The House Transportation & Infrastructure Highways & Transit Subcommittee held a hearing this morning entitled, “Every Life Counts: Improving Safety on our Nation’s Roadways.” A question was asked about Commercial Truck Safety. Note the comment made here which reflects the commonly-held belief that it is inevitable that a large truck will win out in any collision with a smaller entity.
Would Congress pass the STOP Underrides Act if they realized that truck crashes could become more survivable with the installation of comprehensive underride protection?
Safety engineers and professionals share their knowledge and thoughts in a Panel Discussion on the underride issue at the D.C. Underride Crash Test Event on March 26, 2019:
David Friedman, Consumer Reports, VP, Advocacy, formerly the CR Director of Cars and Product Policy and Analysis, former NHTSA Acting Administrator
Malcolm Deighton, engineer with Hydro, which supplies aluminum for manufacturing underride protective devices and trailer parts and which produces comprehensive underride protection technology in Europe
Perry Ponder, inventor of AngelWing, engineer with an accident reconstruction engineering company
David Dorrity, worked for Stevens Transport for years and testifies all over the country on safe trucking practices.
Aaron Kiefer, forensic engineer & crash reconstructionist, inventor of SafetySkirt
Moderated by Andy Young, truck litigation attorney and CDL holder.
The discussion can be viewed in four consecutive videos below.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Thank you, Perry, David, Malcolm, Aaron, Glen, David, and Andy, for taking the time to share your knowledge and thoughts on the underride problem and solutions to this deadly but preventable traffic tragedy.
Note: Video of the crash tests are available here.
A woman was taken to the hospital after her car slid into a tractor-trailer. The woman was trapped inside her car and had to be pulled out. Police say she was likely traveling too fast for road conditions and that the snowy weather was a factor. She was sent to Northwest Medical Center. http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Car-crashes-into-tractor-trailer-in-Highgate-476344493.html
Note: In order to raise awareness and preserve the memories of underride victims — precious ones gone too soon — I have been writing memorial posts on what appear to me to be underride crashes. I am not a crash reconstructionist, and I do not have all the facts on these crashes; but underride should be investigated as a potential factor in truck crash injuries and deaths.
