All posts by Marianne

Advocating for Transportation Safety: Solving a Major Public Health Problem Is a ‘Winnable Battle’

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

The theme of the 2018 National Public Health Week’s final day was, Advocating for Everyone’s Right to a Healthy Life. The School of Public Health at the University of Michigan chose that day to publish the article,  Advocating for Transportation Safety: Solving a Major Public Health Problem Is a ‘Winnable Battle’.*

Who will protect the public from vulnerability to vehicle violence?

*CDC: Winnable Battle

Want to help stop senseless underride tragedies? Add your voice to the STOP Underrides! Petition.

Safety Advocacy

Sign the STOP Underrides! Petition here:   Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!

In Memory of Leroy Miller

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.

It appears that a car collided with a Pepsi truck at the intersection of Chester and East 105th Street.

Cleveland Police say that one person was killed, and two others were entrapped in the car.

The man who was killed has been identified as 49-year-old Leroy Miller Sr. of Cleveland. Victim identified in Chester Avenue crash

See more underride tragedies at Underride Crash Memorials and on our Interactive Underride Crash Map. To add more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to this map, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com; use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form.

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 appear to me to 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 Trooper Kevin Miller

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.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner released the cause of death for a state trooper who was involved in a crash last week. 

It said Trooper First Class Kevin Miller, 49, died of blunt force impact to the head, torso, and extremities with fractures and visceral injuries.

Miller’s cruiser collided with the back end of a tractor-trailer on Interstate 84 eastbound by exit 68 on Thursday afternoon.

He was just shy of reaching the 20-year mark with Connecticut State Police.

According to the accident report released last week, the tractor-trailer was traveling in the right lane at a rate that was slower than the flow of traffic.

Miller struck the back of it.

No charges were filed. http://www.wfsb.com/story/37859648/funeral-arrangements-for-state-trooper-killed-in-crash-announced

Find out more here: CT Trooper Kevin Miller Became a Victim of Preventable Underride When He Rear-Ended a Tractor Trailer

See more underride tragedies at Underride Crash Memorials and on our Interactive Underride Crash Map. To add more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to this map, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com; use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form.

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 appear to me to 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.

CT Trooper Kevin Miller Became a Victim of Preventable Underride When He Rear-Ended a Tractor Trailer

Truck Safety, ,

Connecticut Trooper Kevin Miller was killed due to truck underride last Thursday when he rear ended a tractor trailer. He should have been protected from this senseless tragedy which can happen to ANYONE at ANY TIME.

His family will probably get his death certificate in the mail like we did. It will not mention DEATH BY UNDERRIDE. His obituary said: “Kevin unexpectedly entered into eternal life.” Too Soon. He had lots of living left.

AnnaLeah wrote in her statement of faith: “I believe that I, and all true believers, will one day join Him in Heaven.” That fills me with joy and peace. But it was Too Soon. AnnaLeah and her sister Mary had lots of living left.

Sign the STOP Underrides! Petition so we can end these senseless deaths: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!

Comments on this article illustrate how greatly TRUCK UNDERRIDE is misunderstood:   Funeral arrangements for state trooper killed in crash announced

People place the blame for the death on everything but the lack of effective underride prevention equipment. They blame the victim. They blame the truck driver. Let’s put the blame where it belongs: geometric mismatch between truck and car bumpers. And then let’s hold the trucking industry & the federal government accountable to solve the problem once & for all!

It’s an engineering problem with engineering solutions:

Big Rigs, Big Risks series by WUSA9

Go Fund Me announced by the Connecticut State Troopers Union: https://www.gofundme.com/tfc-kevin-miller-1015

In Memory of Trooper Kevin Miller

AnnaLeah Karth: “I believe that I, and all true believers, will one day join Him in Heaven.”

AnnaLeah and Mary, ,

Truck Owners Can Deduct Underride Protection Cost Dollar for Dollar. So Why Don’t They Want to Put It On?

Truck Safety, ,

“So tell me, why were we talking about side guards on March 19, 1969 — almost 50 years ago — and we still have not put them on trucks?!” Thousands of people have needlessly died. (Questioning the industry panel at the Road to Zero Coalition meeting in DC)

(Click on Q & A at this link: http://nsc.capitolconnection.org/032018/nsc_archive_flv.htm)

Not only that, but we did our taxes today and I asked the tax consultant what it would mean to a truck owner if they took advantage of IRS Tax Code Section 179 and deducted the purchase of underride prevention equipment. She said that they would be able to deduct the cost of the equipment — dollar for dollar.

As my son pointed out, they will not get all of their money back. But they will get the deduction. They will get fuel savings with side guards that are combined with side skirts and thus a quick ROI. They will get back on the road more quickly in the event of a collision when there is not a fatality and their truck is not as damaged. Their insurance liability will be less and perhaps the insurance companies will jump on board and lower their costs. They will be helping to save lives and reduce the number of horrific injuries and, in the process, gain some peace of mind themselves.

What are we waiting for? Let’s get this show on the road!

Senator Gillibrand Responds to Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn Concerns re: STOP Underrides! Bill

Truck Safety, , , ,

On December 19, 2017, shortly after the STOP Underrides! Bill was introduced, I called Mike Matousek, Director of Government Affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). I told him about the bill and asked him if we could discuss any concerns they might have about the legislation. He agreed to look it over.

Despite the fact that I sent reams of information about the underride problem and solutions and tried to set up face to face meetings with OOIDA representatives, OOIDA proceeded to issue a letter of opposition to Senator Gillibrand and Senator Rubio on January 29:

OOIDA S 2219 Letter

On March 3, trucker advocates Allen and Donna Smith went through the OOIDA talking points on the bill one at a time on their Radio Talk Show (Jerry, Lois, and I were their guests for the show):

  1. Allen and Donna Smith, truck safety advocates for over ten years, have used their Ask the Trucker social media platform to raise awareness about the underride problem. Thank you, Allen & Donna!
  2. Ask the Trucker blogposts:
    Underride Guard Mandate: A Counterargument to Industry Opposition
    Unknown facts about underride crashes and prevention
  3. Podcast of Ask the Trucker BlogTalkRadio: Underride Protection Act of 2017- Truck RearGuards & SideGuards

On March 16, Senator Gillibrand responded to OOIDA with a letter addressing each of their concerns. Read it for yourself and see what you think is the truth of the matter:

Letter to OOIDA from Senator Gillibrand

 

Underride Safety Hazard Notice in Accordance With Commonsense Safety Recommendations

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

When I saw a NHTSA Safety Recall Notice, which Lois Durso had received for a car she owns, I immediately thought, “We should make one of those for trucks!” A month or so later, we did.

This is not an official notice. But there are people who need this information.
Because it’s true.

Traffic Deaths STILL Public Health Crisis:”Researcher Says Auto Safety Measures Prevented Millions of Deaths”

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

Traffic safety measures ranging from seat belt and drunk driving enforcement to design standards for cars and trucks “averted a public health disaster” by preventing about 5.8 million deaths in the U.S. from 1968 through 2015, according to a new study.

The analysis found that without federal and state policies, traffic deaths annually would “likely have been in the hundreds of thousands rather than tens of thousands” in recent years. The report, published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, was by Leon Robertson, an injury epidemiology expert who taught at Yale and Harvard and has written more than 150 research papers and books, many on automotive safety. . .

Read more here: Researcher Says Auto Safety Measures Prevented Millions of Deaths, FairWarning, Christopher Jensen, March 12, 2018

I am thankful for every life saved from the fate of a motor vehicle fatality. However, there are still thousands of lives lost every year to preventable traffic deaths. And this most certainly includes the hundreds (and maybe thousands) of lives lost to Death By Truck Underride, which has been woefully neglected for decades by those who could have done something about it and which negates the safety features of modern cars.

In my book, this is still a major public health problem. And we need to start acting like it is!

Last night, Pres. Obama referred in the past tense to crash fatalities as a public health problem.