All posts by Marianne

Industry Response to ACUP Report; Enough of the Bellyaching Already!

There’s no shortage of industry complaints about the definition of consensus adopted by the NHTSA Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP) — a simple majority. There’s no mention, however, of the fact that NHTSA itself directed the committee to define it for themselves. Instead, ACUP minority members bellyache about how the safety advocates supposedly took over the reins of the committee and pushed their own agenda.

It should be no surprise that industry stakeholders supported ACUP research recommendations but opposed outright recommendations to proceed with underride protection rulemaking — a stance which they have clung to for 55+ years. So, when the majority passed motions to recommend underride guard mandates, the minority repeatedly attempted to overturn the consensus decision. In so doing, they invented a fake procedural issue, seemingly to divert attention from the real issue: dangerous trucks are killing hundreds of people every year and the industry is not voluntarily doing anything substantial to prevent the senseless spilling of blood.

The trucking voice also wants you to overlook the fact that there has already been decades of research done by engineers and researchers — sometimes suppressed and often ignored by industry and government. Some members of the trucking industry are also hoping that you won’t realize that they have already spent the last 55 years doing little to solve the underride problem themselves, while at the same time, doing everything that they can to discourage Congress and the federal safety agency from proactively issuing strong underride regulations.

These vocal opponents of commonsense safety measures would like you to think that underride guards aren’t really effective at preventing horrific injuries and unimaginable ways to die, that operational issues are insurmountable hurdles, and that there are not enough people dying from underride compared to the supposedly industry-ruining, economy shutting-down costs to justify moving forward with life-preserving action. In actuality, if they could get over their short-sighted, wrong-headed thinking, they might begin to understand that the industry could realize a Win/Win outcome if only they’d stop being so bull-headed.

Some industry members are calling the ACUP efforts divided and their Report a mess and doomed. I, of course, see it differently and detail my perspective at length in my Concurrence With Exceptions Comments for the ACUP Report.

The minority contingent apparently hopes that NHTSA will not act upon the majority recommendations. That, of course, would be no surprise. But what would be a welcome surprise is for ACUP members and trailer manufacturers to attend an upcoming Underride Crash Test Event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on September 13, 2024.

And beyond that, I’d be suitably gratified to welcome industry stakeholders to a roundtable discussion after observing the demonstration of underride protection at work to protect occupants of passenger vehicles, as well as pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. In order to increase involvement, we are considering the possibility of organizing this collaborative opportunity as a Zoom meeting.

Save the Date and plan to participate! Double dog dare you!

Waiver of Liability Form

Photo & Video Usage Agreement

NHTSA Defends Itself to Congress – Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

Last week, I was surprised to learn that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration {NHTSA) had published a self-analysis of their progress — dated June 2024. NHTSA responded with an 8-page explanation to Congress after a federal advisory committee condemned the safety agency for 55 years of inaction on underride crash protection in a scathing 410-page report published last month.

The committee, called the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP), was created by Congress in 2021, and established by a NHTSA charter in 2022, to assess NHTSA’s progress at advancing public safety and make recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation. The ACUP’s report documented a long history of agency reluctance to regulate the trucking industry’s safety practices, exposed allegations of misconduct by senior officials, and called for the reversal of recent rulemaking that the committee believed made “no substantial progress” to improving public safety. The report concluded, “[V]ery little has changed regarding side underride guard advancements in the last 50 years and no substantial progress has been made by DOT to prevent these horrific crash fatalities and injuries.”

All I can say is that NHTSA’s apologia to Congress is woefully inadequate. In a nutshell, “Woulda, coulda, shoulda.”* It further documents that the agency continues its disturbingly long history of inaction. Safety delayed is most certainly safety denied.

The ACUP report can be found here. NHTSA’s report can be found here.

* Put another way, “Spare me the useless & endless excuses!”

Press Release

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection Reports to Congress & DOT Secretary

On June 28, 2024, the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP) completed a scathing critique of the Department of Transportation. In a 410-page report, it documented a long history of agency reluctance to regulate the trucking industry’s safety practices, exposed allegations of misconduct by senior officials, and called for the reversal of recent rulemaking that the committee believed made “no substantial progress” to improving public safety.

In its Biennial Report, commissioned by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, the committee contended that fatalities from underride crashes, in which large commercial trucks cause severe injuries to occupants of passenger vehicles, as well as pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcyclists, are largely preventable. But the committee found that, for over 50 years, the Department has not required manufacturers to install guards under the open sides of trailers, due to pressure from the industry.

The report exposed allegations from a whistleblower of serious misconduct. According to a former project manager at the Department in the agency that enforces rules for the trucking industry, senior Department officials in the Trump administration suppressed taxpayer-funded research into the cost-effectiveness of regulations requiring side guards on trucks. Trucking company lobbyists reportedly were angered by the research findings and pressed the Department to alter them. Officials in the Biden administration commenced a rulemaking process that ignored the key findings of the suppressed research. The report called upon the Biden administration to reverse course and start the rulemaking process over again, this time by counting the benefits it previously ignored. Advocates have asked the Inspector General to investigate.

Many of the ACUP’s critiques and recommendations were adopted over the objections of the trucking industry, which lacked the ability to veto the committee’s actions. They published their dissent in a minority report authored by the CEO of Utility Trailer Manufacturing Corporation, which recently was found negligent for the fiery death of a 16 year-old boy in a side underride crash. Utility’s share of the punitive damages was $18.9 million.

The committee, which was composed of engineers, emergency medical professionals, victims, safety advocates, law enforcement, and the trucking industry, sent its Report via NHTSA to Congress and the Secretary of Transportation on July 2, 2024. 

Below are links to the complete ACUP Biennial Report, the Majority Report, a Minority Report, and Appendices, including the statements of concurrence or dissent from ACUP members:

Other useful information to help you dig deeper into the work of the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection:

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, April 24, 2024 Meeting Record

The NHTSA Advisory Committee on Underride Protection held its fifth meeting on April 24, 2024, via Zoom. The main agenda items were side and front underride. Presentations and discussions from the meeting can be viewed by using the YouTube video links below.

ACUP April 24, 2024, Meeting Segment Video Links
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Welcome & Call to Order, Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP)
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Side Underride Data and Analyses, Eric Hein of the Institute for Safer Trucking
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Missed Opportunities to Prevent Side Underride Fatalities, with Marianne Karth
 NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Front Underride, with Marianne Karth of AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety
 NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Concrete Barriers Then and Now, with Doug Smith of the Ralph Smith Company
 NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Front Override, Keith Friedman of the Friedman Research Corporation
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Side Underride Guards and Intermodal Chassis, with Dennis Lombardi of the IICL
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Motions and Discussion, the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP)
Full YouTube Playlist of Meeting Videos
Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, April 24 Meeting Video Playlist POST

In Memory of Joseph Cook (June 10, 2024)

The Mississippi Highway Patrol reported Joseph Cook of Mendenhall was pronounced dead at the scene of a two-vehicle crash Monday morning in Rankin County. . .

Cook’s car collided with an International tractor-trailer and Cook died on the scene following injuries from the impact. Rankin County vehicle crash results in one dead, one airlifted to hospital. 

A 2019 Dodge Ram driven by 26-year-old Joseph Cook of Mendenhall, MS, was traveling north on US-49 when it collided with a 2022 International tractor-trailer driven by 37-year-old Vincent Armeria of Richton, MS. Crash Involving Semi-Truck In Rankin County Leaves 26-Year-Old Dead

Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Joseph Cook, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)

How You Can Help

Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.

Please sign this petitionSecretary Pete, It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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 could potentially 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.

We are asking that people send us crash reports for collisions with trucks which they suspect involved underride. Send them to marianne@annaleahmary.com. We will submit these as complaints to USDOT. Read more here: Launching a Campaign To Flood NHTSA With Underride Complaint Reports.

In Memory of Aimee Simmons (June 4, 2024)

Firefighter/paramedics worked with extrication tools to free a female driver from a crashed vehicle. The driver was entrapped in her red Ford Focus.

Aimee C. Simmons, age 51 of Harvard, Illinois, was driving her red Ford Focus in the shoulder lane of I-90 EAST at about 8:40 a.m. when she rear-ended a black Peterbilt semi-tractor-trailer with a tandem trailer that was stopped in traffic congestion. Harvard Woman Killed in Rear-End Crash with a Truck on I-90 EAST near Meacham Rd Schaumburg

Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Aimee Simmons, Precious One Gone Too Soon

Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)

How You Can Help

Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.

Please sign this petitionSecretary Pete, It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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 could potentially 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.

We are asking that people send us crash reports for collisions with trucks which they suspect involved underride. Send them to marianne@annaleahmary.com. We will submit these as complaints to USDOT. Read more here: Launching a Campaign To Flood NHTSA With Underride Complaint Reports.

In Memory of Eric Childs (May 31, 2024)

Jessicka Spearman’s campaign said her husband Eric Childs was killed in a car accident early Friday morning. The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said the collision occurred shortly before 3 a.m. on Augusta Road near Lickville Road. South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers said Child’s vehicle was traveling along Augusta Road when he crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer that was legally parked in the median. Upstate political candidate killed in crash

Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Eric Childs, Precious One Gone Too Soon

Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)

How You Can Help

Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.

Please sign this petitionSecretary Pete, It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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 could potentially 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.

We are asking that people send us crash reports for collisions with trucks which they suspect involved underride. Send them to marianne@annaleahmary.com. We will submit these as complaints to USDOT. Read more here: Launching a Campaign To Flood NHTSA With Underride Complaint Reports.

 

In Memory of James Durmire (May 31, 2024)

James D. Durmire, of Hiddenite, was driving a 2002 Chevy Tahoe eastbound on U.S. Highway 64 near Boston Road when he crossed the centerline, hitting an 18-wheeler head-on. Driver dies after hitting tractor-trailer head-on, troopers say

Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

James Durmire, Precious One Gone Too Soon

Major truck manufacturers have Front Underride Protection designs which can work on American trucks.

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)

How You Can Help

Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.

Please sign this petitionSecretary Pete, It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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 could potentially 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.

We are asking that people send us crash reports for collisions with trucks which they suspect involved underride. Send them to marianne@annaleahmary.com. We will submit these as complaints to USDOT. Read more here: Launching a Campaign To Flood NHTSA With Underride Complaint Reports.

In Memory of Cynthia Boone & Miraj Parson (May 25, 2024)

Austin police have identified the two people killed in a crash between a sedan and tractor trailer on East Oltorf Street in south Austin last Saturday night.

The deceased are 41-year-old Cynthia Boone and 18-year-old Miraj Parson.

The crash occurred at approximately 9:18 p.m. in the 500 block of East Oltorf Street. Police say as a tractor trailer made a left turn out of a shopping center, it was struck by a sedan. Boone, who was driving the sedan, and Parson, who was a passenger, were transported to a local hospital where they were pronounced deceased.

Two other passengers in the sedan were transported to a local hospital with serious injuries. Police identify victims in fatal crash on East Oltorf Street

Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Cynthia Boone & Miraj Parson, Precious Ones Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)

How You Can Help

Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.

Please sign this petitionSecretary Pete, It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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 could potentially 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.

We are asking that people send us crash reports for collisions with trucks which they suspect involved underride. Send them to marianne@annaleahmary.com. We will submit these as complaints to USDOT. Read more here: Launching a Campaign To Flood NHTSA With Underride Complaint Reports.

In Memory of Brandy & Skyla Price, Gracie & Avery Mullins (May 14, 2024)

A woman, two Chico Elementary School students and a toddler were killed in Wise County early Tuesday morning when their SUV crossed into oncoming traffic and crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer, investigators said.

According to a preliminary investigation report from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the 18-wheeler was traveling eastbound and the SUV was traveling westbound on Farm Road 1810 about 5:30 a.m. near County Road 1340. The SUV was attempting to pass in a no-passing zone when it hit the tractor-trailer. The accident caused the SUV to catch fire. . .

The people who were killed were identified by the DPS as 32-year-old Brandy Nicole Price, 3-year-old Avery Mullins, 8-year-old Gracie Mullins, and 10-year-old Skyla Price. They were all in the SUV, a 2020 Chevrolet Equinox. Woman and 3 children killed in North Texas head-on crash between SUV, tractor-trailer

Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Brandy & Skyla Price, Gracie & Avery Mullins, Precious Ones Gone Too Soon

See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)

How You Can Help

Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.

Please sign this petitionSecretary Pete, It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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 could potentially 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.

We are asking that people send us crash reports for collisions with trucks which they suspect involved underride. Send them to marianne@annaleahmary.com. We will submit these as complaints to USDOT. Read more here: Launching a Campaign To Flood NHTSA With Underride Complaint Reports.