Monthly Archives: June 2019

Rebuttal to Concerns Raised By the ATA About Proposed Underride Legislation

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

From the very beginning of our journey to make truck crashes more survivable with the installation of effective underride protection, we have been reaching out to members of the trucking industry — manufacturers, transport companies, truck drivers, industry associations, and engineers among others. We have found some who are cooperative and many who are committed to working on solutions. However, we have also observed a reluctance to move forward with R&D — not to mention installation of solutions.

Beyond industry hesitation, we have also read about and listened to outright opposition. While I appreciate that they would find it important to express concerns they might have about the legislation and the technology, I do not find it helpful if their statements are not backed up with facts or documentation — especially when there is little openness to sit down together and discuss how to address those concerns collaboratively.

I remain hopeful that we can yet reach that point where we will be able to hold conversations through the process laid out in the STOP Underrides Act for a Committee On Underride Protection. It holds the potential for cooperation, transparency, and accountability which could help us reach the goal of ending preventable death by underride in a timely fashion.

Meanwhile, because I have been unable to get them to participate in a meeting to discuss these concerns, I am going to share two documents here:

  1. A letter which the American Trucking Associations emailed to Members of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s Highway & Transit Subcommittee on June 19, 2019, following the trucking hearing on June 12, 2019. The ATA letter outlines their concerns about, and opposition to, the STOP Underrides! Act. ATA Stop Underrides Act Follow Up Opposition Letter 6.19.19
  2. A rebuttal to that letter — detailing what we have discovered over the last several years regarding those concerns. RESPONSE to ATA Stop Underrides Opposition Letter

May we allow nothing to interfere with reaching the goal of protecting all travelers from the unimaginable injuries and grief which all too often come about when we don’t equip our trucks with underride protection so that passenger vehicles and vulnerable road users cannot go under them.

Rose, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Underride Legislation Discussed at T&I Hearing on The State of Trucking In America

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

At last, truck underride was brought to the table at the June 12, 2019, Transportation & Infrastructure Hearing entitled, Under Pressure: The State of Trucking in America.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Chair of the Highways & Transit Subcommittee, mentioned underride in her opening remarks (at 6:59 in this video):

Truck safety advocate, Andy Young, also talked about underride in both his written and verbal testimony to the Subcommittee members.

In this video excerpt, Chris Spear (ATA) makes a statement (at 1:09.48) in the hearing about his understanding that side guards have only been tested at 35 mph (not true):

Andy Young corrects that information (at 3:22.15 in the hearing video) and mentions that the AngelWing side guards have been successfully tested at the Second Underride Roundtable on August 29, 2017, at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) at 40 mph:

The AngelWing side guards have also been successfully tested elsewhere at 47.2 mph:

Congressman Steve Cohen, who led the way in the House when he re-introduced the STOP Underrides Act on March 5, 2019, also spoke about underride:


The truth about truck underride should speak for itself. For too many decades, the facts have been hidden; motorists and vulnerable road users have not been adequately protected from becoming underride victims.

Enough is enough! Congress, the ball is in your court. It’s time to act.


28,362 Underride Deaths Valued at $273 Billion Far Surpasses the Cost to Industry of Underride Protection

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

People Care About the STOP Underrides! Bill For a Good Reason

* DOT FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) data is known to yield vastly underreported deaths.

IIHS 1992 Status Report: Underride Death Count Too Low

** 1997 study said that the deaths attributed to underride as reported by the FARS are 4% of total truck crash fatalities. Other studies suggest that 27-50% would be more accurate. Incidence of Large Truck-Passenger Vehicle Underride Crashes in Fatal Accident Reporting System and National Accident Sampling System

# Underride Deaths in 1994-2015* (FARS data) = 4,201 

Take those 4,201 deaths which represent 4% of the total truck crash deaths reported by FARS to be due to underride. Convert it to a more realistic estimate of 27% of truck crash deaths which are likely due to underride. That would be 28,362 people who died between 1994 and 2015 due to preventable truck underride.

Imagine!

Now let’s take that one step further. Multiply those 28,362 underride deaths by $9.6 million — the DOT Value of a Statistical Life. That equals $272,275,200,000!

That value represents our loved ones and members of our communities who lost their lives abruptly and violently due to underride. (And that isn’t even taking into account the thousands upon thousands who were injured due to Passenger Compartment Intrusion.)

The cost of implementing the STOP Underrides! Bill will not even come close to reaching such a costly price  as that which has already been paid.

Successful 40 mph Crash Test of Sapa Extrusions Aluminum Rear Underride Guard

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Malcolm Deighton, inventor of the SAPA rear underride guard, discusses how they tested their aluminum guard successfully at 35 mph and then at 40 mph.

You can see the 40 mph crash test at about 5:36 on this video:

Here is the engineering report on that crash testing: Sapa 40-30 RIG Test Engineering Report Version 1.3 (1)

Rear Underride Guard Facts:

  1. The current federal standard for rear impact guards has specifications for preventing underride at impact speeds of 30 mph (though not requiring a crash test).
  2. The proposed standard in limbo at NHTSA now would upgrade it to 35 mph to meet the Canadian standard (although most manufacturers are already meeting the Canadian standard). However, the NPRM and the Canadian standard do not require that the guards stop a vehicle for the full width of the guard. That’s what the IIHS has proven with their crash testing program.
  3. The IIHS has tested the new designs of the 8 major trailer manufacturers and given them each a TOUGHGuard Award for being able to pass a crash test at 35 mph across the full width of the back of the trailer.
  4. These stronger guards are being sold on new trailers — some as a standard feature and some as an Option.
  5. There are retrofit kits which can be installed on existing trailers to provide TOUGHGuard quality underride protection at the rear of trailers. There have been very few of these sold — a mere drop in the bucket compared to the 11 million+ trailers on the road which have the older, too weak rear guards.
  6. Additionally, Sapa Extrusions (now Hydro), an aluminum extrusion company, has designed an aluminum rear underride guard which has been successfully tested at 40 mph. Since this is now known to be possible, why would we not mandate a standard which would require this amount of protection at minimum?
  7. The STOP Underrides! Bill calls for research to be completed to ascertain the outer limits of underride protection — so we know what level of protection can reasonably be required.
  8. The STOP Underrides! Bill also calls for establishment of a Committee On Underride Protection to facilitate collaborative and effective discussion among all stakeholders.

Subcommittee on Highways & Transit Hearing: “Under Pressure: The State of Trucking in America,” 6/12/19

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

The Highways & Transit Subcommittee of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee will be holding a hearing on Wednesday, June 12, 2019, at 10:00 a.m.

The hearing will be livestreamed and can be viewed at this link: “Under Pressure: The State of Trucking in America”.

I will be attending and am looking forward to observing a lively discussion, including the previously-overlooked topic of truck underride.