Monthly Archives: June 2020

How You Can Help

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

June 18, 2020, CALL TO ACTION

When a vehicle goes under a big truck, it’s called an underride crash.  This type of crash is extremely dangerous and completely preventable. Installing better guards on big trucks would prevent this type of crash.

There is an Infrastructure Bill being considered by the House Transportation & Infrastucture Committee called the INVEST in America Act which includes underride legislation. We are also waiting for the Senate Commerce Committee to introduce their version of an Infrastructure Bill soon. We are hoping it will include underride legislation.

Become part of the solution by sending an email TODAY to U.S. Legislators in Congress. Tell them that you want them to support Underride Legislation in the Infrastructure Bill.

Members of the U.S. Congress
U.S. Senators – Get contact information for your Senators in the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Representatives – Find the website and contact information for your Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. Find your Rep by zip here.

You can also tag them on a Tweet. Use these hashtags: #STOPunderrides #UnderrideVictimsMatter.

Thank you for taking action. Share this message with your friends so we can make a significant impact at a crucial time.

Urgent Call to Action on Truck Safety (June 16)

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

UPDATE, June 18, 2020: Thank you to those who took action. The Garcia Amendment passed. The Cohen Amendment did not pass.

When a vehicle goes under a big truck, it’s called an underride crash.  This type of crash is extremely dangerous and completely preventable.  Installing better guards on big trucks would prevent this type of crash.  There is a bill being considered now under the INVEST in America Act which would require these life saving guards.  

The Infrastructure Bill includes an Underride Section.

Become part of the solution by sending an email TODAY to U.S. Representatives on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I). They will be considering the INVEST in America Act on Wednesday, June 17, at 10:00 a.m. in a live hearing.

Use this website link to search for your U.S. Representative, or ones from your state who are on the T&I Committee. Send these two simple messages in your own words — asking them to make trucking safer by:

  • Supporting the Cohen Amendment 089 to strengthen the Underride legislation in the INVEST in America Act by directing NHTSA to do a pilot program in order to prove that underride protection is effective and technically feasible.
  • Supporting the Garcia Amendment 062 which will raise the Minimum Insurance Liability for truck companies from $750,000 – an amount set in 1980 – to $2 million in a simple adjustment for inflation. This needed change has been neglected for decades and will help not only truck crash victims but also truck drivers, who are often victims of truck crashes. It creates a financial incentive to enforce safety.
  • Late-breaking addition: Ask them to OPPOSE the Perry Amendment 115, which strikes Automatic Emergency Braking from the Bill. This amendment appears to be getting in the way of advancing crash avoidance technology to prevent or reduce the severity of crashes. Why would they want to do that?

Watch this short video which vividly tells the story of Mike, a truck crash victim who was impacted by the woefully-low insurance requirement:

You can also tag them on a Tweet.

Thank you for taking action. Share this message with your friends so we can make a significant impact at a crucial time.

Truck Safety Call to Action

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

Finally, we’re getting someplace in our efforts to make trucking safer. Legislation is being considered which looks promising to address the issues from our AnnaLeah & Mary Stand Up For Truck Safety Petition in 2014.

You can become part of the solution by making a quick phone call or send an email to U.S. Representatives on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I). They will be considering the INVEST in America Act on Wednesday, June 17, at 10:00 a.m. in a live hearing.

Use this website link to search for your U.S. Representative, or ones from your state who are on the T&I Committee. Send these two simple messages in your own words — asking them to make trucking safer by:

  • Supporting the Cohen Amendment 089 to strengthen the Underride legislation in the INVEST in America Act by directing NHTSA to do a pilot program in order to prove that underride protection is effective and technically feasible.
  • Supporting the Garcia Amendment 062 which will raise the Minimum Insurance Liability for truck companies from $750,000 – an amount set in 1980 – to $2 million in a simple adjustment for inflation. This needed change has been neglected for decades and will help not only truck crash victims but also truck drivers, who are often victims of truck crashes. It creates a financial incentive to enforce safety.

Watch this short video which vividly tells the story of Mike, a truck crash victim who was impacted by the woefully-low insurance requirement:

Thank you for taking action. Share this message with your friends so we can make a significant impact at a crucial time.

House T&I Committee’s INVEST in America Act Includes Underride Legislation

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

The House T&I Committee published their draft of the renewal of the FAST Act. Section 4405 addresses Truck Underride: Underride Section of FAST Act 2020 – INVEST in America

You can compare it to the STOP Underrides Bill: Text – H.R.1511 – 116th Congress (2019-2020)_ Stop Underrides Act _ Congress.gov _ Library of Congress

Update (September 13): Comparison Chart of Underride Provisions in Various Bills

And here are the GAO Underride Recommendations: GAO Truck Underride Recommendations

Will Congress & NHTSA move forward with bold and decisive action to end underride?

What’s New In Underride? Both Action & Inaction

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

Despite the COVID-19 shutdown of many activities, there is a lot happening related to truck underride. Here’s a quick summary:

  • While we hope for April showers to bring May flowers, this year I was encouraged to see that the April 17 Side Guard Task Force Meeting led to multiple May Subcommittee meetings of an informal but active Underride Protection Committee — Engineering, Awareness, Advocacy, Research and Industry Engagement meetings have all taken place. Underride Protection Committee brochure
  • We also launched the SaferTruck System Award Program to encourage fleets to voluntarily adopt these life saving features. SaferTruck System Awards
  • In May, the FMCSA published a report [A Literature Review of Lateral Protection Devices on Trucks Intended for Reducing Pedestrian and Cyclist Fatalities] on the pedestrian safety truck side guard study [Study of Truck Side Guards to Reduce Pedestrian Fatalities] completed last year by Volpe Transportation Center. The conclusion acknowledges that pedestrians and cyclists could be saved by what they term Lateral Protection Devices. But the report notably fails to discuss a cost benefit analysis — included in the Volpe report — or make any recommendations. So, why did taxpayers foot a $200,000 bill for research that might not result in tangible action to save lives?
  • Guess what! I just checked and the FMCSA clearly revised the webpage from when I visited it in January 2020. The page no longer states this information (which I fortunately recorded in an email): “Five key tasks are included in this project: (1) study interaction of a potential side guard with other truck parts and accessories (e.g., fuel tanks, fire extinguisher, exhaust system) and the implications for a new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation; (2) investigate applicable international side guard standards; (3) perform a preliminary cost-benefit analysis of truck side guard deployment; (4) propose recommendations; and (5) propose means for voluntary adoption.“
  • Instead, that page now says: “This research product contains a literature review of regulations and effectiveness studies in other countries. The effectiveness estimates from studies in other countries cannot be applied to the U.S.—in part because of different regulatory and infrastructure environments— “ What?! That’s it?! What about all of the other information included in the $200,000 study? Where’s the CBA?
  • The FULL study (not simply the literature review) needs to be made available to the Senate Commerce Committee, the House T&I Committee, and the Underride Protection Committee — including the vehicle part interactions report, the cost-benefit analysis report, the Draft final report, and the FINAL Report. Period.
  • The Dragon launch on May 30 and the docking with the international space station on May 31 proves that we still know how to solve problems. Let’s apply that to deadly underride!
This geometric mismatch will lead to preventable tragedies until we do something about it.