We’ve been anticipating the final result of a year-long investigation by @propublica and @frontlinepbs on the truck underride issue. Their team pulled together an immense amount of information on a century-old problem. Of course, an hour could never cover it all. But I think that they created a compelling argument. The question is, what did you think?

If you haven’t had a chance to see the documentary or read the accompanying stories, here are some useful links:

• Frontline Dispatch NPR Podcast: Dangerous Trucks on America’s Roads
• Published July 12, 2023: How Recent State Laws Are Making It Harder to Sue Trucking Companies After Crashes
• Published June 22, 2023: DOT Researchers Suggested a Way to Make Big Trucks Safer. After Meeting With Lobbyists, Agency Officials Rejected the Idea. “The Department of Transportation allowed trucking lobbyists to review an unpublished report recommending a safety device that could save lives by preventing pedestrians and cyclists from getting crushed under large trucks.“
• ProPublica: New Investigation by ProPublica and FRONTLINE Reveals How Regulators and Lobbyists Blocked Measures to Prevent Deadly Crashes (June 13, 2023)
• PBS/Frontline: What Is An Underride Crash And Why Is It So Dangerous?
• PBS/Frontline: She Lost Two Daughters in a Deadly Truck Crash a Decade Ago and Has Advocated For Stronger Regulations Since, plus on YouTube
• ProPublica: Trapped Under Trucks
• The documentary is available for viewing on the PBS/Frontline website.
• The documentary is also available as a YouTube video: America’s Dangerous Trucks (full documentary) | FRONTLINE https://youtu.be/1LyaWzOesXk
• Twitter Thread from ProPublica: Underride crashes — when a passenger vehicle collides with a semi truck & slides beneath it — kill hundreds of Americans a year.  A ProPublica/FRONTLINE investigation reveals how safety regulators repeatedly failed to collect accurate data or take action to protect passengers
• SDPB South Dakota Public Radio Talk Show interview with correspondent/producer A.C. Thompson. Listen here: New documentary explores how to prevent underride crashes
• KSTX Texas Public Radio Talk Show interview. Listen here: PBS Frontline investigates “America’s Dangerous Trucks”
• WGVU Midday West Michigan Radio Talk Show interview. Listen here: FRONTLINE premiers: America’s Dangerous Trucks
• Apple News Today – Podcast – Failures to stop a deadly threat to cars from 18-wheelers, June 16

My next question is, what are you going to do in response to what you heard and/or read? And what kind of reaction and action should we hope to see from:

• Congress?
• Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (who declined to be interviewed)?
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration?
• USDOT Inspector General?
• Trucking Industry?

Anyone can act on their personal convictions and sign our petition: Secretary Pete, It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride! We will be submitting a spreadsheet of all signatures & comments made on the petition to Secretary Buttigieg and to the NHTSA Public Comment docket for the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Side Guards. Here are some other things you can do: How You Can Help!

What do I think? Among other things. . . I think that we need a Congressional Oversight Underride Field Hearing and an investigation by the DOT Inspector General. I’d also like the opportunity to have a meeting with Secretary Buttigieg to discuss underride. Beyond that, I think that we need a long-term solution for this and other roadway safety issues. I think that we need a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman, in place at the USDOT Office of the Secretary, whose role will be to ensure that the voice of victims is appropriately heard and heeded — so that industry no longer has a disproportionate, unfair voice.