Aaron Kiefer readies his Rear Reinforcement Attachment, an aluminum device installed at the outer edges of a trailer’s rear underride guard to strengthen it — preventing underride to make truck crashes more survivable & save lives.
Making plans for an upcoming crash test in North Carolina. Stay tuned as we work hard to #STOPunderrides!
Why is this needed? See the difference between a weak and strong rear underride guard:
On October 26, 2019, we set up a STOP Underrides! Booth at the North Carolina State Fair as part of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program Safety City. Over 90% of the people, who learned from us about the underride problem, decided to sign a paper copy of the STOP Underrides! Petition. Those 270 people are asking Congress to pass legislation which would end these preventable tragedies.
This chart assumes that our observation of overwhelming support from 90% of the fairgoers could be extrapolated to the population of the United States. It provides an estimate of how many people would want action taken to prevent underride if they knew the facts. I calculated the number of projected signers for each state (look for yours) and then added up the total for the entire United States: 277,930,023!
State Petition Signers Estimates By Population
Next week, we’ll be delivering over 8,000 paper petitions (printed from signatures garnered online) to four Congressional Offices in Washington, D.C. (and letting other offices take a peek).
Do you think that they’ll take note of this message from their constituents? Will they do anything as a result? Maybe not, but I’m going to make sure that I do what I can to disturb their sleep.
The fabulous Fall weather brought out thousands of people to the North Carolina State Fair on Saturday, October 26. At the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA) SAFETY TENT, we were ready for the hundreds of people who stopped at our booth. We seized the opportunity to share with them underride stories, photos, and crash test videos.
We didn’t actually keep track, but I would venture a guess that well over 90% of those who took the time to listen to us, and often ask questions, were glad to hear that there was a specific action which they could take after hearing about the horror of underride and how they and their families are vulnerable to this preventable traffic safety problem.
In fact, after they learned that Congress could take action to mandate that available engineering solutions be installed on all large trucks, 263 people were more than willing to sign a paper copy of our STOP Underrides! Petition.
One young woman got tears in her eyes as she was gazing at our poster:
We learned that some years ago, when she was 12, she and her mom crashed into the side of a trailer and were spared complete underride when a piece of the trailer floor somehow lodged into their car preventing it from going any further. She had no idea that underride happens to others and found it a relief to be able to sign the petition.
She wrote in a comment on her petition: The most important piece of legislation!
North Carolina U.S. legislators would do well to pay heed to this clear call from their constituents:
We Want You To STOP Underrides!
My son is one of those who experienced sudden unintended acceleration while driving his Toyota Camry on a city street. Thankfully, the circumstances were such that he was not killed or injured. But he could have been.
I was worried about him continuing to drive the car. Would it happen again – only this time with a more dire outcome? Posts I wrote at the time:
Read this Fair Warning just-published article: In Echo of a Notorious Safety Scandal, Toyota Has Settled Hundreds of Sudden Acceleration Cases
Without admitting liability, Toyota since 2014 has settled 537 claims blaming sudden acceleration for crashes that killed or seriously injured people, according to a court document Toyota filed last month. Many, but not all, of the lawsuits asserted that electronic defects were the cause of sudden acceleration.
“Toyota has settled most of them, because there is some indication of something going wrong that doesn’t seem to be explained,” Don Slavik, a plaintiff attorney appointed by U.S. District Judge James Selna to assist in the litigation against Toyota, told FairWarning.
How much Toyota has paid in settlements is not publicly known because the company requires plaintiffs to sign a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of each settlement.
Automotive safety advocates see the complaints as a sign that Toyota and federal regulators failed to properly address the root of the problem when they had the opportunity years earlier. . .
Kane, the car safety consultant, says he continues to field calls from drivers who describe their Toyota or Lexus cars suddenly surging in parking lots. He says that most of these events occur when cars are initially traveling at lower speeds. The cases aren’t serious enough to take to court, but he says that the events make people afraid to drive their own cars and can raise insurance rates if the crashes resulted in property damage.
“It is unbelievable how many sudden unintended acceleration events continue to occur post recall,” Kane told FairWarning. “There are very few high-speed sudden unintended acceleration events, but the lower speeds are a dime a dozen.”
Victims of traffic safety issues clearly need to be represented by an advocate in a position to take significant action to ensure that problems are appropriately addressed. A National Traffic Safety Ombudsman.
On September 3, 1969, according to the Congressional Record from that day, Congress discussed plans to fund and expand the National Traffic & Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966. Although we have made progress since that time, still today there are way too many people dying on our roads. We have not made it a national priority to address these deaths and serious injuries.
A National Traffic Safety Act of 2019 would provide a framework for a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to oversee a Towards Zero Traffic Safety Task Force of diverse stakeholders to collaborate for Safer Vehicles, Safer Trucks, Safer Streets, and Safer Drivers to address the national public health and traffic safety crisis in order to make a significant reduction of the 36,560 annual traffic-related deaths in the United States (2018).
Russell Mokhiber, Corporate Crime Reporter, published an interview on this proposed strategy on October 29: Marianne Karth Calls for Creation of National Traffic Safety Ombudsman.
Congress, the ball is in your court: Will you act now to end these deaths?
PETITION: End Preventable Crash Fatalities: Appoint a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman
National Traffic Safety Act of 2019 Brochure inc. LINKS
GAO & CRS Analysis on Ombudsman
It’s time to provide the documentation to counteract unfounded fallacies and speculations about underride protection.
COMMON MISCONCEPTION: ” A European trailer maker saw trailer failures due to the increased rigidity in the trailer structure from added frame supports for side underride guards, TTMA reported. The trailers were less flexible when operated over uneven road surfaces or on surfaces that produced twisting forces, which led to the trailers becoming disabled during highway use, presenting safety risks to other motorists.” https://www.truckinginfo.com/340949/should-truck-trailers-have-side-underride-guards
RELATED FACTS: 1. ATA is referring to concerns about the kinds of damage experienced by owners of Krone trailers in Europe. A side guard developed by the Krone company in Europe had problems with causing cracks over time in the trailer floor. This has been pointed to by many in the industry as “proof” that no side guard can be designed which will not damage the trailer and cause other safety problems. Please take some time to review this deposition and an excerpt which includes questioning of a Krone representative.
KRONE Deposition Excerpt Side Guard
2. You will find that although it was not a technical success, the company chose not to continue developing it due to economic reasons because safety was not their original motivation. At the time they were the only ones trying to stop cars from going under the side of trucks in Europe and they chose not to continue on that path. However, Mr. Sanders was not implying that it would have been impossible to make corrections had they tried.
3. Krone embarked upon a complete curtain-sided trailer redesign, which happened to have a low frame. Clearly the connections and the members weren’t designed/constructed adequately and they had problems. Mr. Sanders says that this experience is not indicative of what will happen when a side guard is added to an existing US-style box trailer.
4. It should be noted that Krone did not design a side guard to go on the side of a trailer, instead they designed a new type of trailer which had side underride protection. It was the trailer design which had technical problems — not a side guard which caused structural problems to an existing trailer design.
5. Also, it is my understanding, from the deposition, that Krone had a working relationship with Wabash Trailers in the U.S. at the time when they were working on the trailer which had a side guard on it. Although Krone made the decision not to continue development of side underride protection on their trailers, Wabash Trailers themselves did R&D work on side guards. In fact, they have showcased their prototype side guard at truck shows in the U.S. in 2017 and 2018. And they have a side guard patent issued in the U.S. on March 14, 2019.
UPDATE, June 19, 2023: Please note that we were able to have a Zoom discussion with the German engineer who designed the system used on the Krone trailers. Here the story from him: Global Underride Discussion.
COMMON MISCONCEPTION: “TTMA also pointed out that there would be a significantly increased likelihood of high-centering of the side guards on steep changes in highway and street levels, such as elevated railroad crossings, which can result in tractor-trailers becoming stranded on railroad tracks.” https://www.truckinginfo.com/340949/should-truck-trailers-have-side-underride-guards
RELATED FACTS: Attached below is a compilation of all railroad grade crossing accidents compiled by the Federal Railroad Administration for the past 5 years — compiled to address the supposed counter-safety “concerns” expressed by TTMA etc. like railroad hang-ups.
In the last five years for the population of trailers we currently have including the lowboys, car haulers, cattle haulers, beverage trailers, etc there have been ZERO fatalities coded as truck-trailer stuck on track.
Even if one were to assume a side guard at 18 inches high would create more hangups and accidents – and the standards on grade crossings say they won’t – it is just not a statistically frequent fatal or injurious event in comparison to side underrides. Maybe this is why the NTSB, the one responsible for investigating significant rail transport accidents, still recommended side guards for trailers.
COMMON MISCONCEPTION: “The problem of added weight and reduced payload, many regulations result in unintended consequences. . .” https://www.truckinginfo.com/340949/should-truck-trailers-have-side-underride-guards
RELATED FACTS: 1) Like any new technology, over time the technology will be improved upon and costs will decrease. 2) If reduced payload means more trucks are on the road (although a weight exemption has been entertained and not all trucks run full all the time), some people speculate that there will be more truck crashes as a result. I postulate that those crashes (because of the underride protection which will be on those trucks) will be more survivable and, thus, will not lead to an increase in fatalities. 3) Some say that if there are side guards, when cars collide with the side guard and are deflected, then there may be secondary collisions as a result. I say that any secondary collision will most probably be less deadly because the crashworthy safety features of the cars will be triggered and effective at protecting passengers — unlike what occurs in underride when the crumple zones, airbags, and seat belt tensioners are not able to function as intended. 4) Besides, if a car goes under the side of a truck and keeps going, as Joshua Brown’s Tesla did, it could also lead to secondary collisions.
A comment has been made that a side underride regulation would be putting the cart before the horse due to the limited amount of available alternatives. That brings up the question: If there is an engineering problem in an industry, should we look to the industry to see what they can do about it? Why on earth should they sit around waiting for someone else to solve it for them?! Sadly, that seems to have been the prevailing industry attitude since at least 1969.
Fortunately, in addition to Perry Ponder’s AngelWing side guard and Aaron Kiefer’s SafetySkirt, some trailer manufacturers have been working on development of side underride solutions. But, unfortunately, there has been little to no encouragement given to them by the federal government or other components of the trucking industry to move forward. And potential investors are hesitant to back innovations until they are assured that there is likely to be a market.
Vanguard Strap Side Underride Guard Patent
Who will free us of this chicken & egg dilemma which has cost so many lives?
I’m sitting on the edge of my seat — waiting for a breakthrough that will bring us to a day where there will be no need for yet-another lawsuit to be filed for a side underride wrongful death. Because underride protection will make that a thing of the past. . .
Meanwhile the Valenzuela family filed a lawsuit in California on September 24, 2019, because their son, Irving Valenzuela (18), died as a result of a side underride crash on July 10, 2017. Because — among other things — side underride protection could have given him a CHANCE AT A BETTER OUTCOME.
VALENZUELA.First Amended Complaint
Perhaps your political leanings favor self-regulation rather than imposing regulations upon industry. But what do you do if that industry has opposed life-saving measures for fifty years and thousands of people die as a result?
Like a UK Committee argued about the tax industry, might you conclude that, “Government needs to take a more active role in regulating the [trucking] industry, as it evidently cannot be trusted to regulate itself”?
Eight major trailer manufacturers have designed stronger rear underride guards to withstand a crash test at 35 mph all the way across the back of the trailer — earning them the TOUGHGuard Award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). This is significant because their previous designs — though meeting the current federal standard for rear guards — have been proven too weak and ineffective by IIHS.
There are about 300,000 new trailers sold every year. Some manufacturers are selling the stronger guard as Standard on all new trailers. Others are selling it as an Option, meaning that trailers may still be sold with guards known to be too weak to stop cars and save lives.
In addition, if we don’t retrofit the existing 11 million+ trailers with stronger guards — which will meet the TOUGHGuard criteria (plus side and rear underride protection) — it will be years before the entire fleet will be safer to drive around.
Fortunately, some of the trailer manufacturers have a retrofit kit for the rear guards, so that a trucking company could theoretically purchase kits to make their trucks safer. However, without a mandate to do so, I don’t imagine that will happen too quickly.
But I am encouraged by the work of Aaron Kiefer, a North Carolina crash reconstructionist who has seen so many underride tragedies that he decided to design some solutions on his own — primarily out of his own pocket and on his own time, with the support of his family who share their husband and dad with his life-saving project.
Just this weekend, Aaron installed the latest version of his Rear Reinforcement Attachment to a 53 foot trailer. Over the last five years, Aaron has been developing a design for two aluminum triangles, which are fastened to both sides of the trailer and then attached to both ends of the existing rear underride guard.
This reinforces the strength of the rear guard — improving its capability to stop a car and prevent underride. But it, also, serves as the point of attachment for Aaron’s side guard invention, the SafetySkirt — polyester webbing which can be combined with a side skirt to both save fuel and save lives.
You can see the SafetySkirt being tested at the D.C. Underride Crash Test Event on March 26, 2019:
We are looking forward to the day when Aaron’s SafetySkirt System can be tested at IIHS to prove its usefulness as an affordable, lightweight solution, which could theoretically be available as an option to retrofit any truck on the road with effective side and rear underride protection.
Aaron, like Perry Ponder who invented the AngelWing side guard, and countless other engineers, who should be given a green light to solve the underride problem, are amazing members of my Underride Hero Hall of Fame — along with my husband Jerry who has contributed a wealth of ideas in this underride advocacy journey.
According to a WUSA9 Investigative Report on Underride, court documents show, “As a direct, legal, and proximate result of Utility Trailer’s negligence, Plaintiffs’ decedent Riley Hein LOST A CHANCE AT A BETTER OUTCOME when instead of simply colliding with the semitrailer, his car became trapped underneath the semitrailer, resulting in a fire and directly leading to his death.”
That’s what the #STOPunderrides Bill is all about! If passed, this legislation will give motorists and vulnerable road users A CHANCE AT A BETTER OUTCOME when they have the misfortune of colliding with a truck. Effective underride protection will prevent underride and enable the car’s crashworthy safety features, like the crumple zone, airbags, and seat belt tensioners, to do their job and protect the car’s occupants from deadly injuries.
This includes not only SIDE underrides but also those collisions that occur at the FRONT and the REAR of trucks. A few weeks ago, I obtained a FARS data report from NHTSA (DOT) for “reported” underride deaths during 1994-2017. It clearly shows that the number of reported underride deaths did not significantly decrease after a federal standard for rear underride guards was implemented in 1998.
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS): Underride Deaths, 1994-2017
Apparently, neither NHTSA nor the trucking industry bothered to make it a priority to look at those statistics and ask some hard but important questions, “Why are people continuing to die under trucks?” and “What can we do about it?”
In fact, just the opposite apparently occurred as evidenced by court documents which reveal that the trucking industry deliberately acted to protect themselves from being forced to add underride protection to their trucks. The TTMA (Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association) did not do this alone; the ATA (American Trucking Associations) played their part as well.
The question is: Where do we go from here? Congress, I’d say that the ball is definitely in your court.
