Category Archives: Truck Safety

How To Make Crashes With The Front Of A Truck More Survivable

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

Researchers, safety advocates, and underride victim survivors gathered on April 17 to discuss how to make crashes with the front of a truck more survivable. Experts from around the globe shared their expertise and answered questions:

Front Impact Guard Webinar – April 17

Video Coverage of Speaker Presentations:

Presenter Slides & Papers:

Hopefully, the information shared and learned during this discussion will be but the beginning of a collaborative global conversation leading to the reduction of preventable truck crash fatalities — one life at a time.

Posts on Front Underride Protection

Truck Impact Guards = Underride Protection!

Register for April 24 Meeting of Advisory Committee on Underride Protection

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that registration is open for the next meeting of the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP):

  • April 24, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topics: Side Underride and Front Override

Register here to observe via Zoom.

April 24 will be the fifth public meeting of the committee, which was established to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation on safety regulations to reduce underride crashes and fatalities relating to underride crashes.

Front Impact Guard Webinar – April 17

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

What is Front Underride or Override Protection?

Find out by joining this webinar

On April 17, 2024 via Zoom, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (Eastern)

AGENDA

  1. Welcome
  2. Current Regulation – Iain Knight, Director & Principal Engineer at Apollo Vehicle Safety, UK
  3. Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) View – Reimert Sjoblom,  Expert Engineer Passive Safety with the Scania Group
  4. Crash Data & Future Needs – Rikard Fredriksson, Senior Advisor at the Swedish Transport Administration, Professor at University of Chalmers, Euro NCAP Board
  5. New Countermeasures & Test Methods – Rob Thomson, Professor of Vehicle Safety at the Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden)
  6. Wrap up with Opportunity for Q&A and Discussion of What This Means for US

If you’d like to know more about front underride protection, join a Zoom presentation/discussion on April 17, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. (EST). I know it’s going to be early, but we’ll be hearing from FUP experts located in the UK and Sweden. To receive a Zoom link, send your request to: marianne@annaleahmary.com.

What is Front Underride Protection? (Find out on April 17)

Truck Impact Guards = Underride Protection

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, February 8, 2024 Meeting Record

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

The NHTSA Advisory Committee on Underride Protection held its third meeting on February 8, 2024, via Zoom. The main agenda item was rear underride. Presentations and discussions from the meeting can be viewed by using the YouTube video links below.

Meeting Segment
ACUP Welcome & Call to Order
Rulemaking Process – Lina Vallivullah (NHTSA)
A History of Trailer Rear Impact Guards from Utility’s Perspective; Jeff Bennett (Utility Trailers)
Truck Rear Underride; Matt Brumbelow (IIHS) 
Hydro Concept Rear Impact Guard (RIG); Malcolm Deighton (Hydro Aluminum Extrusions) 
Crash Avoidance Technology; Wolfgang Hahn (ZF CV Systems North America) 
Rear Underride Guard Report Recommendations & References; Lee Jackson & Jennifer Tierney (Truck Safety Coalition) 
A Historical Overview of Rear Underride Research, Recommendations, & Rulemaking; Marianne Karth (AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety)
Rear Underride Prevention – Creating Crash Compatibility: Rear Guard Standards; Rear Guard Weight; Rear Guard Retrofit; Aaron Kiefer (Collision Safety Consulting) 
ACUP Member Discussion of Past & Present Motions – NHTSA Response to Information Requests, Assessment, & Recommendations, as well as ACUP communications

Truck Impact Guards = Underride Protection

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

So, you ask, what are Truck Impact Guards? To borrow from NHTSA terminology, Rear Impact Guards are devices attached to Commercial Motor Vehicles in order to GUARD against deadly underride and intrusion into the occupant survival space of a passenger vehicle when there is a collision or IMPACT [an impinging or striking especially of one body against another, Merriam Webster] at the REAR of a large truck.

The difference a well-designed rear impact guard can make

Although NHTSA does not yet require them, a Side Impact Guard is, likewise, a device attached to a large truck to GUARD against deadly underride and intrusion into the occupant survival space of a passenger vehicle when there is a collision or IMPACT at the SIDE of a large truck.

Underride Crash Tests – Without & With Side Impact Guards

Thus, it stands to reason, even though NHTSA apparently has no plans at present to require this life-saving device, a Front Impact Guard is a device attached to a large truck to GUARD against deadly underride and intrusion into the occupant survival space of a passenger vehicle when there is a collision or IMPACT at the FRONT of a large truck.

Volvo Trucks Safety – Front Impact Guard crash test

Truck Impact Guards do not prevent crashes. But, they do compensate for the lack of crash compatibility, which exists due to the geometric mismatch between the “bumpers” of two colliding vehicles that allows one to slide UNDER the other. Effective impact guards ensure that the passenger vehicle’s crashworthiness features — air bags, crumple zones, bumpers, seat belt tensioners — operate as intended to preserve the occupant survival space. This improved crash compatibility can, therefore, serve to make truck crashes more survivable.

These engineer-designed devices can also GUARD Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) — pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists — reducing the likelihood of catastrophic injuries during collisions with large trucks.

What is Front Underride Protection? (Find out on April 17)

What is Front Underride Protection? (Find out on April 17)

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

If you’d like to know more about front underride protection, join a Zoom presentation/discussion on April 17, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. (EST). I know it’s going to be early, but we’ll be hearing from FUP experts located in the UK and Sweden. To receive a Zoom link, send your request to: marianne@annaleahmary.com.

Hear a presentation from international experts on front underride or override protection:
• Iain Knight, Director, Apollo Vehicle Safety, UK
• Rikard Fredriksson, Senior Advisor, Swedish Transport Administration
• Robert Thomson, Professor of Vehicle Safety at Chalmers University of Technology

Join in a discussion, with opportunity to ask questions, about how the UNECE Front Underrun Protection Standard from 1993 and recently published FUP research could save lives on American roads.

If you’re not able to attend, I will be recording it and will convert it to a YouTube video.

What is Front Underride Protection – Save the Date pdf

Posts on Front Underride Protection

Truck Impact Guards = Underride Protection!

Upcoming Underride Advisory Committee Meeting Schedule

Truck Safety, , , , , , ,

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced the next four meetings of the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP):

  • February 8, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topic: Rear Underride
  • March 13, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topic: Side Underride
  • April 24, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topic: Front Override
  • May 22, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topic: Underride Data

Register here to observe via Zoom.

February 8 will be the third public meeting of the committee, which was established to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation on safety regulations to reduce underride crashes and fatalities relating to underride crashes.

Lateral Protection Device+ Performance Standard = Prevention of Side Underride Tragedies

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

On January 18, 2024, engineers and underride experts gathered via Zoom to expand the Consensus Side Guard Standard, developed by TEAM Underride in 2020, to specifically address the protection of All Road Users — that is, not only the occupants of passenger vehicles but, also, pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and other Vulnerable Road Users. In 2022, the term, Lateral Protection Device PLUS or LPD+, was coined*, and now the goal was to create language for a performance standard which such a device should meet.

We had gotten a good start on this process in December 2023. We continued that invigorating discussion and wordsmithing, and this is what we came up with to define the requirements for a Lateral Protection Device PLUS, or side impact guard, on a Commercial Motor Vehicle:

A side impact guard shall be considered to meet the performance standard if it is able to:

  1. prevent intrusion into the occupant survival space of a mid-size vehicle when the Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) is struck at any location along its side, at any angle, and at any closing speed up to and including 40 mph, and
  2. prevent a Vulnerable Road User (VRU) from passing underneath the CMV in an interaction along its side.

It is our hope that this process will ultimately result in collaborative action among diverse stakeholders, including government and industry, to develop a voluntary consensus standard which can guide rulemaking and catalyze timely, widespread adoption of underride protection on the sides of large vehicles as envisioned by the Department of Transportation in 1969. For the saving of many lives.

* The term LPD+ was suggested by Garrett Mattos on December 2, 2022, during a Zoom discussion among underride experts and advocates collaborating together as TEAM Underride to advance the implementation of engineering devices to prevent Death By Underride for All Road Users.

Underride Made #1 on ‘FRONTLINE Dispatch’ Podcast Episodes of 2023

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety

Deadly truck underride was at the top of the list for most listened to Frontline podcasts in 2023:

From the use of spyware on human rights activists and journalists to a surge in deadly crashes involving large trucks, The FRONTLINE Dispatch podcast shone a spotlight on some of 2023’s most compelling investigative reporting through in-depth, thought-provoking conversations with leading journalists and documentary filmmakers.

As the year draws to a close, we’ve collected the five most-downloaded new episodes released on The FRONTLINE Dispatch feed in 2023, based on total downloads across all podcast players as of press time. Listen to the Top 5 ‘FRONTLINE Dispatch’ Podcast Episodes of 2023

#1- ‘Dangerous Trucks’ on America’s Roads

Additionally, the PBS/Frontline underride documentary, America’s Dangerous Trucks, was #8 in their most-streamed documentaries for 2023 (YouTube video has had 1,103,839 views since June 13): Watch 2023’s 10 Most-Streamed New FRONTLINE Documentaries. . .

Here are more links for extensive PBS & Frontline coverage of this issue, along with ProPublica:

So, what did you think of the PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary?

WATCH THE TRAILER

We’re very grateful for this enlightening investigative work and hope that it will help to hasten an end to preventable Death By Underride.

Unsung Underride Prevention Heroes

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Yesterday, Jerry and I received a phone call from Aaron Kiefer, who shared with us the tragic news of the unexpected death that morning of Paul Hutson. Paul, after learning about the underride hazard, devoted many hours of his life to bringing about engineering solutions. First as an engineering student intern in 2015, and later as a volunteer after hours while working as a full-time engineer, Paul was an invaluable resource to Aaron Kiefer in his development work on prototypes for the RIG Retrofit (crash test seen below) and SafetySkirt.

Paul selflessly offered his engineering talent and skills to the mission of AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety and TEAM Underride. He helped behind the scenes and on numerous crash test sites, including the Underride Crash Test Event in D.C. in 2019. He came to an Underride Roundtable, and he participated as an expert at one of our Underride Briefings for legislative staff on The Hill.

Why did Paul do this? We can no longer ask him this question, but I can only imagine that — like so many others — he understood the violence and severity of the underride problem and he loved to solve problems. This is how he described himself on LinkedIn:

  • Principal Engineer – Structural Analysis, Northrop Grumman · Full-time Working as a structural analysis engineer on Northrop Grumman’s Propulsion Systems team. My work focuses on the five-segment rocket boosters used on NASA’s Artemis, and the ground based strategic deterrent Sentinel.
  • Mechanical Engineer, Collision Safety Consulting, PLLC · Part-time Designed and analyzed a semi-trailer safety device that protects passenger vehicles during collision with a semi-trailer, preventing both side and rear underrides from occurring. My work included product design, drafting, analysis (FEA), and full-scale crash testing the system.

Just last week, an Australian engineer died. George Rechnitzer, whom Jerry and I had met early on in our mission to make truck crashes more survivable, contributed greatly to understanding and solving the underride problem. Of course, numerous other engineers have likewise passed away before seeing their contributions to underride research fully implemented to benefit road users. That includes Mark Roush from Vanguard Trailers, who held a side underride guard patent and who worked on Vanguard’s TOUGHGuard design. It also includes Rod Ehrlich, who among other accomplishments worked on a side underride guard design while an engineer at Wabash Trailers.

My Underride Hero Hall of Fame is full of well-known as well as unsung heroes, who have made important contributions to solving the underride problem:

Imagine what we could accomplish if the hard work of these engineers, who are no longer with us, were to be acknowledged and embraced by key members of the trucking industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection. Together, how many lives could we save? Let’s take the baton and finish the race.