Category Archives: Truck Safety

“Public Health’s Contribution to Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention”

April 7, 2018Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetycollaboration, motor vehicle injury prevention, public healthMarianne

Just read a great article, Public Health’s Contribution to Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention, and sent an email off to the author, Dr. Patricia F. Waller — only to find that she died in 2003. Wish I could have met her and strategized with her.

Some excerpts:

The evidence on occupant restraints began accumulating
almost as soon as safety belts were first available
in passenger vehicles. As other nations enacted legislation
and belt usage rose, the data clearly showed the
life-saving effects. Even so, in this country little was
done to translate findings into legislation and enforcement.
Legislators were presented with what we in the
academic community considered convincing evidence,
and were told, “Is that all you have? I could never get
this out of committee!” It was easy to become
discouraged.
It was citizen action groups that provided the impetus
for major changes in public policy governing drinking
and driving. Their activities generated public support
for enforcement of existing laws and enactment of new
ones. Research findings were translated into laws and
programs.
Data alone were not sufficient to bring about major
changes in policies affecting individual behavior. Success
is attributable to a wide range of participants,
including legislative, enforcement, judicial, public
health, medical, and public organizations and advocates.
The individual and community actions that resulted were fostered by education, stimulated by social norms, and encouraged through public policy, and are
examples of the value of taking a health promotion
approach to motor vehicle injury prevention.
The CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and
Control is playing the major role in developing and
sustaining researchers in injury prevention—a role that
must clearly continue. The benefits to society from
the public investment in research and training in this
field are enormous in both human and monetary
terms. With over 41,000 deaths annually, motor vehicle
crashes remain a major preventable public health problem.
Implementation of the recommendations in this
supplement holds the promise of further reducing what
remains an unacceptable toll.

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

April 7, 2018Safety Advocacy, Truck SafetyAdvocating for the Right to Health and Life, Advocating for Transportation Safety, Advocating for Underride Protection, National Public Health Week, National Traffic Safety Ombudsman, public healthMarianne

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’.*

Advocating for Transportation Safety: Solving a Major Public Health Problem Is a 'Winnable Battle' @PublicHealth @CDCgov @AmerAcadPeds @CDCDirector @RWJF @AmerMedicalAssn @AMJPublicHealth @AmJPrevMed @AAAMFeed @IIHS_autosafety #NPHW https://t.co/kjRDpD0khC

— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) April 6, 2018

Who will protect the public from vulnerability to vehicle violence?

*CDC: Winnable Battle

In Memory of Trooper Kevin Miller

April 3, 2018Truck Safety, Underride Crash MapInteractive Underride Crash Map, underride crashes, underride deathsMarianne

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

April 3, 2018Truck Safety#stopunderrides, preventable underride, Trooper Kevin MillerMarianne

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

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

March 25, 2018Truck SafetySection 179, tax deduction for equipment purchase, underride protectionMarianne

“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

March 17, 2018Truck Safety#stopunderrides, Ask the Trucker, OOIDA, Senator Gillibrand, underrideMarianne

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):

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!
Ask the Trucker blogposts:
Underride Guard Mandate: A Counterargument to Industry Opposition
Unknown facts about underride crashes and prevention
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

March 17, 2018Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety#stopunderrides, NHTSA safety hazard notice, underride, underride safety hazard noticeMarianne

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”

March 12, 2018Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety#stopunderrides, prevention, public health problem, underrideMarianne

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.

NTSB Recommended FRONT OVERRIDE PROTECTION In 2010 after Truck OVERRODE 3 vehicles

March 12, 2018Truck Safetyfront overrideMarianne

Last week, I came upon a document listing safety recommendations which the National Transportation Safety Board has made related to truck underride protection. What really got me was the report on their crash investigation of a 2009 truck crash — summarized here:

Safety Recommendation H-10-013, Issue Date: 10/21/2010 Truck-Tractor Semitrailer Rear-End Collision Into Passenger Vehicles on Interstate 44, On June 26, 2009, a multivehicle accident occurred on Interstate 44 (I-44) near Miami, Oklahoma, shortly after a minor accident in the same vicinity occurred. . .

The Volvo continued forward, struck and overrode the Hyundai Sonata, struck and overrode a 2004 Kia Spectra, and then struck the rear of a 2000 Ford Windstar minivan. The Volvo overrode a portion of the Windstar while pushing it into the rear of a livestock trailer being towed by a 2004 Ford F350 pickup truck. . .

10 passenger vehicle occupants died, 5 received minor-to-serious injuries, and the driver of the Volvo combination unit was seriously injured. . .

Contributing to the severity of the accident were the Volvo truck-tractor combination unit’s high impact speed and its structural incompatibility with the passenger vehicles. . .

Truck frontal impacts pose a major hazard to passenger vehicle occupants and front underride contributes to the risk. . .

Passenger compartment intrusion in underride collisions results in deaths and serious injuries to passenger vehicle occupants and is common in truck frontal impacts. . .

a strong relationship between the height of front truck bumpers and the occurrence of front underride, which suggests that a front underride protection system could prevent both front underride and passenger compartment intrusion. . .

Since 2003, European Union countries have required front underride protection systems on all newly manufactured heavy-goods vehicles, which indicates that such a standard is feasible. The NTSB concludes that collisions between passenger vehicles and the front of single-unit trucks or tractor-trailers are common types of crashes that result in fatalities, and front underride contributes to crash severity. The NTSB therefore reiterates its prior recommendations that (1) NHTSA develop performance standards for front underride protection systems for trucks . . .

See more here: NTSB Truck Underride Safety Recommendations to NHTSA

“The longer it takes for NTSB safety recommendations to be implemented, the longer an identified safety need remains unaddressed, potentially threatening the safety of travelers and transportation workers.” Rob Molloy, NTSB Director, Office of Highway Safety, https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180314b.aspx

Also, remember that the American Trucking Associations was, and is, well aware of the front override problem. Look at their predictions for underride regulations in 2005 — single unit trucks — and 2006 — front override protection and side guards: 2002 ATA Prediction of Side Guard Regulations

Understanding Underride V: Front Underride

Let’s protect against deadly Front OVERRIDE!

What’s Happening with Truck Underride?

March 12, 2018Truck SafetyunderrideMarianne

I realize that there is a lot of information on this site — maybe not always so easy to find. Be sure to use the pages, links, and the tags in the right-hand column to search by topic.

Also, there is a lot happening as we work on many fronts to advance comprehensive underride protection. Our sense of urgency drives our actions and we hope that it does the same for you.

Please sign & share the STOP Underrides! Petition. We need to send a strong message that Enough is enough! Sign here: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!

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