Fearless Baker
Sue Baker, a public health professor at Johns Hopkins, helped transform society's approach to safety by researching and advocating for injury prevention measures, including improvements to truck safety. Over her 60-year career, Baker authored numerous papers and worked with others to lobby for safety measures such as child car seats, seat belts, and airbags.
Sue Baker, a public health professor at Johns Hopkins, stood in the desert heat of Mesa, Arizona, at the General Motors proving ground in the late 1970s. She was there with colleagues from the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Motor Carrier Advisory Committee to learn about truck safety. Baker believed that understanding how trucks worked was crucial to making them safer. She climbed into the cab of an 18-wheeler known as 'The General' and drove it, noting severe blind spots and a steering wheel that could cause serious injury in a crash. The committee's visit led to future safety improvements, including more robust underride guards and standardized driver training. Baker spent her 60-year career researching and advocating for injury prevention, authoring 250 journal articles and working to create the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Her work helped transform society's approach to safety, making it a priority rather than an afterthought.
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