If your eyes are glazing over from my endless posts on truck safety, this one is a little different. Dawn King, president of the Truck Safety Coalition, lost her dad in a truck crash. She talks here about what she saw and experienced at the amazing Underride Roundtable on May 5, 2016. Thanks for sharing, Dawn.
Read it here (include crash test video): Crash dummy survives!
The day after the Underride Roundtable, I feel drained, exhausted. There may have been a few people whom I did not greet, but it is quite possible that I talked with almost all of the 84 participants. That, in itself was very rewarding–touching base in person with so many people with whom I have spoken via phone or corresponded online over the last few years about this underride issue.
The successful crash testing of the Stoughton trailer’s new underride guard design in the 30% offset crash area (and Wabash’s last week) — like the other crash tests which I have observed — was a bittersweet moment. Grateful for the victory! Mourning that it was too late for Mary and AnnaLeah.
Not to mention the emotional challenge of sharing our story in that setting.
And then there were the stimulating discussions and the fact that I raised my hand countless times to ask a question. Push, push, push. . . challenge, question. Surely there are some who think that I am a thorn in their side.
But when it comes right down to it, most of those tasked with the responsibility of doing something about the underride problem (thankfully) do not have that inner voice reminding them that every ounce of patience with the status quo, every moment of pausing to be thankful for that bit of progress which has been made, is torture because it feels like a compromise is being made to stop forward momentum–thus giving up on the Best Possible Protection and sacrificing the life of yet one more underride victim as the Crash Death Clock continues to tick. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
With yesterday’s successful crash test, 4 out of the 8 major trailer manufacturers have passed all of the tests posed by IIHS at 100%, 50%, and 30% overlap. That means, when a passenger vehicle collides with the rear of 50% of new tractor-trailers at a speed of up to 35 mph, passengers have a better chance of survival. That is good news.
What is next? Where do we go from here?
Looks like we need to get back to the drawing board come Monday morning. We’ve still got our work cut out for us. But, now that such a diverse and large group has voluntarily gathered together for an informative and challenging time at the Underride Roundtable, it is my hope that communication and collaboration will continue and good things will come out of our day at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Ruckersville, Virginia, on May 5, 2016.
Thank you to each one who went out of their way to participate in this memorable event. In memory of those who died too early, AnnaLeah & Mary and thousands of others. . .
U.S. can do better than simply adopt Canada’s standard on underride guards
You will find multiple links below reporting on the Underride Roundtable, which took place on May 5, 2016 at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville Center, co-hosted by them with the Truck Safety Coalition, and our family (AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety).
Please note: If you are visiting this site for the first time, please be aware that the reason this Underride Roundtable was organized was because the CURRENT DOT/NHTSA underride standards are TOO WEAK. In way too many cases, even new trucks with underride guards meeting current rules (not just corroded ones) fail and allow underride by a passenger vehicle colliding with them. People die from these kinds of crashes and it has been proven that stronger guards (if required and manufactured) could stop this deadly underride!
I know about this because my two youngest daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), died because of this kind of crash on May 4, 2013. I was driving. A truck hit us–spinning us around so that we went backwards into the tractor-trailer ahead of us. AnnaLeah and Mary were in the back seat which went under the truck. They died. I did not.
Video and information on our underride crash
Underride Victim Information Table at the Underride Roundtable
View the entire Underride Roundtable here in two archived webcast sessions, https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1100569, including:
Underride Research, Studies, and Reports: Underride Roundtable To Consider Underride Research From Around the Globe
Media Reports on the First Truck Underride Roundtable:
Here is a brief look at the event from the law firm of Andy Young, who was the moderator of the panel discussion in the afternoon:
Like this facebook page during May and Nurenberg, Paris, Heller, & McCarthy will donate $2 to AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety toward research & advocacy efforts.
Volunteers who have lost loved ones to #undderide crashes @MaryandAnnaLeah #trucksafety #underrideinitiative https://t.co/aH2L5zAHKW
— Rebekah Chojnacki, Ph.D. (@RebekahJKarth) May 5, 2016
A glimpse of AnnaLeah (17) & Mary (13) and the crash which took their lives. . .
Around 90 people attended the Underride Roundtable today. The discussions were lively and interactions were fruitful. More reports will be upcoming in the days ahead.
View the entire event here: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1100569
Reports on the event:
Volunteers who have lost loved ones to #undderide crashes @MaryandAnnaLeah #trucksafety #underrideinitiative https://t.co/aH2L5zAHKW
— Rebekah Chojnacki, Ph.D. (@RebekahJKarth) May 5, 2016
I am here in Virginia waiting to go tomorrow morning to the IIHS’s Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville for the Underride Roundtable. I wish that I was not here–not because I’m not looking forward to it, because I am. I am expecting it to help move us forward as a country to improving underride protection.
The reason, of course, is that I’m here because we lost AnnaLeah and Mary. And in the aftermath, we discovered that they might not have died if the underride guard had been stronger–more effective. But the federal standard did not require it to be so.
And that is why we are here: to change that. For somebody else.
We stopped at IIHS before going to our motel so that we could set up a table filled with handouts on the history of failed underride protection, as well as photos and mementos of Mary and AnnaLeah. Let no one forget the point of the gathering: to create survivable crashes in order to save lives.
Participants will see this reminder at our table:
Just had a phone interview with ABC. Pray that they decide the Underride Roundtable is something that they want to attend and report on.
If you LIKE the facebook page of the Nurenberg, Paris, Heller & McCarthy law firm during the month of May, they will donate $2 to AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety (maximum $1500).
To add your support, go here and LIKE their page: https://www.facebook.com/NurenbergParis/
We are excited at this opportunity to benefit from a community-minded organization.
We were privileged to become friends with one of their attorneys, Andy Young, who also holds a CDL, owns a small truck company, and is passionate about truck safety. He will be the Moderator of the panel discussion at the upcoming Underride Roundtable at IIHS on May 5.
Last year, I saw this statue of two young girls excited about a butterfly in a jar. It reminded me so much of AnnaLeah and Mary. We decided to get it this year to help us as we remember the 3rd anniversary of our truck crash, on May 4, 2013, which took Mary and AnnaLeah from us.
They were a bit older (though not much), than these girls seem to be, when their lives were frozen in time–with no warning, rhyme or reason. Those of us whom they left behind will continue on with our lives–getting older, making new memories–forced to do so without them joining in.
We will be different than we might have otherwise been if they had not been snatched from us. And they have been robbed of all that might have been. Our two fun-loving, creative and adventurous girls.
Imagine how that unnatural disturbance is taking place all over our country and globe as many lives are unexpectedly and tragically changed forever. 33,000/year traffic crash deaths in the U.S. on average. Year after year.
We will remember you, precious ones.
AnnaLeah & Mary: Our Butterfly Girls
April 30. 2016
We just got home from helping with Aaron Kiefer’s latest side guard test. Watch it here:
Aaron will be taking this truck with his innovative side/rear guard to the Underride Roundtable at IIHS next week for everyone to see. Then he plans to leave it there in hopes that IIHS will do their own crash testing of his prototype.
Here’s my report on the first crash test of his side guard prototype on March 13, 2016: Witnessed safety defect in action at underride crash tests; this is what snuffed out my daughters’ lives.
Photo album from a day of crash testing from preparation to execution:
If only more had been done to protect against underride before it was too late for Mary and AnnaLeah.
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