Monthly Archives: December 2016

What Will It Take To Convince US That Side Underride KILLS But Side Guards Save Lives?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,

The U.S. has studied the problem of deadly side underride for years and yet side underride guards still are not required by a federal regulation. There are some countries which are definitely further along than we are in the process of providing side underride protection on trucks. Here are some posts and articles on the topic of side guards:

  1. Outside Frame Avoids Side Underride Feb 1, 2000 Paul Schenck | Trailer/Body Builders The Safe Liner principle of using outside frame members to act as guard rails was the idea of a safety researcher who has spent a lifetime analyzing vehicle accidents. Dr Karl-Heinz Schimmelpfennig of the engineering firm of Schimmelpfennig and Becke in nearby Munster came up with the concept for the integral safety guard frame and worked with Krone engineers in developing a practical truck trailer with this passive safety restraint.Since last summer, Krone has had five Safe Liners on the road undergoing fleet testing by customers. These outside frame trailers have accumulated 120,000 to 160,000 km (75,000 to 100,000 miles). Another 65 Safe Liners were built in the last half of 1999. Problems have been minimal, Dr Krone says, and fleets are accepting the new concept. Current production is at the rate of two Safe Liners per day (5% of the current production rate of 40 trailers per day). Krone plans to expand this to six per day (15% of daily production) by midyear.The special 38-pallet trailer l5.65-meter (51 feet) that was shown to Chancellor Schroder in June received a good reception in other countries as well. Fleets in Sweden are very interested in the increased productivity. In the Netherlands, a five-truck test under government supervision will investigate whether the longer semitrailer and heavier GVW (60 metric tonnes or 132,000 lb) will actually reduce the number of trucks on the road.Whatever the outcome of the fleet testing of this 38-pallet Safe Liner, the standard-size 34-pallet Safe Liner is already being accepted as a safer vehicle that offers more protection for other road users, including cyclists and pedestrians.
  2. Jurors Sideswipe Trailer OEMs
    | Trailer/Body Builders

     Dec 1, 2000 IT HAS BEEN an autumn of legal wrangling. While most of the nation focused its attention on dimpled chads and manual recounts, a jury in Laredo, Texas, reached a decision that may impact trailer manufacturers like a Palm Beach County voter taking a stab at a butterfly ballot.

    In a nutshell, the jury found that a trailer was defective because it was not equipped with a side underride guard.

  3. Truck Underride Deaths (by type) from DOT Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 1994-2014 I asked DOT for a breakdown of truck underride deaths by type: front, side, and rear. I just received that chart today.Truck Underride Deaths by TYPE 1994-2014From 1994 to 2014, this is the breakdown of Deaths by Underride:Collision at Front of the Truck: 625Collision at Side of the Truck: 1534Collision at Rear of the Truck: 1715

    Collision Site Unknown: 132

    Total Underride Deaths Reported: 4,006

    Of course, we need to remember that these figures do not include all underride deaths as it is well-known that they are commonly under-reported.

    So why are trucks sold without side guards? (Why on earth would this be an optional feature?!) And why does NHTSA not mandate side guards?

    Sign our petition to NHTSA to initiate rulemaking on side guards: End Deadly Truck Side Underride Crashes: Mandate Side Guards

  4. Side Guards: The original intent of NHTSA rulemakers in the 1969 NPRM, Docket No. 1-11; Notice 2
  5. https://annaleahmary.com/tag/side-guards/
  6. Truck Trailer Manufacturers Ass’n “Reminds” NHTSA: Side Guards Are “Not Cost-Effective” Says Who?
  7. What about truck SIDE GUARDS and protection for pedestrians & cyclists?
  8. TRUCK SIDEGUARDS COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES DIRECTIVE; The Jessica Campaign
  9. ‘UNDERGUARD Protection System’ for Trucks, Generally EEC Directive Compliant
  10. Report from Volpe National Transportation Systems Center: “Side Guards Save Lives; A Success Story”
  11. Piercing the Passenger Compartment–Voluntary Efforts to Stop the Horrors of Underride Truck Crashes
  12. Powerful & Informative Case Made for Underride Guard Improvement by Trucker/Attorney
  13. Make your lorry safe for cyclists or pay up, warns Boris
  14. Truck Side Guards Resource Page Side guards have been required standard equipment since the 1980s in the European Union and Japan, and more recently in Brazil. Canada conducted research for a national side guard standard from 2009 to 2013 and also began evaluating the viability of using aerodynamic side skirts for vulnerable road user safety.
  15. Side Guards Safety Work Nets National Tech Transfer AwardA Volpe team that investigated and promoted life-saving truck side guards for municipalities won a national 2016 Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Excellence in Technology Transfer award.Side guards are vehicle-based safety devices that physically cover exposed areas on the side of a truck, shielding vulnerable road users—such as bicyclists and pedestrians—from being swept underneath a truck’s rear wheels. The Cities of New York, Boston, Cambridge, and San Francisco have taken steps to make truck side guards standard equipment on city vehicles.“We were partners in setting up the technology,” said Dr. Alex Epstein, who led the Volpe team. “Together, we enabled its introduction in the U.S. We had the technical knowledge and expertise to inform their efforts, and to connect with vendors and contractors that could build side guards. From the research phase to the implementation phase, it was a close partnership with these municipalities.”Side guards have been required equipment since the 1980s in the European Union and Japan, and recently in Brazil. After side guards were mandated in the United Kingdom, there was a 61 percent drop in bicyclist fatalities and a 20 percent drop in pedestrian fatalities in side-collisions with trucks.
  16. Infographic – Truck Side Guards Save Lives
  17. Truck Side Guard Technical Overview Safety and Operational Considerations Side guards have been required standard equipment since the 1980s in the European Union and Japan, and more recently in Brazil. Canada conducted research for a national side guard standard from 2009 to 2013 and also began evaluating the viability of using aerodynamic side skirts for VRU safety. Reports from that effort and from Dutch research suggest that certain side skirts may provide comparable protection while also potentially reducing fuel consumption by reducing air drag.                                                            Side collisions with large trucks were associated with 111 pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities annually in the U.S., based on 2005-2009 data on single-unit trucks and tractor-trailers. Of the 75 fatal bicyclist crashes per year with large trucks, approximately 50 percent were side impacts.                                                                                        Based on studies conducted in the United Kingdom, side guards are an effective technology for reducing the number of VRU fatalities and the severity of injuries, especially for bicyclists. For example, in the UK, a 61 percent reduction in cyclist fatalities and 20 percent reduction in pedestrian fatalities were reported in sideimpact collisions with trucks following the national side guard mandate. 
  18. NTSB Safety Recommendations to NHTSA regarding side guards for single-unit trucks (July 3, 2013)
  19. NTSB Safety Recommendations to NHTSA regarding side guards for tractor-trailer trucks (April 3, 2014)
  20. Dutch Road Safety Research Institute: Closed Sideguards on Trucks: Less Fuel Consumption for Trucks, Safer Feeling for Vulnerable Road Users
  21. Great Britain Department for Transport: Integrated Safety Guards and Spray Suppression: Final Summary Report
  22. New on the Market: Angel Wing Side Guard Solution To Prevent Truck Underride Deaths & Injuries
  23. Could Tesla crash fatality have been prevented if trucks were required to have #sideguards?
  24. Tesla driver killed in autopilot crash might still be alive if trailers had side underride guards
  25. Potential benefits of underride guards in large truck side crashes.
  26. Krone Trailer
  27. Truck SIDE GUARDS: Let’s get the debate out in the open. Somebody’s life is depending on it. #VRU
  28. https://annaleahmary.com/tag/aaron-kiefer/
  29. Just got home from the latest side guard crash test. Watch it here!

Alex Epstein, Volpe Transportation Center:

Side Guards: Saving Lives, Saving Fuel
Volpe engineer Alex Epstein presents the idea of using side guards as a means to make trucks safer.

Will we finally acknowledge that the lack of side guards on large trucks leads to a sentence of Death by Motor Vehicle for unsuspecting victims year after year? Will we finally decide to take action and do what is technologically possible in installing underride protection on large trucks?

Save Lives

Update: Today Show investigative Report on Side Underride, February 7, 2017

“Feds Plan 5-Year Phase-in of Connected Vehicle Technology”

Safety Advocacy

See Trucks.com covering DOT’s  initiation of rulemaking on connected vehicle technology: Feds Plan 5-Year Phase-in of Connected Vehicle Technology

Proposed Rule: FMVSS No. 150 Vehicle-To-Vehicle Communication Technology For Light Vehicles

NHTSA’s new strategic plan, The Road Ahead, is an approach that could lead to an America free of motor vehicle fatalities. Traveling the three lanes on the Road to Zero

Vision Zero Petition Book 010

Vision-Zero-Petition-Book-3rd-Edition.pdf

“Has the Time Come for Dedicated Truck Lanes?”

Truck Safety,

See this recent Trucks.com article: Has the Time Come for Dedicated Truck Lanes?

Could this be one more strategy to make our roads safer?

Talkin together

Road to Zero Coalition Considers Priority Actions to Reduce Traffic Fatalities

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,

The Road to Zero Coalition Steering Committee organized the meeting on December 15 for 130 participants to spend an hour in groups of 4 and then 16 to identify Actions to Reduce Traffic Fatalities.

The participants were first divided into six groups based on these key areas/categories:

  1. Safer drivers
  2. Safer vulnerable users
  3. Safer vehicles
  4. Safer infrastrucure
  5. Enhanced emergency medical services

Then, each person was asked to come up with at least one action to reduce traffic fatalities and the following questions:

  1. Will it work? What could go wrong? How certain are we?
  2. What does it enable? What does it prevent or closeout?
  3. What is the potential impact? How certain are we about this?
  4. How will it affect the other 5 categories other groups are discussing?

These instructions were sent to us ahead of time, so I had spent some time as I traveled on Amtrak the day before to come up with these proposed actions–not knowing for sure in which group I would end up:

  1. Establish a Vision Zero Rulemaking process.
  2. Appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman.
  3. Set a National Vision Zero Goal.
  4. Establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force.
  5. Organize a Tired Trucker Roundtable.
  6. Organize and facilitate a nationwide network of Traffic Safety/Vision Zero community action/advocacy groups. (Develop a pilot project for a state-based Road to Zero Coalition which would reproduce its efforts through and support the development of RTZ groups in local communities throughout the state. Write a grant proposal for an Americorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America — I was one in 1977-78 when I worked as a nursing home patient advocate) corps of Community Organizers who would develop these grassroots traffic safety advocacy groups. Kennedy launched the Peace Corps as a result of the seed of an idea suggested to University of Michigan students during a campaign stop; let’s follow that example and harness the energy of today’s college graduates to mobilize the citizens of this country to be personally involved in this battle against the Goliath who is slaying our loved ones through Death by Motor Vehicle!
  7. Increase the minimum liability insurance for trucking companies.
  8. Develop an interactive Vision Zero map website — with pages devoted to information intended to influence driver and decisionmaker actions, including crash details and personal crash stories. This could include pages or links to crash maps which highlight specific crash causes or factors, e.g., the National Speed Fatality Map recently launched by the National Coalition for Safer Roads and the Vision Zero Network.
  9. Mandate comprehensive underride protection (rear, side, front) on all large trucks. I was in a horrific truck crash on May 4, 2013 and survived because, unlike AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13) in the backseat, I did not go under the truck when our car was sent backward into the rear of truck ahead of us. How many might be saved if this were to be made a priority to address?
  10. Develop innovative human/technology interface training to provide for ongoing improvement in ability to capitalize on advances in traffic safety technology.
  11. Create an online interactive traffic safety victim patchwork quilt.
  12. Redefine a vehicle as a weapon rather than simply a means of transport.Call for/initiate appropriate Vision Zero laws, along with effective law enforcement and justice for victims of vehicle violence. Specifically, expose those who oppose Vision Zero and counteract the forces that contribute to the perpetuation of an Unsafety Culture. Counteract “doubt science.”
  13. Launch a FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme)  pilot project modeled after Transport for London‘s “publicly funded, three-level voluntary certification program aimed at making sure freight companies have safe, sustainable working practices.”

I was placed in the Safer Vehicles group and had some lively discussion with other participants. Out of all my ideas (I only shared ones which would directly promote safer vehicles), I got support from another participant on #4 Establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force.  Several times, he brought up the impact which resulted from the Commission on Drunk Driving established by President Reagan. And, in my opinion, if the Road to Zero Coalition backed this goal, it could have comprehensive and far-reaching effect on each of the six categories of Actions to Reduce Traffic Fatalities.

Tragic deaths

Road to Zero Coalition Meeting Searches for Solutions to Rising Crash Deaths

Safety Advocacy,

The Road to Zero Coalition hosted a meeting today with 130 people (100 more online) participating in lively discussions about promising actions to take us down the Road to Zero crash deaths and serious injuries.

I especially appreciated the opening remarks by Debbie Hersman, National Safety Council CEO & President, including inspiring thoughts from the Kennedy Presidential Library and reminding us that we are not doing this because it is easy but because it is hard (paraphrase). And she went on to say that hard is being hit by a car. Hard is being extricated from a vehicle. Hard is burying your daughters. . .

Debbie also said, “Safety delayed is safety denied.” Well said, for every safety measure which gets waylaid or delayed for whatever reason means that more people will die who might have been saved.

Debbie also mentioned that, from the time the Road to Zero Coalition was launched back in October until this day, 7,000 more people died on the roads in the U.S.

It was encouraging to see so much attention directed to solving the problem of vehicle violence. I even got to promote our Vision Zero Goals, including a White House Vision Zero Task Force. A few people might have even noted that I did it with a bit of passion!

Marianne Karth signing the Vision Zero Petition Book for President Obama, March 4, 2016
Marianne Karth signing the Vision Zero Petition Book for President Obama, March 4, 2016

Delivery of a Vision Zero Petition to Washington; What I have learned in our battle for safer roads

Road to Zero Coalition Meeting in DC “Safety delayed is safety denied.”

Safety Advocacy

he Road to Zero Coalition hosted a meeting today with 130 people (100 more online) participating in lively discussions about promising actions to take us down the Road to Zero crash deaths and serious injuries.

I especially appreciated the opening remarks by Debbie Hersman, National Safety Council CEO & President, including inspiring thoughts from the Kennedy Presidential Library and reminding us that we are not doing this because it is easy but because it is hard (paraphrase). And she went on to say that hard is being hit by a car. Hard is being extricated from a vehicle. Hard is burying your daughters. . .

Debbie also said, “Safety delayed is safety denied.” Well said, for every safety measure which gets waylaid or delayed for whatever reason means that more people will die who might have been saved.

Debbie also mentioned that, from the time the Road to Zero Coalition was launched back in October until this day, 7,000 more people died on the roads in the U.S.

It was encouraging to see so much attention directed to solving the problem of vehicle violence. I even got to promote our Vision Zero Goals, including a White House Vision Zero Task Force. A few people might have even noted that I did it with a bit of passion!

See more on the meeting activities: Road to Zero Coalition Considers Priority Actions to Reduce Traffic Fatalities

Vehicle violence

” What the President secretly did at Sandy Hook Elementary School”

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,

I just read this account of how President Obama reached out to bereaved families two days after the tragedy at Sandy Hook:

Person after person received an engulfing hug from our commander in chief. He’d say, “Tell me about your son. . . . Tell me about your daughter,” and then hold pictures of the lost beloved as their parents described favorite foods, television shows, and the sound of their laughter. For the younger siblings of those who had passed away—many of them two, three, or four years old, too young to understand it all—the president would grab them and toss them, laughing, up into the air, and then hand them a box of White House M&M’s, which were always kept close at hand. In each room, I saw his eyes water, but he did not break. . .

The staff did the preparation work, but the comfort and healing were all on President Obama. I remember worrying about the toll it was taking on him. And of course, even a president’s comfort was woefully inadequate for these families in the face of this particularly unspeakable loss. But it became some small measure of love, on a weekend when evil reigned. Joshua Dubois: What the President secretly did at Sandy Hook Elementary School

It is my hope that the leaders of our country will show similar compassion toward past, present and future vulnerable victims of vehicle violence and also take appropriate action.

Next 4 years

Stoughton improved underride guards–standard “at no cost or weight penalty.”

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,

We just received good news from Gary Fenton, VP of Engineering at Stoughton Trailers, with the announcement that their newly-designed rear underride guard is now available, as of November 1, 2016, on all new trailers produced by and purchased from them. Gary’s email to me on December 12, was very encouraging:

“Please find attached a press release and ad sheets associated with the Stoughton move to standardize a new under ride structure, designed to widen the area of impact protection on the rear of Stoughton Trailers.  Stoughton is now standard on this new design for all straight vans (dry and reefer).  The implementation of the design as standard began on Nov. 1, 2016 (pilot run of 100 units built in August).  The inclusion of this new protection feature is standard to the customer at no cost or weight penalty.”

Stoughton Rear Underride Guard Brochure August 2016 pdf

Stoughton Trailers Introduces Underride Guard Press Release June 2016

Stoughton Safety Ad for Rear Underride Guard 10/17/16

This is good in more than one way:

  1. First of all, it means that — here on out — all new trailers purchased from Stoughton will be safer.
  2. Secondly, it means that Stoughton has set a new example for the industry in offering it as standard equipment and not merely an option.

Stoughton Trailers is one of four out of the eight major trailer manufacturers, tested recently by IIHS, which have responded to our request for voluntary improvement to their underride protection. The others are Manac (which improved their guard shortly before our crash), Vanguard, and Wabash. One more manufacturer hopes to have their upgrade crash tested early next year.

Thank you, Stoughton, and Gary Fenton, for your hard work and dedication to truly making safety a priority.

A more detailed explanation of the underride dilemma is available here: Underride Guards: Can we “sit down at the table together” and work this out? June 27, 2014

Media Coverage of the first Truck Underride Roundtable held at IIHS on May 5, 2016

Roads Safer

Once Meek Agency Flexes its Muscles. . . Likely to Face Pushback Under Trump

Safety Advocacy, ,

Will we figure out how to do more than just slap the wrist of manufacturers that put consumers at risk? Including vulnerable victims of vehicle violence?

See what is happening with the Consumer Product Safety Commission:

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is trying to change its image, one civil penalty at a time.

For decades, the federal agency largely was seen as a doormat with few resources and a toothless enforcement record. But over the past few years, under its chairman, Elliot Kaye, the CPSC has dramatically increased the penalties imposed on wayward companies, including multi-million dollar settlements with firms accused of failing to make timely disclosures of product hazards. . .

“He [Kaye] is trying to make sure that companies which previously had been including civil penalty potential as part of the cost of doing business now are at least more discouraged from doing that,” said Commissioner Robert Adler, an ally of Kaye on the commission.

But with the November 8 election of Donald Trump, who has vowed to cut business regulations, the amped up penalties could come under tough scrutiny. Kaye declined an interview request, apparently to avoid drawing the ire of Republican congressional critics with oversight of the CPSC budget, and of the incoming Trump administration. In a written statement, Kaye said the penalty policy was “intended to deter behavior that can put the safety of consumers at risk” and praised “the outstanding legal work and integrity displayed by our Office of the General Counsel.”

 Once Meek Agency Flexes its Muscles, But Likely to Face Pushback Under Trump, Fair Warning, By Brian Joseph on December 15, 2016

Life & Death

On My Way to the Road to Zero Coalition Gathering in DC

Safety Advocacy,

I am encouraged by the opportunity to gather with like-minded individuals and organizations to collaborate in a quest for traveling a road toward fewer deaths and serious injuries from preventable vehicle violence.

Road to Zero New Partnership Aims to End Traffic Fatalities Within 30 Years

In memory of AnnaLeah & Mary.

Roads Safer