developed a passion for photography and has a friend like yourself to share this passion with - please say hello to Greg from me, and I really look forward to his images!
Thanks again. Greg feels exactly the same way. The new me, after years of doing The Work (see The Work of Byron Katie) , does not. I now understands that stress (like happiness) is a choice. She is quite an amazing lady; I have found much peace through learning from her.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,