Yesterday, I received good news on underride rulemaking from the Australian front. George Rechnitzer and Raphael Grzebieta were able to impact Standards Australia to issue a proposed rear underride rule which will be much stronger than their current rule (and than U.S. underride rules) and which will require a crash test.

Comments will be accepted through June 22, 2016 on the proposed standard: STANDARDS AUSTRALIA Rear Underride Proposed Rule

The following is the letter which I received from Raphael Grzebieta, as well as the letter which he received from Standards Australia:

Hi Marianne,

Great news! Our Australian/New Zealand National Standard is now out for public comment before it is ratified as a standard for regulators (DOTs) and others in Australia and New Zealand.

We will be the first kids on the planet releasing such a standard that demands a crash test for an underrun barrier fixed to the rear of a heavy truck.

It has taken more than a quarter of a century (and many horrific deaths) but George and I have finally done it at last. We got it into the Standard.

There was some resistance by one of the DOTs but after some strong persuasion (by me and other DOTs, particularly NZ) at a couple of key Standards Committee meetings, all DOTs are on board with it now.

See attached – Section 7 and Appendix G.

Any one of you (and others – please email it out) are of course most welcome to submit a comment to Standards Australia. Good comments I hope.

All the best.

Kind Regards

Raphael

Raphael Grzebieta PhD (Professor, Road Safety)

Australian Naturalistic Driver Study, Lead Chief Investigator

www.ands.unsw.edu.au
The letter to Raphael from Standards Australia:

Dear Raphael Grzebieta,

Please note that the following draft is open for public comment:

You can view the draft and any incoming comments here after entering your Standards Hub login details.

All comments are to be submitted on the Standards Hub. Follow the link above, login and select the “New Comment” button.

If you have any queries regarding the submission of comments, please contact us on the details given below or contact the relevant Project Manager.

Kind Regards
Standards Australia

Level 10, 20 Bridge Street, Sydney NSW 2000, GPO Box 476 Sydney NSW 2001
P +61 2 9237 6171    FreeCall 1800 035 822  F +61 2 9237 6010  mail@standards.org.au
www.standards.org.au

Standards Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, recognised
by the Australian Government as the peak non-government Standards body in Australia. Standards Australia develops internationally aligned Australian Standards® that deliver Net Benefit to Australia and is the Australian member of ISO and IEC,
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