Category Archives: Truck Safety

First-time Ever: NHTSA Nominee Questioned On Underride By Senator

Truck Safety, , , , , ,

For the first time in DOT’s history, a nominee for NHTSA Administrator was questioned in a hearing about the agency’s lack of progress in preventing underride deaths. Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) questioned Jonathan Morrison about NHTSA’s failure to consider the benefit of preventing hundreds of pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorcyclist deaths in a pending rulemaking for side underride guards. 

According to a 2014 study by the National Transportation Safety Board, about 120 pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists are killed every year under the sides of tractor trailers. A side underride guard that blocks those vulnerable road users from falling under the tandem wheels of trailers would prevent their deaths.

But a pending NHTSA rulemaking on side underride guards neglected to count a single vulnerable road user’s death in the all-important cost-benefit analysis.

Senator Lujan: Another issue that I care about deeply is ensuring that trucks have side underride guards to prevent cars, pedestrians, and cyclists from being crushed underneath. . . . According to NHTSA, the cost of installing side underride guards exceeds the benefits. Unfortunately, to reach this estimate, NHTSA makes assumptions in their cost benefit analysis that excludes whole categories of preventable deaths of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

Senator Lujan: I don’t understand that. If it’s going to be studied, it should be studied. And then an answer should result based on whatever the research is.

Senator Lujan: Yes, or no? Will you commit to counting pedestrians and bicyclists as preventable deaths for road users in the cost benefit analysis for any future rulemaking on side underride guards?

Jonathan Morrison: I will work with the economists within NHTSA to make sure that everything appropriate is being considered. I’m not familiar with that particular study.

Well, that would be refreshing. . . to have everything appropriate considered by the federal regulator whose mission it is to reduce roadway injuries and deaths. And that includes underride.

If pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorcyclist deaths had been included in the cost-benefit analysis as they should have been, the annual number of deaths side underride guards could prevent would have been estimated to be at least 137. Under those circumstances, the benefits of regulation would have outweighed or been equal to the costs, and the agency would have mandated side underride guards.

Here’s the clip from the hearing (1:02:02 in the video of the Senate Commerce hearing on July 16, 2025):

Senator Lujan questions NHTSA Administrator nominee Jonathan Morrison on underride

Good News: Stoughton extends IIHS-award-winning underride protection to container shipping

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Good news on underride protection: IIHS has given the TOUGHGUARD Award for rear impact underride protection on intermodal chassis trailers to Stoughton Trailers — the first trailer manufacturer to earn it and one of the largest chassis manufacturers in North America. Should this lead to speculations about what engineering ingenuity could actually produce — despite industry grumblings about the operational issues regarding underride protection, particularly at the sides of intermodal chassis trailers?

Underride guards that meet the Toughguard criteria are substantially more likely to withstand an impact, reducing the severity of the crash. Until now, only dry van, refrigerated and flatbed trailers have qualified. But with the growing importance of shipping containers in global trade, more and more freight is being transported using intermodal chassis.

Chassis-type trailers present a unique challenge when it comes to underride protection. The frame of a dry van, refrigerated or flatbed trailer extends across its entire wheelbase, supporting the underride guard for its full width. In contrast, an intermodal chassis is a ladderlike structure that lies between the trailer’s wheels to support the removable container.

For that reason, the underride guard required a completely new design. Instead of a vertical support attached to the trailer deck, the chassis guard features long, diagonal supports running from the guard’s outboard ends to the chassis rails. Stoughton Intermodal Chassis Earns Underride Guard Award

I’m grateful for Stoughton Trailers’ continued commitment to safety. Unfortunately, not every trailer manufacturer is equally safety-minded. And NHTSA has not shown an inclination to send a strong message to industry; in fact, they declined to include Stoughton’s dry van RIG solution in their regulatory analysis for a 2022 update of the rear guard rule. Decades of government and industry inaction means that there are still far too many (almost ALL of them) trucks on the road which do not have adequate underride protection.

Engineers know how to creatively solve problems. Give them a green light to SAVE LIVES!

What’s New In Underride?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

There’s nothing new about underride. Despite the fact that it has taken loved ones from us for decades, bringing an end to preventable underride continues to be an uphill battle. We fight on.

Here are some recent instances of underride getting media coverage:

And, by the way, in case you missed it, here are videos from crash testing of collisions between bicyclists and tractor-trailers — conducted by Aaron Kiefer in Raleigh at the North Carolina State Highway Patrol training facility on September 13, 2024. . .

Unguarded (no side guard) VRU Crash Test:

LPD+ Crash Test with Fully-Guarded Trailer:

Here are some posts I’ve written about Lateral Protection Devices+, i.e. side underride guards:

The proof is in the pudding. I rest my case.

Underride in the News

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety

There’s nothing new about underride. Despite the fact that it has taken loved ones from us for decades, bringing an end to preventable underride continues to be an uphill battle. We fight on.

Here are some recent instances of underride getting media coverage:

Certified Letters Alert Carriers of Underride Dangers, Liability & 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, on October 12, 2024, we sent letters to two lists of “100 top carriers” in North America via Certified Mail. We wanted their Boards and CEOs to be aware of the September 2024 $462 million verdict in a product liability lawsuit against a trailer manufacturer for failing to install a protective rear guard, leading to two fatalities — indicating that juries will not accept more of these preventable deaths.

“We hope the decision the jurors reached sends a clear message to the trucking and trailer industry and will finally force them to build safer trailers,” CVN noted, quoting plaintiff co-counsel Brian Winebright https://www.freightwaves.com/news/wabash-national-hit-with-462m-verdict-in-trailer-equipment-case

 We also encouraged trucking companies to take steps to protect road users and their bottom line by making sure that their fleets are equipped with Rear Impact Guards (RIGs) which qualify for the IIHS TOUGHGUARD Award and side impact guards that prevent side underride fatalities.

The mailing list for the 200 companies can be found here.

The Carrier Letter Template can be found here. 

A similar Certified Mail Letter went out to carriers in 2020. Relevant information is posted here.

Further details and copies of delivery receipts can be obtained by contacting marianne@annaleahmary.com.

Risky Rigs: Thousands of people have died after their car slid under a tractor-trailer

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

How many underride investigative reports will it take to finally bring about government regulations and industry cooperation to end preventable death by underride? Tampa Bay 10 recently aired the results of their year-long underride investigation.

PART 1 – Risky Rigs: Thousands of people have died after their car slid under a tractor-trailer

PART 2 – Risky Rigs: Thousands of people have died after their car slid under a tractor-trailer

NHTSA’s Neglect of Underride Protection Deserves Congressional Oversight

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

CALL TO ACTION – November 2024

Tell Congress that you want them to exercise their oversight of the federal roadway safety agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Call the U.S. Congress Switchboard, (202) 224-3121, and ask for each of the following members of the Senate Commerce Committee. Tell them that you want them to hold an Underride Oversight Hearing in the 2024 lame duck session:

  • Senator Maria Cantwell
  • Senator Gary Peters
  • Senator Ted Cruz
  • Senator Todd Young

This video explains why an oversight hearing is vital: NHTSA’s Neglect of Underride Protection Deserves Congressional Oversight.

Please make these phone calls now. Thank you.

Underride Crash Test Videos

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

If a picture is worth a thousand words, an underride crash test video is worth at least a million. Nothing is more convincing of the fact that underride protection can mean the difference between life and death. Well, nothing except viewing a crash test in person.

To that end, here is a sample of crash test videos which serve to document the technical effectiveness of underride protective devices — more startling when juxtaposed against crash tests with no underride protection or too-weak designs.

The difference a well-designed rear underride guard can make
Benefits of side underride guards for semitrailers
Underride Crash Tests – Unguarded Trailer vs Guarded Trailer
D.C. Underride Crash Test: Left Side Overall Vertical
Crash Test of Rear Reinforcement Attachment

In case you need a reminder, these crash tests are not conducted merely to satisfy curiosity, but in an effort to bring an end to ongoing preventable, unimaginable underride tragedies.

Fleet Managers, Please take note:

Trailer Safety: How to prevent underride crashes and save lives

$462M Jury Verdict Over Rear Impact Guard Design

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

For over 50 years, NHTSA has failed to require truck trailers to be equipped with underride guards that protect road users from death and injury. The industry has lobbied to keep it that way and tens of thousands of innocent people have lost their lives as a result. This week, a St. Louis jury made a trailer manufacturer pay a just price.

Why would the jury do so? Could it have been because Wabash continued to sell an inadequate rear impact guard as standard equipment — even though they have a safer option available — and because of the industry’s opposition and the government’s abandonment of public safety?

Justice has been served.

MEDIA COVERAGE

What Don’t They Want to See? DOT Declines to Send Observer to Underride Crash Test… AGAIN!

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , , ,

“TEAM Underride,” a loosely-organized coalition of engineers, researchers, safety advocates, and families of underride victims have planned multiple underride crash tests, underride crash test events, and a vigil for underride victims. Two of those events were in D.C. — an D.C. Underride Crash Test Event on March 26, 2019 in the Audi Field parking lot one mile from DOT and an Underride Victim Vigil in September 2023 on the sidewalk in front of the DOT building on New Jersey Avenue in D.C.

Despite multiple communications inviting the Department of Transportation, and especially NHTSA who is responsible for underride rulemaking, to these events, less than a handful of department representatives have shown up. What’s with that? What don’t they want to see? What they should want to see is honest to goodness research being undertaken to solve the decades-old problem of Death By Underride — proof-positive that the ball is in their court to issue regulations which could end countless preventable tragedies.

I emailed multiple people at DOT on January 11, 2019 — inviting them to our March crash test. Then, on February 6, 2019, after Lois Durso and I had checked out the Audi Field parking lot and walked over to DOT from there, we hand delivered a stack of event flyers and asked that they be distributed. I was told, “We will make sure that the event flyers are distributed.” Only one person — from FMCSA, which is not primarily responsible for underride rulemaking — bothered to come. Two months isn’t enough notice to put it in their schedule (no travel approval necessary)?

On July 11, 2023, I sent an online scheduling request to the Office of the Secretary — hoping that Secretary Buttigieg could attend the August 3, 2023, Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event. I followed up with an email to the Office of the Secretary. On July 19, I received this reply:

Unfortunately, DOT will not be able to send a representative to the event in Raleigh. Our team is sorry this didn’t work out, but we’re grateful for your continued advocacy and safety work and look forward to continued collaboration.

This is what they would have seen — had they bothered to come: Underride Crash Tests – Unguarded Trailer vs Guarded Trailer

Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event, August 3, 2023

I received a reply on August 23, 2024, to my August 5 request for the Secretary — or someone from the Department — to come to the Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event on September 13, 2024. I understand that Secretary Buttigieg could not fit it into his schedule, but the response was rather disturbing — though not surprising:

Thank you very much for the follow-up. Unfortunately, DOT won’t be able to send a representative for this event. We’re very sorry it won’t work out this time, and we are sending our best for an impactful event next month.

It won’t work out this time?!

Here’s the event flyer for the crash testing event coming soon in Raleigh at the North Carolina State Highway Patrol training facility: Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event – SAVE THE DATE: September 13, 2024

Be there, or be square!