Roger Lane lost his daughter Jodie seven years ago, but instead of taking his family's $6.2 million settlement with Con Ed and continuing on with his life in Texas, he and his family became public safety crusaders whose efforts have made a real difference in the lives of New Yorkers. Lane died of heart disease last month, and New York lost a true friend.
Jodie Lane's death was a completely preventable tragedy. On January 16, 2004, Lane had been walking her dogs in the East Village when the dogs suddenly were electrocuted by a badly wired Con Ed utility box. Trying to free the pups, Lane got too close and died after 57 volts of power poured through her body.
The Lane family sued Con Ed and won—but they didn't just get money. Ever the engineer, Roger Lane insisted on getting public access to Con Ed safety data, and putting it to better use. Further, the family put $100,000 of the settlement into the Jodie S. Lane Public Safety Foundation which has since worked with the utility to help cut down the occurrences of stray voltage on our streets (an especially big concern when sidewalks are the icy, salty mix they are now!). Lane's influence got us more vans scanning for stray voltage, anti-conductive paint on light posts and some scary maps and more. In 2004 there were 285 reports of pedestrians being shocked by stray voltage. In 2010 there were just 59.
The family also used their settlement to start a scholarship in Jodie's name at Teacher's College.
Roger Lane wasn't a New Yorker, but he certainly did a lot for us. It is a shame that a tragedy like the loss of a life was what it took for Con Ed to take its stray voltage seriously, but we are truly grateful that the Lanes chose to make their indescribable loss our city's gain.
You can read more about the Jodie S. Lane Public Safety Foundation here and read more about Roger Lane here and here.
