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In reply to the discussion: I know many DUers hate him but I love Ralph Nader [View all]Sophia4
(3,515 posts)He began the campaign to get real public, judicial and other government support to make car manufacturers produce safer cars.
Although controversial as to whether the Corvair was really less safe than other cars of its time, the Corvair lawsuit began a movement for consumer rights and product safety that continues today
About Ralph Nader:
Born in Connecticut in 1934, Ralph Nader went on to study law and became a crusader of car-safety reform in the 1960s. In 1971 he founded the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and has continued to be an opponent of unchecked corporate power. Beginning in the 1990s, Nader entered the U.S. presidential race multiple times, with a notable run as candidate for the Green Party in the 2000 election.
https://www.biography.com/people/ralph-nader-9419799
When I was a child, back in the 1940s and 1950s, the weekend car accident fatality numbers were announced on the radio, and they were very frightening.
In 1937, there were 29.357 fatalities in car accidents per 100,000 in population.
That number declined, but in 1969, it was 26.418 per 100,000 in population.
In 2016, after all the regulations were passed to install seat belts and to improve the safety of automobiles in many other ways (including many not required by law necessarily), the death toll in auto accidents per 100,000 in population fell to only 11.59.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year
Ralph Nader's work has saved many, many lives. He is to be thanked.
But young people don't know what he did for our country.
He was just a lawyer. He sued an automobile company and he was instrumental in starting the Public Citizen movement and organization.
Really, we should all thank him. He has made our country a better place. What more can we ask of a person?
I understand that many object to his politics, but his accomplishments are so amazing we should all stand in awe of him.
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