A quick look at important information on our effort to STOP underride tragedies:

1. STOP Underrides! Petition can be found here.
2. Raleigh News&Observer reporter covers underride in-depth: Moms want Congress to prevent the kind of truck crashes that killed their daughters
3. Matt Brumbelow, IIHS research engineer, discusses deadly side underride & why trucking companies should want to install side underride guards. https://soundcloud.com/1070wina/matthew-brumbelow
4. Participate in the upcoming Side Guard Task Force meeting via Zoom on April 17. RSVP
5. Important Videos: Basics of Underride; Front Underride Protection crash test; Side Guard crash test; Rear Guard crash test
6. History of Underride Research & Reports: 1896-2019
7. What would we do differently if we approached truck underride tragedies as a PUBLIC HEALTH issue rather than simply a TRANSPORTATION issue? Advocating for Transportation Safety: Solving a Major Public Health Problem Is a ‘Winnable Battle’
8. A compilation of numerous Underride Guard PATENTS
9. Crash Tests of Rear Underride Guard Reinforcement Attachments, 2016 & 2020In 2016, Aaron’s team conducted a full overlap rear crash test at approximately 35 mph closure.  This test, which was conducted on a reinforced trailer that had already suffered significant rear collision damage.  The lightly reinforced rear guard wasn’t able to prevent underride.   Aaron’s team has continued to develop trailer underride guards.  Recently, they crashed a reinforced trailer with a 2012 Chevy Impala at 38 mph and approximately 25% overlap.  This test illustrated that bolt on reinforcements can prevent deadly underride and passenger compartment intrusion (PCI). . . includes crash test videos.
10. Wabash Engineer Left a Valuable Legacy: A Side Underride Guard Patent
11. What have we been waiting for since March 19, 1969? A law to prevent people from dying under the side of trucks.
12. “Her sisters died in a crash on the way to her wedding. Now she fights for safer highways.”
13. Congressman Price Questions Secretary Chao About DOT’s Plan To Address GAO Truck Underride Recommendations
14. An Exhaustive Look at Truck Underride: “Moms want Congress to prevent the kind of truck crashes that killed their daughters”, Raleigh News&Observer, February 2020
15. Operational Issues with AngelWing Side Guard
16. True Stories Well Told recently published this all too true tale of AnnaLeah. . .AnnaLeah was a particularly avid reader with a colorful imagination. She had a myriad ideas written down on random pieces of paper tucked into drawers, filling notebooks, or emailed to herself. She had, in fact, already created in her own mind numerous literary worlds peopled by characters with names and personalities. . .Read more here: https://truestorieswelltold.com/2019/12/18/annaleahs-too-true-story/
17. Baltimore Sun:  Trucks must install underride guards or more lives will be lost – Baltimore Sun Letter to the Editor, 12/26/19
18. We Have Never Before Had a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman:
    Read more here.
19. Dispelling Common Misconceptions About Underride Protection It’s time to provide the documentation to counteract unfounded fallacies and speculations about underride protection. Read more here.
20. On September 3, 1969, Congress discussed UNDERRIDE but did not act. U.S. Congressman Vanik from Ohio was given the floor. He made a lengthy statement, with noteworthy comments about underride protection, including the inadequacy of the proposed regulation for rear underride and the absence of regulations for smaller straight trucks, as well as protection on the sides and front of trucks. How many more people will die before Congress lays down the law? Read more here.
21. Jury Verdict $42 million in Riley Hein Side Underride Case: Found the Trailer Manufacturer Negligent In August, a New Mexico jury found a trailer manufacturer “negligent”  in a side underride fatality. “The family hopes the verdict ‘sends a message’ to the truck-trailer industry to take measures to prevent underride crashes.” Read more here.
22. NTSB Published a Preliminary Report on the March 2019 Tesla Side Underride Fatal Crash The National Transportation Safety Board, on May 16, 2019, released a Preliminary Report on the March 1, 2019, Tesla side underride fatal crash. Read it here: Highway Preliminary Report: HWY19FH008 Read more here.
23. Media Reports & Video Footage Unveil Highlights of the Successful D.C. Underride Crash Test Event If you were not able to witness the Underride Crash Tests in D.C. in person on March 26, then the next best thing is to see the media coverage of this important event and to view the video footage of all three tests of a car colliding at approximately 30 mph with the side of a tractor-trailer. . . Read more here.
24. Video of the Underride Panel Discussion at the D.C. Underride Crash Test Event, March 26, 2019 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. . . Read more here.
25. Ask The Trucker “LIVE” w/Allen Smith: The Stop Underrides Act- Requiring front, side & rear underguards Allen and Donna Smith, trucker advocates, host the Ask the Trucker Radio Talk Show. Underride was discussed on the show in March 2018 and again on April, 27, 2019. We appreciate their open mind and willingness to draw attention to this issue and foster open and honest conversation with truck drivers. Listen in here:The Stop Underride Act- Requiring front, side & rear underguards on large trucks Read more here.
26. As a trucking company owner, executive, or driver, what keeps you awake at night? One of the presenters at a recent NTSB webinar, “Collision Avoidance Technologies – Why You Need Them in Your Trucks Today!”, was Robert Maag, the VP of Operations for a small trucking company, Perfect Transportation. He had some wise advice for trucking companies related to investment in safety for a fleet:Investment in the front end can be extremely minimal in proportion to what could be at risk at the back end. . . Read more here .
27. “Words without facts” is Propaganda “There is no trucker who would want to be a part of a tragic under-ride crash and there is no just-lawmaker who would feel content with having the opportunity to do something and remain silent and out of the conversation.”That’s what I read in a recent blogpost. If only the trucking industry would recognize that fact, re-examine some of their wrong-headed thinking, and get behind the win/win STOP Underrides! Bill.I’d like to take a stab at correcting some of the misunderstanding floating around out there about the STOP Underrides! Bill. I’m concerned that “words without facts,” if left unchallenged, is propaganda with power to confuse the uninformed. . . Read more here.
28. It’s going to take an act of Congress to end underride once and for all. Congress needs to wake up and understand that NHTSA has not responded to underride safety recommendations or petitions from NTSB or IIHS for decades. More recommendations from the GAO is not likely to do the trick. We have three branches of government for a reason, and part of the role of Congress is to say: do this or do that. . . Read more here.
29. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Truck Underride Report Published After a Year-Long Investigation After the STOP Underrides Bill was first introduced on December 12, 2017, several members of Congress –Senators Thune, Rubio, Burr, and Gillibrand — requested that the Government Accountability Office prepare a report on truck underride guards. That report was published today and can be found here. The online report is organized into sections, including Fast Facts, Highlights, and Recommendations. The GAO Recommendations are. . . Read more (including Karth Cliff Notes on the GAO Truck Underride Report) here.
30. How you can help us STOP underride deaths & injuries: Sign & Share our Petition to tell Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride! Find it here. Call &/or email your U.S. legislators. Ask them to co-sponsor and pass the STOP Underrides! Act (Senate Bill S.665 and House Bill HR.1511). Find their information here.
31. Overlooked Vulnerabilities in Truck Crashes: Damage to Steering Mechanism & Fuel Tank Being a passionate advocate for making truck crashes more survivable, I signed up for Google Alerts on truck crashes. Every night I get an email notifying me of truck crashes across the country. Mostly I look for evidence of underride. But I have noticed the frequency of truck crashes that involve fire. Why is that? Read more here .
32. “It’s a crossroad. Are we going to let more people continue to die or act decisively to save lives?” WRAL Raleigh, April 10, 2019
    By Rick Armstrong, producer, and Kathryn Brown, anchor/reporterROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — A mother is warning all drivers to keep a safe distance from large trucks on roads and highways after a tragic crash in Georgia caused her car to go underneath a truck — leading to the deaths of her two daughters. Read more here.
33. Compelling Documentary Tells the Stories of Underride Victims: Save Lives – STOP Underrides! We are thankful to Cool Breeze Studio for creating this recently-released underride documentary — telling the stories of underride victims to shed light on this preventable problem. . . See it here.
34. Back-of-the-Envelope Math for Underride Protection Retrofit Cost/Trailer Equation Let’s do some simple back-of-the-envelope math. How much would it cost to retrofit a trailer? The current estimated cost would be. . . So, for $0.62 per day, the trailer owner has the following benefits. . . Read more here .
35. A Mom’s Response to the OOIDA Letter of Opposition to the Life-preserving #STOPUnderrides! Bill The STOP Underrides! Bill was re-introduced into Congress on March 5, 2019. On March 7, the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association wrote a letter of opposition and sent it to the bill’s sponsors.The following is a combination of the OOIDA letter (bolded) and my response. . .   Find it here.