Westlake family advocates for new truck law after fatal crash

Austin American-Statesman (TX)

Leslie Rosenberg was driving her daughter, Sophie, back to Texas A&M on a Sunday night in October 2018 after the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

As their minivan approached College Station, a tanker truck pulled onto the dark highway ahead of them and Rosenberg's car crashed into it, killing the mother and daughter. Now, their family is advocating for a national law that might have prevented the collision.

Jay Rosenberg, Leslie's husband and Sophie's father, is circulating a petition asking legislators to require tanker trucks and 18-wheelers to be painted in light colors and have lights down the sides of the vehicle so drivers can better see them at night.

"We feel that if the truck had been illuminated, if there had been lighting, if you could have seen it, the crash certainly would not have happened," he said.

The goal is a minimum of 10,000 signatures, he said, and as of Oct. 9 it has over 5,800. Once they collect enough signature, Rosenberg said the plan is to send the petition to the U.S. Department of Transportation and to legislators.

Cathy Bell-Forman, Leslie Rosenberg's sister, started the petition a few months ago and has also been involved in the effort from where she lives in Connecticut. Bell-Forman said the issue of truck visibility had occurred to her before, after several close calls in her own driving, but after the crash she decided to do something about it.

Bell-Forman notes in the petition that in 2018, 96% of vehicle occupants killed in two-vehicle crashes involving a passenger vehicle and a large truck were the occupants of the passenger vehicle, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That same year, 37% of fatal crashes involving trucks happened at night, between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Bell-Forman said the petition is part of how she honors her sister and niece's legacies.

"Leslie was dynamic. She took on the world. She loved to do different things and different activities. She had 10 kids and she engaged them all in different activities," she said. "Sophie was an engineer and she wanted to develop things. She was an amazing person and an amazing student."

Sophie Rosenberg grew up in the Austin area and attended Westlake High School. Bell-Forman's husband, Mitch Forman, described Sophie as having "unlimited dreams and unlimited potential."

As the two-year anniversary of the fatal wreck approaches on Oct. 15, the family is renewing efforts to collect petition signatures in the hopes of exceeding 10,000.

"Certainly trying to get as many signatures as possible is going to be critical to get this legislation enacted," Rosenberg said.

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