Last week, I came upon a document listing safety recommendations which the National Transportation Safety Board has made related to truck underride protection. What really got me was the report on their crash investigation of a 2009 truck crash — summarized here:
Safety Recommendation H-10-013, Issue Date: 10/21/2010 Truck-Tractor Semitrailer Rear-End Collision Into Passenger Vehicles on Interstate 44, On June 26, 2009, a multivehicle accident occurred on Interstate 44 (I-44) near Miami, Oklahoma, shortly after a minor accident in the same vicinity occurred. . .
The Volvo continued forward, struck and overrode the Hyundai Sonata, struck and overrode a 2004 Kia Spectra, and then struck the rear of a 2000 Ford Windstar minivan. The Volvo overrode a portion of the Windstar while pushing it into the rear of a livestock trailer being towed by a 2004 Ford F350 pickup truck. . .
10 passenger vehicle occupants died, 5 received minor-to-serious injuries, and the driver of the Volvo combination unit was seriously injured. . .
Contributing to the severity of the accident were the Volvo truck-tractor combination unit’s high impact speed and its structural incompatibility with the passenger vehicles. . .
Truck frontal impacts pose a major hazard to passenger vehicle occupants and front underride contributes to the risk. . .
Passenger compartment intrusion in underride collisions results in deaths and serious injuries to passenger vehicle occupants and is common in truck frontal impacts. . .
a strong relationship between the height of front truck bumpers and the occurrence of front underride, which suggests that a front underride protection system could prevent both front underride and passenger compartment intrusion. . .
Since 2003, European Union countries have required front underride protection systems on all newly manufactured heavy-goods vehicles, which indicates that such a standard is feasible. The NTSB concludes that collisions between passenger vehicles and the front of single-unit trucks or tractor-trailers are common types of crashes that result in fatalities, and front underride contributes to crash severity. The NTSB therefore reiterates its prior recommendations that (1) NHTSA develop performance standards for front underride protection systems for trucks . . .
See more here: NTSB Truck Underride Safety Recommendations to NHTSA
“The longer it takes for NTSB safety recommendations to be implemented, the longer an identified safety need remains unaddressed, potentially threatening the safety of travelers and transportation workers.” Rob Molloy, NTSB Director, Office of Highway Safety, https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180314b.aspx
Also, remember that the American Trucking Associations was, and is, well aware of the front override problem. Look at their predictions for underride regulations in 2005 — single unit trucks — and 2006 — front override protection and side guards: 2002 ATA Prediction of Side Guard Regulations
Understanding Underride V: Front Underride
Let’s protect against deadly Front OVERRIDE!
