A year ago, I put together a request for underride design proposals.

• https://twitter.com/FormulaSAE/status/618807420010242048
• Designs sought for improved heavy vehicle underride prevention structures.
• REAL WORLD ENGINEERING: Marianne Karth’s goal is to prevent more deaths from truck-related crashes like the one that claimed the lives of two of her daughters. She is seeking designs for improved heavy vehicle underride prevention structures.

As a result of that, I came in contact with some awesome underride prevention researchers from around the globe, including:

• Aaron Kiefer:

1. Innovative combined side & rear guard promises better underride protection
2. Imagine a truck UNDERRIDE GUARD which provides REAR & SIDE protection.
3. Witnessed safety defect in action at underride crash tests; this is what snuffed out my daughters’ lives.
4. Just got home from the latest side guard crash test. Watch it here!

• the Virginia Tech Senior Underride Design Team and their advisors, Jared Bryson and Robin Ott:

1. Virginia Tech Senior Design Project is Addressing the Need for Stronger Underride Guards; Mid-Semester Progress Report
2. Senior Underride Design Project Mid-Year Report Presented by Virginia Tech Students
3. Virginia Tech Senior Underride Design Team Spring Midterm Report
4. Hurrah! VA Tech Sr. Dream Team has attached their underride guard to a trailer!
5. VA Tech Student Engineers Shine in Underride Roundtable Presentation

This year, I am putting together another request for underride design proposals. This time, I would like to be a little bit more specific and put out a call for research and data to put to rest, once and for all, the controversy over underride guard rigidity/strength and the potential for unintended injuries from too rigid guards. I would like to see it result in data which could lead to design of the best possible underride protection and practical solutions for underride guards to incorporate energy absorption components where appropriate.

• Please see the details here:  Request for Underride Research Proposals Revised
• My post on this issue: Urgent Underride Discussion of Deceleration Forces/High Speeds. Don’t Dawdle.
• The issue was discussed here: Knights of the Underride Roundtable: Finding Some Common Ground to Protect Travelers!

Beyond that, because the crashworthiness of passenger vehicles could change over time, I would hope that the information compiled from past research and/or new research completed in the coming year would provide practical means for updating underride prevention technology in the future.

I hope to submit an abstract by June 30, 2016 to be considered for the presentation of compiled research and data on these issues at the First International Roadside Safety Conference in San Francisco in June 2017, as well as at future Underride Roundtables and made available to the engineering and trailer manufacturing community.

instead of like this:

Note: At the Knights of the Underride Roundtable on June 24, 2016, we briefly discussed the decades-old controversy of “too rigid guards” causing unintended injuries, deceleration forces, need for energy absorption, etc.

Yesterday, I recorded my thoughts about this confusing issue. I hope some will take the time to listen. In any case, expressing it was helpful to me as a survivor of an underride crash which killed my two daughters:

AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety underride research goals

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