Governor Corzine is a champion of pedestrian safety but according to the Philadelphia Inquirer - "Gov. Corzine's SUV was flying along the Garden State Parkway at 91 m.p.h. in a 65-m.p.h. zone before it collided with another vehicle and slammed into a guardrail." The State Police has promised a full review of the Executive Protection Unit's driving practices.
Corzine's SUV isn't the first chief executive vehicle to scoff at the speed limit, the article points to Governor Rendell's need for speed and anyone who has been buzzed by the Presidential motorcade knows that the Secret Service travels through the city streets at life threatening speeds.
There has been an outcry for the Governor to pay the seat belt fine. How about fining the State Trooper for speeding? The message seems to be that government officials can drive as reckless as they need to but just make sure you are buckled up.
We wish the Governor well and a full recovery.
This is the legacy blog of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. It is an archive of posts from 2003 to 2014. Making your ride better since 1972. https://www.bicyclecoalition.org
2 comments:
I'd like him to let us know what other laws he feels he doesn't have to obey, after a full and speedy recovery.
A report released today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety rated large and very large SUVs among the highest driver death rates. This topic has been come very prominent in regards to Governor Corzine’s accident. The Suburban, which is the type of vehicle that Gov. Corzine was riding in, was rated among the second worst among large SUVs in terms of multiple vehicle driver deaths, single vehicle driver deaths and vehicle roll-over.
When it comes to Executive Protection, SUVs have a role but that role is limited to certain situations. An SUV should not be used as a regular means of transportation for Executive Protection. SUVs are difficult to control and simply do not perform as well in emergency situations typically encountered in Executive Protection which includes accident avoidance in addition to vehicle ambushes etc… Compounding this problem is that most Executive Protection driver’s training programs do not spend the same amount of training time in an SUV practicing evasive driving techniques as they do in a sedan. Consequently when it comes time to drive an SUV in an Executive Protection mission, driver skill isn’t usually as proficient.
It time to put to rest the notion that “bigger is better” when it comes to vehicle size and safety and Executive Protection.
Bruce Alexander
Publisher
Executive Protection web log
http://protectivesecurity.wordpress.com/
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