Category Archives: Truck Safety

Certified Letters Alert 200 Carriers of Underride Dangers & Existing Solutions

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

The fact that truck and trailer designs can potentially allow underride when there are collisions with passenger vehicles has a long history of being misunderstood. That’s why we recently sent letters to two lists of “100 top carriers” in North America via Certified Mail.

Our goal was to make sure that their Boards and CEOs received information about the availability of engineering solutions which can modify those designs in order to prevent deadly underride and passenger compartment intrusion.

Here’s our mailing list of the 200 companies:

Mailing List for 2020 Top 200 Carriers

Here’s the Carrier Letter Template:

CARRIER LETTERS Please Stop Preventable Underride Injury and Death

200 Certified Letters Ready To Mail!

Note: This was not our first communication to the trucking industry. Starting in 2014, less than one year after our crash, Jerry Karth began sending letters to trailer manufacturers and trucking companies — informing them of the IIHS underride research — and asking them to voluntarily upgrade underride protection. It actually made a significant impact: A grieving dad got the attention of the trucking industry & made a difference.

Later, Great Dane announced its improved rear guard as a retrofit option. And, in 2017, Stoughton Trailers held a press conference at the ATA/TMC trucking conference in Nashville to announce their improved rear guard and asked me to speak at it. Here’s a quote from their press release:

Upon learning of Stoughton’s decision to make this improved protection available on all of their new trailers, Marianne said, “Stoughton’s cooperative efforts to improve the performance of its rear impact guard demonstrates a genuine commitment to safety. Stoughton is to be commended for taking a significant leadership role in design and safety. In my opinion, many lives will be saved as a result of Stoughton’s efforts.”

And, of course, we are grateful that nine trailer manufacturers now have improved rear guard designs available as an option or for some as Standard.

So, while we are working to make this life-saving technology mandatory, we continue to reach out to the trucking industry. Communication, cooperation, and collaboration are essential. Let’s keep at it and — together — get this job done!

Certified Letters Alert 200 Carriers of Underride Dangers & Existing Solutions

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

The fact that truck and trailer designs can potentially allow underride when there are collisions with passenger vehicles has a long history of being misunderstood. With that in mind, we recently sent letters to two lists of “100 top carriers” in North America via Certified Mail.

We wanted to make sure that their Boards and CEOs received information about the availability of engineering solutions which can modify those designs in order to prevent deadly underride and passenger compartment intrusion.

Here’s our mailing list of the 200 companies:

Mailing List for 2020 Top 200 Carriers

Here’s the Carrier Letter Template:

CARRIER LETTERS Please Stop Preventable Underride Injury and Death

Letters to 200 Carriers — Ready to Mail!
USPS receipt for 200 Certified letters!
It’s past time to take care of the problem — don’t you think?!
Roya (1978-2004). AnnaLeah (1995-2013), Mary (1999-2013)

Basic Underride Information

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

This post provides basic underride information, as well as a running list of recent relevant posts.

  1. Underride Crash Memorials These are posts in memory of a few of the thousands of underride victims. The tip of the iceberg of senseless, preventable deaths. I will slowly be adding more.
  2. Can the Insurance Industry Help End the Unfair Fight of Truck Underride Tragedies?
  3. Why are we working so hard to get weak rear underride guards replaced?
  4. @SecretaryPete, Will you fix flawed underride analysis or let deaths continue?
  5. Families glad new infrastructure law will address underride crashes, WRTV, November 18, 2021
  6. First responders train to save lives during underride crashes, WRTV, November 23, 2021
  7. Raleigh Mom: Infrastructure Bill Will Prevent Crashes Like the One That Killed My Girls , Raleigh News&Observer, November 18, 2021
  8. Rear impact guard now part of annual truck inspection, CCJ, November 15, 2021
  9. FMCSA Issues Final Rule: Rear Underride Guards To Be Part Of Annual Inspections, November 20, 2021
  10. Thoughts on Landmark Underride Legislation
  11. AAJ Supports Trailer Safety Recall Petition: “NHTSA is well within its authority to issue a recall”
  12. Unguarded & Unsafe: Death By Underride by Eric Hein, July 15, 2021
  13. STOP Underrides Petition can be found here.
  14. Important Videos: Basics of Underride; Front Underride Protection crash test; Side Guard crash test; Rear Guard crash test; Rear Retrofit crash test
  15. A Timeline of Underride Safety
  16. Certified Letters Alert 200 Carriers of Underride Dangers & Solutions
  17. History of Underride Research & Reports: 1896-2019
  18. Petition for NHTSA To Recall Semitrailers Due To Lack Of Side Underride Guards
  19. Will DOT Respond to Petition for Underride Rulemaking on Single Unit Trucks?
  20. Side Guard Costs Likely To Decrease With Higher Deployment Volumes
  21. Protecting Passenger Vehicles from Side Underride with Heavy Trucks More research on side underride has just been published by SAE International following a presentation by Garrett Mattos of the Friedman Research Center at a SAE Conference. Hopefully, the Department of Transportation now has enough research to make good on their March 19, 1969 intention to add underride protection to the sides of large vehicles.
  22. IIHS Research Provides Foundation for Traffic Safety Legislation – Including Underride
  23. What will it take to get UNDERRIDE on DOT Regulatory Agenda? We’ve been waiting 52+ years for DOT to move forward with side guards on large trucks — not to mention improving rear guard regulations and adding front underride protection. After numerous petitions, comprehensive underride rulemaking still has not made it the onto the DOT Unified Regulatory Agenda.
  24. Collaborative Discussion of Side Guard Challenges on Specialty Trucks I was very pleased with the collaborative discussion which took place via Zoom on Monday, March 29, 2021, regarding the challenges of adding side guard safety technology to specialty trucks. Participants included primarily engineers and small companies who have been working on researching, designing, and/or marketing solutions to the underride problem. The meeting was also quietly observed by families of underride victims and administrative officials from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
  25. The March Madness of Competing Traffic Safety Interests What is it like to compete for the attention of government leaders in order to get traction on the traffic safety problem which took your loved one’s life? Envision a press conference on a hot topic where a cacophony of reporters can be heard shouting out — vying for the opportunity to have their question be the one that gets answered.
  26. Time for a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman Almost five years ago, after delivering a Vision Zero Petition to leaders in Washington, D.C., I realized that we need something more than a White House Vision Zero Task Force and a National Vision Zero Goal. We need a National Traffic Safety Ombudsman to be at the helm of a nationwide network of community traffic safety advocates. Someone who will have a place at the federal table — with the authority to take ongoing action on behalf of vulnerable victims of vehicle violence.
  27. Will NHTSA & NTSB Address Side Underride Factor In Latest Tesla Crash Investigation? I have again requested that NHTSA and NTSB address the side underride factor in their investigation of yet another Tesla side underride crash.
  28. Truck Underride Victims & Families Host News Conference for STOP Underrides Act Introduction On Monday, March 8, 2021, truck crash victims’ families hosted a news conference to discuss their stories and the recent introduction of the STOP Underrides Act of 2021 — on March 4, 2021 in the Senate and March 8 in the House.
  29. Engineers, Trucking Industry, & Victim Advocates Collaborate at Side Guard Task Force On a Friday afternoon — February 26, 2021 — over 50 people met via Zoom to discuss comprehensive underride protection. The purpose of the meeting was to report on progress which has been made by several subcommittees since an earlier meeting in 2020 — including Industry Engagement, Research, and Engineering Subcommittees.
  30. Should we be concerned about side guards getting hung up on railroad tracks? I keep hearing members of the trucking industry bring up the possibility of side guards on trailers getting hung-up on railroad tracks. They point to it as a reason to not require side guards on all new trucks. Is that a valid concern? And where is their documentation?
  31. Transport Companies Provide Feedback on Side Guard Operational Issues We know that the trucking industry has expressed concern about potential operational issues which could occur when side guards are installed on large trucks. In order to address those concerns, we asked several trucking companies to give us feedback about their experience after installing side guards on their tractor-trailers.
  32. Consensus Side Guard Standard On April 17, 2020, over 40 people participated in a virtual meeting of a volunteer Underride Protection Committee’s “Side Guard Task Force.” This included two engineers from trailer manufacturers. As a follow-up, several subcommittees began to hold virtual meetings, including an Underride Engineering Subcommittee.
  33. Utility Trailers Encourages Retrofit of Rear Impact Guards To Prevent Underride Last evening, I received some amazing news! Utility Trailer Manufacturing has announced that their improved Rear Impact Guard (RIG) will be offered at a discount.
  34. FMCSA Proposed Rule For Inspection of Rear Underride Guards A red letter day: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) at long last has proposed a rule to add rear underride guards to Appendix G. What does that mean? It means that rear underride guards will be required to be in good condition in order to pass an annual vehicle inspection. Once the rule is actually issued.
  35. “Chattanoga crash that killed 5 underscores bill to add protective barriers to semi trucks”
  36. Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride It is to their credit that nine U.S. trailer manufacturers have improved their rear underride guard design to meet the IIHS TOUGHGuard standard and seven of them are putting it on all new trailers as Standard. What that means is that they have surpassed the current federal standard and have been crash tested to show that they are more likely to prevent underride and catastrophic Passenger Compartment Intrusion (PCI) — thereby more likely to save lives when passenger vehicles rear end tractor-trailers.
  37. Save Lives by Lighting up Tractor-Trailers & Tanker Trucks Truck drivers can play an important role in making sure that the trailers which they haul are as visible as possible to other drivers on the road — especially at nighttime. On October 15, 2018, Leslie and Sophie Rosenberg lost their lives when they collided with the side of a tanker late at night.
  38. Truck Driver Mistakes Don’t Excuse Industry & Government Negligence To Solve Underride Problem Thanksgiving Eve, another apparent underride victim lost her life: Though the truck driver may have made a mistake, not all the blame rests with him for a crash which might have had a different outcome with effective underride protection. Carriers, trailer manufacturers, DOT, & Congress can make these kinds of truck crashes more survivable.
  39. A fully-guarded trailer hits the road – ready to STOP underride! Engineering ingenuity and a lot of hard work went into the research, development, and installation of this fully-guarded trailer system. This week, a small carrier in North Carolina became part of our pilot program. We are thankful that they have agreed to provide us feedback on this #SaferTruck as they drive it on the road to carry out their transport business.
  40. On August 19, we hosted another Underride Staff Briefing — this time via Zoom. We are providing Congressional Offices with the PowerPoint pdf from that presentation, including comments from engineers with expertise in underride as well as underride families: Underride Briefing PowerPoint pdf (inc. links to resources & video)
  41. Crash Tests of Rear Underride Guard Reinforcement Attachments, 2016 & 2020
  42. Media Reports & Video Footage Unveil Highlights of the Successful D.C. Underride Crash Test Event Read more here.
  43. Comparison Chart of Underride Provisions in Various Bills
  44. A quick look at some of the more recent efforts to STOP underride tragedies: Update on Underride News
  45. SOCIAL MEDIA: #STOPunderrides Tweets & Facebook Pages: STOP Underrides Act of 2019 and Save Lives/Stop Underrides., AnnaLeah&MaryforTruckSafety , stopunderrides.org
  46. Underride Crash Memorials These are posts in memory of a few of the thousands of underride victims. The tip of the iceberg of senseless, preventable deaths. I will slowly be adding more.

They paid the price:

Twice Victims: Underride Families Re-traumatized When Elected Officials Fail To Speak Up

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

Too often, families of underride victims not only face the trauma of horrific, unexpected, and preventable death by underride but they, also, have to deal with the frustration of failure to convince their U.S. legislators to support change.

Amy Cohen, co-founder of Families for Safe Streets, a coalition of surviving family members that confronts traffic violence through advocacy and support services, said that . . . the families she works with frequently report being re-traumatized when their elected officials fail to speak up. Joe Biden Lost His Wife and Daughter to Our Traffic Violence Epidemic. Could He Be the First President to Do Something to End it?

On August 19, we hosted another Underride Staff Briefing — this time via Zoom. We are providing Congressional Offices with the PowerPoint pdf from that presentation, including comments from engineers with expertise in underride as well as underride families.

Underride Briefing PowerPoint pdf (inc. links to resources & video)

Underride tragedies happen to the constituents of every elected official. They’ve been made fully aware of both the deadly problem and its available engineering solutions. The ball is in your court, Congress. Do your job.

Ignoring Underride Problem Discards Years of Automotive Crashworthiness Efforts

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

Perry Ponder, who first brought the 1969 DOT discussion of side underride protection to my attention in 2016 and has invented the AngelWing side guard, recently submitted another Public Comment to NHTSA. He addresses industry concerns about side guards — providing thorough documentation.

IIHS Side Guard Crash Test, March 20, 2017

An excerpt of Ponder’s 2020 comments: Continuing to allow truck and trailer induced PCI in rear and side underride crashes to occur at otherwise survivable crash speeds (delta-V’s of 45mph and beyond) discards years of crashworthiness efforts and wastes the safety benefits we have come to expect and pay for in our cars.

From an engineering perspective the need for vehicle crash compatibility in the form of adequate heavy truck underride guarding is apparent in order to protect against the hazard of PCI which exposes the vulnerable head and neck region to severe, potentially fatal or crippling injury. This hazard is easily remedied by readily available materials and simple structural analysis. Read more here.

Here is Perry’s 2016 Public Comment in which he asked for NHTSA to extend underride protection to the sides of trucks and mentioned that it was the original intent of the underride rulemaking in 1969. This is what the Federal Highway Administration said at that time,

It is anticipated that the proposed standard will be amended, after technical studies have been completed, to extend the requirement for underride protection to the sides of large vehicles.

Imagine! In 1969.

Here is that 1969 document:

1969 NPRM, Docket No. 1-11; Notice 2
1969 NPRM, Docket No. 1-11; Notice 2 p.2

This was the original intent of NHTSA rulemakers in the 1969 NPRM, Docket No. 1-11; Notice 2. 

How You Can Help

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

June 18, 2020, CALL TO ACTION

When a vehicle goes under a big truck, it’s called an underride crash.  This type of crash is extremely dangerous and completely preventable. Installing better guards on big trucks would prevent this type of crash.

There is an Infrastructure Bill being considered by the House Transportation & Infrastucture Committee called the INVEST in America Act which includes underride legislation. We are also waiting for the Senate Commerce Committee to introduce their version of an Infrastructure Bill soon. We are hoping it will include underride legislation.

Become part of the solution by sending an email TODAY to U.S. Legislators in Congress. Tell them that you want them to support Underride Legislation in the Infrastructure Bill.

Members of the U.S. Congress
U.S. Senators – Get contact information for your Senators in the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Representatives – Find the website and contact information for your Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. Find your Rep by zip here.

You can also tag them on a Tweet. Use these hashtags: #STOPunderrides #UnderrideVictimsMatter.

Thank you for taking action. Share this message with your friends so we can make a significant impact at a crucial time.

Urgent Call to Action on Truck Safety (June 16)

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

UPDATE, June 18, 2020: Thank you to those who took action. The Garcia Amendment passed. The Cohen Amendment did not pass.

When a vehicle goes under a big truck, it’s called an underride crash.  This type of crash is extremely dangerous and completely preventable.  Installing better guards on big trucks would prevent this type of crash.  There is a bill being considered now under the INVEST in America Act which would require these life saving guards.  

The Infrastructure Bill includes an Underride Section.

Become part of the solution by sending an email TODAY to U.S. Representatives on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I). They will be considering the INVEST in America Act on Wednesday, June 17, at 10:00 a.m. in a live hearing.

Use this website link to search for your U.S. Representative, or ones from your state who are on the T&I Committee. Send these two simple messages in your own words — asking them to make trucking safer by:

  • Supporting the Cohen Amendment 089 to strengthen the Underride legislation in the INVEST in America Act by directing NHTSA to do a pilot program in order to prove that underride protection is effective and technically feasible.
  • Supporting the Garcia Amendment 062 which will raise the Minimum Insurance Liability for truck companies from $750,000 – an amount set in 1980 – to $2 million in a simple adjustment for inflation. This needed change has been neglected for decades and will help not only truck crash victims but also truck drivers, who are often victims of truck crashes. It creates a financial incentive to enforce safety.
  • Late-breaking addition: Ask them to OPPOSE the Perry Amendment 115, which strikes Automatic Emergency Braking from the Bill. This amendment appears to be getting in the way of advancing crash avoidance technology to prevent or reduce the severity of crashes. Why would they want to do that?

Watch this short video which vividly tells the story of Mike, a truck crash victim who was impacted by the woefully-low insurance requirement:

You can also tag them on a Tweet.

Thank you for taking action. Share this message with your friends so we can make a significant impact at a crucial time.

Truck Safety Call to Action

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

Finally, we’re getting someplace in our efforts to make trucking safer. Legislation is being considered which looks promising to address the issues from our AnnaLeah & Mary Stand Up For Truck Safety Petition in 2014.

You can become part of the solution by making a quick phone call or send an email to U.S. Representatives on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (T&I). They will be considering the INVEST in America Act on Wednesday, June 17, at 10:00 a.m. in a live hearing.

Use this website link to search for your U.S. Representative, or ones from your state who are on the T&I Committee. Send these two simple messages in your own words — asking them to make trucking safer by:

  • Supporting the Cohen Amendment 089 to strengthen the Underride legislation in the INVEST in America Act by directing NHTSA to do a pilot program in order to prove that underride protection is effective and technically feasible.
  • Supporting the Garcia Amendment 062 which will raise the Minimum Insurance Liability for truck companies from $750,000 – an amount set in 1980 – to $2 million in a simple adjustment for inflation. This needed change has been neglected for decades and will help not only truck crash victims but also truck drivers, who are often victims of truck crashes. It creates a financial incentive to enforce safety.

Watch this short video which vividly tells the story of Mike, a truck crash victim who was impacted by the woefully-low insurance requirement:

Thank you for taking action. Share this message with your friends so we can make a significant impact at a crucial time.

House T&I Committee’s INVEST in America Act Includes Underride Legislation

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

The House T&I Committee published their draft of the renewal of the FAST Act. Section 4405 addresses Truck Underride: Underride Section of FAST Act 2020 – INVEST in America

You can compare it to the STOP Underrides Bill: Text – H.R.1511 – 116th Congress (2019-2020)_ Stop Underrides Act _ Congress.gov _ Library of Congress

Update (September 13): Comparison Chart of Underride Provisions in Various Bills

And here are the GAO Underride Recommendations: GAO Truck Underride Recommendations

Will Congress & NHTSA move forward with bold and decisive action to end underride?

What’s New In Underride? Both Action & Inaction

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

Despite the COVID-19 shutdown of many activities, there is a lot happening related to truck underride. Here’s a quick summary:

  • While we hope for April showers to bring May flowers, this year I was encouraged to see that the April 17 Side Guard Task Force Meeting led to multiple May Subcommittee meetings of an informal but active Underride Protection Committee — Engineering, Awareness, Advocacy, Research and Industry Engagement meetings have all taken place. Underride Protection Committee brochure
  • We also launched the SaferTruck System Award Program to encourage fleets to voluntarily adopt these life saving features. SaferTruck System Awards
  • In May, the FMCSA published a report [A Literature Review of Lateral Protection Devices on Trucks Intended for Reducing Pedestrian and Cyclist Fatalities] on the pedestrian safety truck side guard study [Study of Truck Side Guards to Reduce Pedestrian Fatalities] completed last year by Volpe Transportation Center. The conclusion acknowledges that pedestrians and cyclists could be saved by what they term Lateral Protection Devices. But the report notably fails to discuss a cost benefit analysis — included in the Volpe report — or make any recommendations. So, why did taxpayers foot a $200,000 bill for research that might not result in tangible action to save lives?
  • Guess what! I just checked and the FMCSA clearly revised the webpage from when I visited it in January 2020. The page no longer states this information (which I fortunately recorded in an email): “Five key tasks are included in this project: (1) study interaction of a potential side guard with other truck parts and accessories (e.g., fuel tanks, fire extinguisher, exhaust system) and the implications for a new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation; (2) investigate applicable international side guard standards; (3) perform a preliminary cost-benefit analysis of truck side guard deployment; (4) propose recommendations; and (5) propose means for voluntary adoption.“
  • Instead, that page now says: “This research product contains a literature review of regulations and effectiveness studies in other countries. The effectiveness estimates from studies in other countries cannot be applied to the U.S.—in part because of different regulatory and infrastructure environments— “ What?! That’s it?! What about all of the other information included in the $200,000 study? Where’s the CBA?
  • The FULL study (not simply the literature review) needs to be made available to the Senate Commerce Committee, the House T&I Committee, and the Underride Protection Committee — including the vehicle part interactions report, the cost-benefit analysis report, the Draft final report, and the FINAL Report. Period.
  • The Dragon launch on May 30 and the docking with the international space station on May 31 proves that we still know how to solve problems. Let’s apply that to deadly underride!
This geometric mismatch will lead to preventable tragedies until we do something about it.