All posts by Marianne

In Memory of Kevin Cantwell (October 21, 2025)

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, Underride Crash Map, , , , , ,

UPDATE March 13, 2026: Hundreds of people die every year when pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and occupants of passenger vehicles go under trucks. Please consider joining a STOP Underrides National Town Hall via Zoom April 15 | 8 – 9 pm ET |RSVP HERE. 

Your voice at this unique advocacy gathering will let your U.S. Senators and Representative know that you want them to pass the STOP Underrides Act of 2026.

A Massachusetts man was killed on Tuesday afternoon when his Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van failed to observe traffic was slowing down to a standstill and struck the rear of a 2020 Freightliner tractor-trailer on Interstate 84 westbound near exit 28 in the Town of Montgomery.

State Police said Kevin Cantwell, 71, of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts was pronounced dead at the scene. Crash between van and tractor-trailer claims one life

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 —front, side, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Kevin Cantwell, 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.)

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.

In Memory of Clarence and Lisa Nelson (October 21, 2025)

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, Underride Crash Map, , , , ,

UPDATE March 13, 2026: Hundreds of people die every year when pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and occupants of passenger vehicles go under trucks. Please consider joining a STOP Underrides National Town Hall via Zoom April 15 | 8 – 9 pm ET |RSVP HERE. 

Your voice at this unique advocacy gathering will let your U.S. Senators and Representative know that you want them to pass the STOP Underrides Act of 2026.

A former assistant basketball coach at Pomona High School Clarence Nelson and his wife Lisa were among the three victims killed in a deadly Ontario crash at 10 Freeway on Tuesday, October 21.  . . drove the truck into slow-moving traffic on the I-10 Freeway in San Bernardino County. Dashcam footage released by ABC7 shows Singh slamming into an SUV, without any attempt to apply brakes. Ontario Crash: Pomona High School Assistant Basketball Coach Clarence Nelson & His Wife Killed In Fatal Accident

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 —front, side, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Clarence & Lisa Nelson, Precious Ones 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.)

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.

Did DOT Violate the Information Quality Act When it Published Side Underride Guard Research?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , , , ,

The Department of Transportation published a report in May 2020, A Literature Review of Lateral Protection Devices on Trucks Intended for Reducing Pedestrian and Cyclist Fatalities. The published report purported to fulfill a $200,000 contract (number SA9PA1) awarded by the Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA) to the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. In 2019, Volpe Center researchers turned in a draft of that report, entitled, “Truck Side Guards and Skirts to Reduce Vulnerable Road User Fatalities: Final Report on Net Benefits and Recommendations” (DOT-VNTSC-FMCSA-19-01). The published literature review left out many of the original objectives outlined in the contract between FMCSA and the Volpe Center to study the effectiveness of truck side guards to reduce Vulnerable Road User deaths.

Senior Agency Officials Suppressed Side Guard Research — Impacting Regulatory Analysis

ALMFTS investigated by requesting documents pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. Internal agency emails reveal that the Department — not the study’s authors — rewrote the Volpe Center Report, in violation of a federal guidance on conducting peer review. The emails document that a NHTSA official made revisions to the original report rather than making recommendations to the study’s authors — as would be done in a genuine peer review.

Here is a subset of those emails — a list of some of the more relevant and revealing ones, which document that revisionism rather than review of a research study took place:

USDOT Emails Via FOIA – Documentation of Violation of OMB Peer Review Guidance

This is a violation of an Office of Management & Budget guidance on peer review — at the peril of Vulnerable Road Users who are at risk of known, unreasonable, and preventable truck underride injuries and death, as well as occupants of passenger vehicles. 

Relevant documentation: Timeline of Events Concerning the Volpe Center Side Guard Research Report

When one errs, the right thing to do is to correct the error. The right thing to do here is to correct the information the Department erroneously published. What will the Secretary of Transportation do, at this juncture in history, to protect these souls entrusted to his care?


If only the federal traffic safety agency had fought as hard to get side underride protection on the roads as they did to keep them off the roads, those roads would be a whole lot safer. Although it is only one piece of a larger puzzle, the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center report on truck side guards — before Department officials suppressed its findings — illustrates the cost effectiveness of a technically-proven road safety countermeasure.

In Memory of Suleiman Hamideh (September 15, 2025)

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, Underride Crash Map, , , , , ,

 

UPDATE March 13, 2026: Hundreds of people die every year when pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and occupants of passenger vehicles go under trucks. Please consider joining a STOP Underrides National Town Hall via Zoom April 15 | 8 – 9 pm ET |RSVP HERE. 

Your voice at this unique advocacy gathering will let your U.S. Senators and Representative know that you want them to pass the STOP Underrides Act of 2026.

A young boy was hit and killed by a semi-truck Monday night while riding his bike off Cottondale Drive. 

The Baton Rouge Police Department said that the 7-year-old was hit around 7:40 p.m. on Lindale Avenue near the intersection of Cottondale. The coroner’s office later identified the boy as Suleiman Hamideh. . .

. . . he struck Hamideh with the rear driver’s side tire on his trailer. . . 7-year-old boy fatally struck by 18-wheeler while riding bike in Baton Rouge

Suleiman Hamideh, Precious One Gone Too Soon

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 —front, side, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries. This is also true for Vulnerable Road Users, such as pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and wheelchair users, who can suffer catastrophic injuries when they collide with the unguarded side of a large truck.

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. 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.

Find out more about Vulnerable Road Users and preventable underride tragedies:

In Memory of Colene Ruhl (September 16, 2025)

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, Underride Crash Map, , , , , , , ,

UPDATE March 13, 2026: Hundreds of people die every year when pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and occupants of passenger vehicles go under trucks. Please consider joining a STOP Underrides National Town Hall via Zoom April 15 | 8 – 9 pm ET |RSVP HERE. 

Your voice at this unique advocacy gathering will let your U.S. Senators and Representative know that you want them to pass the STOP Underrides Act of 2026.

A woman in a motorized wheelchair was hit and killed Tuesday afternoon in Winter Springs, a spokesperson for the city told WESH 2. . .

Officials said they found the woman lying in the roadway, “deceased from what appeared to be injuries suffered from being struck by a semi-tractor-trailer.”

The woman was on the sidewalk when a semi heading east on SR-434 was attempting to make a right turn on Belle Avenue.

As the semi began to turn right onto Belle, the woman started to cross Belle and was hit by the trailer of the turning semi, thrown from the wheelchair and killed, officials said. Woman thrown from wheelchair, killed after being hit by semi making turn in Winter Springs

Colene Ruhl, Precious One Gone Too Soon

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 —front, side, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries. This is also true for Vulnerable Road Users, such as pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and wheelchair users, who can suffer catastrophic injuries when they collide with the unguarded side of a large truck.

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. 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.

Find out more about Vulnerable Road Users and preventable underride tragedies:

Critique of NHTSA-Contracted Elemance Rear Impact Guard Research

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , , , , , ,

Secretary Duffy,

The Department of Transportation (DOT) engaged Elemance LLC in 2022 to evaluate three current designs of rear impact guards. Unfortunately, Elemance conducted Finite Element analysis of two obsolete rear underride guards that were not current designs at the time of the contract. In fact, both of those designs had been proven a decade earlier to be crash-deficient. The two manufacturers — Great Dane and Wabash — have developed designs with safer, stronger rear-guard designs. Elemance compounded that error by employing an erroneous definition of Passenger Compartment Intrusion. Elemance’s research findings, Heavy-Truck Rear-Impact-Guard Finite Element Simulation and Analysis, are flawed and backwards-looking rather than helpful to the Department and Congress in evaluating current and future rear underride guard performance and regulatory standards.

Please find attached a detailed critique by engineers who are well-acquainted with the underride problem and solutions. This is what the engineers concluded about the NHTSA-contracted research:

In view of the defects in the Elemance report, a follow up study should be commissioned to evaluate examples of current state of the art rear impact guards that have been in service since 2016 and 2017 respectively. The study should utilize the correct definition of PCI and more accurately assess injury risk.

The Department should act promptly to address the flaws in this federal research in order to fulfill its mission to reduce roadway injuries and deaths.

Jerry and Marianne Karth

Note: This critique was submitted as a Public Comment on September 3, 2025, to the U.S. Department of Transportation in response to their Request for Comments on priorities for the 2026 Surface Transportation Reauthorization.

This video created by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety twelve years ago explains their Rear Impact Guard crash testing research and how the federal standard is failing to protect road users:

This video is a compilation of IIHS Rear Impact Guard crash tests with old and new guard designs for many of the major trailer manufacturers:

This video demonstrates the night & day difference between old and new designs by one manufacturer:

The Missing Piece of the Roadway Safety Puzzle: National Roadway Safety Advocate

Safety Advocacy, , ,

It was puzzling to me how very challenging it is to advance safety measures to save lives. Then I realized that there is a MISSING PIECE of the PUZZLE: there is no National Roadway Safety Advocate at the US Department of Transportation.

Put together this online jigsaw puzzle: https://jigex.com/NfTV3

Then make a comment online to Secretary Sean Duffy (at USDOT). Let him know that you want him to put a person to work as soon as possible who will be a dedicated resource to victims and their families – a National Roadway Safety Advocate.

Submit your Public Comment here no later than August 20, 2025.

(step-by-step instructions)

Then, please share this request to amplify your voice.

Read more here.

DOT Is Asking For Input. Tell Them To Give Crash Victims a Voice

Safety Advocacy, , , , , , , , ,

When it comes to changes needed to make our roads safer, who cares more deeply than crash survivors or victim families? The Department of Transportation is asking for the public to submit their comments on what should be included in the 2026 Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill; Secretary Duffy is looking for ideas to make our roads safer.

Let him know that you want victims to have a voice within the Department and that a means to do so has already been proposed by Senator Lujan and Congressman Cohen. The DOT Victim & Survivor Advocate Act would create a National Roadway Safety Advocate to serve as a voice for victims and survivors of roadway crashes and their families — ensuring their perspectives are considered in transportation safety policies.

I know from twelve years of road safety advocacy that this resource is extremely important but is not currently available to assist those who are keenly motivated to bring about change. Let Secretary Duffy know that you want him to put that plan into place.

Submit your Public Comment here no later than August 20, 2025.

(step-by-step instructions)

Then, please share this request to amplify your voice.

Podcast from Streetsblog, July 29, 2025, What Will It Take To Give Victims and Advocates a Voice at US DOT?

There are too many families like the ones who have told their stories below. They need to be heard. . .

I’m grateful for everyone who takes the time to submit a comment. You can see all comments submitted here. Running list of comments requesting a National Roadway Safety Advocate are here.

Quotes from supporters are available here (a list of safety groups and victim/survivors quoted in Senator Lujan & Congressman Cohen press release upon bicameral introduction of the DOT Victim & Survivor Advocate Act).

First-time Ever: NHTSA Nominee Questioned On Underride By Senator

Truck Safety, , , , , ,

For the first time in DOT’s history, a nominee for NHTSA Administrator was questioned in a hearing about the agency’s lack of progress in preventing underride deaths. Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) questioned Jonathan Morrison about NHTSA’s failure to consider the benefit of preventing hundreds of pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorcyclist deaths in a pending rulemaking for side underride guards. 

According to a 2014 study by the National Transportation Safety Board, about 120 pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists are killed every year under the sides of tractor trailers. A side underride guard that blocks those vulnerable road users from falling under the tandem wheels of trailers would prevent their deaths.

But a pending NHTSA rulemaking on side underride guards neglected to count a single vulnerable road user’s death in the all-important cost-benefit analysis.

Senator Lujan: Another issue that I care about deeply is ensuring that trucks have side underride guards to prevent cars, pedestrians, and cyclists from being crushed underneath. . . . According to NHTSA, the cost of installing side underride guards exceeds the benefits. Unfortunately, to reach this estimate, NHTSA makes assumptions in their cost benefit analysis that excludes whole categories of preventable deaths of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

Senator Lujan: I don’t understand that. If it’s going to be studied, it should be studied. And then an answer should result based on whatever the research is.

Senator Lujan: Yes, or no? Will you commit to counting pedestrians and bicyclists as preventable deaths for road users in the cost benefit analysis for any future rulemaking on side underride guards?

Jonathan Morrison: I will work with the economists within NHTSA to make sure that everything appropriate is being considered. I’m not familiar with that particular study.

Well, that would be refreshing. . . to have everything appropriate considered by the federal regulator whose mission it is to reduce roadway injuries and deaths. And that includes underride.

If pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorcyclist deaths had been included in the cost-benefit analysis as they should have been, the annual number of deaths side underride guards could prevent would have been estimated to be at least 137. Under those circumstances, the benefits of regulation would have outweighed or been equal to the costs, and the agency would have mandated side underride guards.

Here’s the clip from the hearing (1:02:02 in the video of the Senate Commerce hearing on July 16, 2025):

Senator Lujan questions NHTSA Administrator nominee Jonathan Morrison on underride

Good News: Stoughton extends IIHS-award-winning underride protection to container shipping

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Good news on underride protection: IIHS has given the TOUGHGUARD Award for rear impact underride protection on intermodal chassis trailers to Stoughton Trailers — the first trailer manufacturer to earn it and one of the largest chassis manufacturers in North America. Should this lead to speculations about what engineering ingenuity could actually produce — despite industry grumblings about the operational issues regarding underride protection, particularly at the sides of intermodal chassis trailers?

Underride guards that meet the Toughguard criteria are substantially more likely to withstand an impact, reducing the severity of the crash. Until now, only dry van, refrigerated and flatbed trailers have qualified. But with the growing importance of shipping containers in global trade, more and more freight is being transported using intermodal chassis.

Chassis-type trailers present a unique challenge when it comes to underride protection. The frame of a dry van, refrigerated or flatbed trailer extends across its entire wheelbase, supporting the underride guard for its full width. In contrast, an intermodal chassis is a ladderlike structure that lies between the trailer’s wheels to support the removable container.

For that reason, the underride guard required a completely new design. Instead of a vertical support attached to the trailer deck, the chassis guard features long, diagonal supports running from the guard’s outboard ends to the chassis rails. Stoughton Intermodal Chassis Earns Underride Guard Award

I’m grateful for Stoughton Trailers’ continued commitment to safety. Unfortunately, not every trailer manufacturer is equally safety-minded. And NHTSA has not shown an inclination to send a strong message to industry; in fact, they declined to include Stoughton’s dry van RIG solution in their regulatory analysis for a 2022 update of the rear guard rule. Decades of government and industry inaction means that there are still far too many (almost ALL of them) trucks on the road which do not have adequate underride protection.

Engineers know how to creatively solve problems. Give them a green light to SAVE LIVES!