You will find multiple links below reporting on the Underride Roundtable, which took place on May 5, 2016 at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville Center, co-hosted by them with the Truck Safety Coalition, and our family (AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety).
Please note: If you are visiting this site for the first time, please be aware that the reason this Underride Roundtable was organized was because the CURRENT DOT/NHTSA underride standards are TOO WEAK. In way too many cases, even new trucks with underride guards meeting current rules (not just corroded ones) fail and allow underride by a passenger vehicle colliding with them. People die from these kinds of crashes and it has been proven that stronger guards (if required and manufactured) could stop this deadly underride!
I know about this because my two youngest daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), died because of this kind of crash on May 4, 2013. I was driving. A truck hit us–spinning us around so that we went backwards into the tractor-trailer ahead of us. AnnaLeah and Mary were in the back seat which went under the truck. They died. I did not.
Video and information on our underride crash
Underride Victim Information Table at the Underride Roundtable
View the entire Underride Roundtable here in two archived webcast sessions, https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1100569, including:
- Presentations — description of the problem and research that points to a solution
- Roundtable discussion — identifying a unified approach to implementing solutions and where we go from here
Underride Research, Studies, and Reports: Underride Roundtable To Consider Underride Research From Around the Globe
Media Reports on the First Truck Underride Roundtable:
- Fair Warning: Critics Say Underride Fix Will Do Little to Curb Deadly Hazard
- Rocky Mount Telegram: Underride roundtable generates awareness
- Automotive World: IIHS: Truck underride roundtable addresses problem of deadly crashes
- Article by Andrew Young, panel moderator of the Roundtable: Broken Glass And Shattered Lives – A Mother’s Journey Through Grief Brings Hope For Preventing Underride Truck Crashes
- WN.com: IIHS hosts underride roundtable
- Trailer/Body Builders: Trailer manufacturers meet tougher underride standards
- Trailer/Body Builders: Anatomy of a successful underride guard test
- From the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, host of the event: Truck underride roundtable addresses problem of deadly crashes
- News article by Jim Healey, aTrucks.com reporter who attended the Roundtable: Traffic Experts Debate How to Prevent Deadly Truck Underride Crashes
- Truck Safety Coalition: http://trucksafety.org/survivors-assistance/truck-underride-roundtable/.
- Boston.com: Why Boston is taking ‘underride’ crashes seriously
- Interiew of Randy & Laurie Higginbotham, Memphis, TN, who attended the Roundtable Parents Turn Tragedy Of Losing Son Into Life Saving Mission
- The Virginian Pilot interviews Matt Brumbelow Research Engineer from IIHS and Jennifer Tierney, Truck Safety Coalition Volunteer: Safety Group Tests Rear Crash Bar on Trucks
- Post by the president of the Truck Safety Coalition, Dawn King: Crash Dummy Survives!
- WVIR newscast: IIHS Unveils New Safety Improvements for Tractor Trailers
Here is a brief look at the event from the law firm of Andy Young, who was the moderator of the panel discussion in the afternoon:
Like this facebook page during May and Nurenberg, Paris, Heller, & McCarthy will donate $2 to AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety toward research & advocacy efforts.
Volunteers who have lost loved ones to #undderide crashes @MaryandAnnaLeah #trucksafety #underrideinitiative https://t.co/aH2L5zAHKW
— Rebekah Chojnacki, Ph.D. (@RebekahJKarth) May 5, 2016
A glimpse of AnnaLeah (17) & Mary (13) and the crash which took their lives. . .
