Understanding Underride III: Rear Underride

A panel of experts discuss underride at a Briefing on The Hill, October 12, 2017, to bring greater understanding of the problem and solutions of deadly but preventable truck underride. Malcolm Deighton, engineer with Sapa/Hydro, discusses their aluminum rear underride guard — successfully crash tested at 40 mph.

For more information on the STOP Underrides! Act of 2017, go to https://annaleahmary.com/ and/or https://stopunderrides.org/

Because our crash involved the failure of the rear underride guard of a truck that we collided with, that was where our initial advocacy efforts were directed. We quickly saw that comprehensive underride protection was important to save countless lives.

Here are some of the things we discovered and did about rear underride:

 

One thought on “Understanding Underride III: Rear Underride

  1. This page leaves out recommendations for higher-speed underride protection. Truck parking is still legal in the U.S. on our Interstate Highway System where speeds average around 65 mph. These recommended and sickly even heralded stiff underride guards are generally only effective in crashes at around 30 to 35 mph. Which of your loved ones are you willing to sacrifice to these easily fixed speed differentials. Extending energy absorbing guards out from the back of the truck by about a foot could increase the effective speeds from 50 to 65 mph! These could be manufactured for a similar cost to the stiff guards with very little weight differential en-mass.

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