In September, IIHS posted protocol from rear underride crash testing onto their website. The semi-trailer underride protocol is located at the bottom of the page at this link: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/technical-information/technical-protocols
A pdf is available here: iihs-underride-test-protocol
Thank you, IIHS, for all of your important work to advance road safety!
The U.S. has studied the problem of deadly side underride for years and yet side underride guards still are not required by a federal regulation. There are some countries which are definitely further along than we are in the process of providing side underride protection on trucks. Here are some posts and articles on the topic of side guards:
Dec 1, 2000 IT HAS BEEN an autumn of legal wrangling. While most of the nation focused its attention on dimpled chads and manual recounts, a jury in Laredo, Texas, reached a decision that may impact trailer manufacturers like a Palm Beach County voter taking a stab at a butterfly ballot.
In a nutshell, the jury found that a trailer was defective because it was not equipped with a side underride guard.
Collision Site Unknown: 132
Total Underride Deaths Reported: 4,006
Of course, we need to remember that these figures do not include all underride deaths as it is well-known that they are commonly under-reported.
So why are trucks sold without side guards? (Why on earth would this be an optional feature?!) And why does NHTSA not mandate side guards?
Sign our petition to NHTSA to initiate rulemaking on side guards: End Deadly Truck Side Underride Crashes: Mandate Side Guards
Alex Epstein, Volpe Transportation Center:
Side Guards: Saving Lives, Saving Fuel
Volpe engineer Alex Epstein presents the idea of using side guards as a means to make trucks safer.
Will we finally acknowledge that the lack of side guards on large trucks leads to a sentence of Death by Motor Vehicle for unsuspecting victims year after year? Will we finally decide to take action and do what is technologically possible in installing underride protection on large trucks?
Update: Today Show investigative Report on Side Underride, February 7, 2017
See this recent Trucks.com article: Has the Time Come for Dedicated Truck Lanes?
Could this be one more strategy to make our roads safer?
The Road to Zero Coalition Steering Committee organized the meeting on December 15 for 130 participants to spend an hour in groups of 4 and then 16 to identify Actions to Reduce Traffic Fatalities.
The participants were first divided into six groups based on these key areas/categories:
Then, each person was asked to come up with at least one action to reduce traffic fatalities and the following questions:
These instructions were sent to us ahead of time, so I had spent some time as I traveled on Amtrak the day before to come up with these proposed actions–not knowing for sure in which group I would end up:
I was placed in the Safer Vehicles group and had some lively discussion with other participants. Out of all my ideas (I only shared ones which would directly promote safer vehicles), I got support from another participant on #4 Establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force. Several times, he brought up the impact which resulted from the Commission on Drunk Driving established by President Reagan. And, in my opinion, if the Road to Zero Coalition backed this goal, it could have comprehensive and far-reaching effect on each of the six categories of Actions to Reduce Traffic Fatalities.
I just read this account of how President Obama reached out to bereaved families two days after the tragedy at Sandy Hook:
Person after person received an engulfing hug from our commander in chief. He’d say, “Tell me about your son. . . . Tell me about your daughter,” and then hold pictures of the lost beloved as their parents described favorite foods, television shows, and the sound of their laughter. For the younger siblings of those who had passed away—many of them two, three, or four years old, too young to understand it all—the president would grab them and toss them, laughing, up into the air, and then hand them a box of White House M&M’s, which were always kept close at hand. In each room, I saw his eyes water, but he did not break. . .
The staff did the preparation work, but the comfort and healing were all on President Obama. I remember worrying about the toll it was taking on him. And of course, even a president’s comfort was woefully inadequate for these families in the face of this particularly unspeakable loss. But it became some small measure of love, on a weekend when evil reigned. Joshua Dubois: What the President secretly did at Sandy Hook Elementary School
It is my hope that the leaders of our country will show similar compassion toward past, present and future vulnerable victims of vehicle violence and also take appropriate action.
We just received good news from Gary Fenton, VP of Engineering at Stoughton Trailers, with the announcement that their newly-designed rear underride guard is now available, as of November 1, 2016, on all new trailers produced by and purchased from them. Gary’s email to me on December 12, was very encouraging:
“Please find attached a press release and ad sheets associated with the Stoughton move to standardize a new under ride structure, designed to widen the area of impact protection on the rear of Stoughton Trailers. Stoughton is now standard on this new design for all straight vans (dry and reefer). The implementation of the design as standard began on Nov. 1, 2016 (pilot run of 100 units built in August). The inclusion of this new protection feature is standard to the customer at no cost or weight penalty.”
Stoughton Rear Underride Guard Brochure August 2016 pdf
Stoughton Trailers Introduces Underride Guard Press Release June 2016
Stoughton Safety Ad for Rear Underride Guard 10/17/16
This is good in more than one way:
Stoughton Trailers is one of four out of the eight major trailer manufacturers, tested recently by IIHS, which have responded to our request for voluntary improvement to their underride protection. The others are Manac (which improved their guard shortly before our crash), Vanguard, and Wabash. One more manufacturer hopes to have their upgrade crash tested early next year.
Thank you, Stoughton, and Gary Fenton, for your hard work and dedication to truly making safety a priority.
A more detailed explanation of the underride dilemma is available here: Underride Guards: Can we “sit down at the table together” and work this out? June 27, 2014
Media Coverage of the first Truck Underride Roundtable held at IIHS on May 5, 2016
Just last week, there was a pile-up of 37 vehicles in snowy conditions on I-75 in Michigan. Thankfully, there were no fatalities — plenty of totaled vehicles, I’m sure, but no fatalities.
Had there been truck underride by passenger vehicles, it could have been a whole different story.
See photos of the 37-vehicle pile-up here: Several injured in 37-vehicle pileup on I-75 near Holly Road
So much discussion about truck safety regulations these days. . .
On the one hand. . .
During his campaign, Trump said he supported regulatory reform and planned to issue a temporary moratorium on new agency regulations once elected. Trucking, Transportation Industries Looking for Trump Regulatory Changes
On the other hand. . .
Understanding why large trucks crash is key to developing countermeasures to reduce those crashes. New IIHS-sponsored research shows that serious vehicle defects triple the risk of being involved in a crash. Long hours behind the wheel and use of the short-haul exemption for federal hours-of-service rules also are important contributors to crashes. Safety defects and long hours contribute to large truck crashes
What will the future hold for oversight of the trucking industry? Who will be the winners and losers in this battle for control of truck safety? How many people will lose their lives or be seriously injured or lose a loved one due to a preventable truck crash in the coming years?
Ongoing Tired Trucker (HOS) Controversy on The Hill Proves Need for Vision Zero Rulemaking
The IIHS just published the results of their study of large trucks and crash risks. Topics covered include:
Read more here: Safety defects and long hours contribute to large truck crashes, Status Report, Vol. 51, No. 10 | December 8, 2016
It didn’t take me long — after our family’s tragic truck crash — to grasp the futility of lobbying on The Hill as a truck safety advocate in an attempt to push for safer roads through safer regulations.
And then I learned a secret (shh). . . DOT’s safety agencies have their hands tied by an Executive Order (12866) which requires stringent cost/benefit analysis during rulemaking that too often undervalues human life & health and effectually allows industry lobbyists to sabotage and snuff out regulations which could make our roads more safe to travel on.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the DOT agencies which were meant to be our protectors — the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier SAFETY Administration) & NHTSA (National Highway Traffic SAFETY Administration) — have not proven to be consistently effective voices for our SAFETY.
That revelation — in combination with my own experience in wasted lobbying hours and my realization that others had tried unsuccessfully for decades before me to push for truck safety rules which might have saved my daughters — spurred me on to launch the Vision Zero Petition in 2015. It garnered over 20,000 signatures online in support of our requests for:
Although we took this Petition to DC in March 2016, we have not yet received a response to our requests. And, as I expected, the month of December 2016 has presented us with one more example of the need for this essential strategy: a resurrection of the Tired Trucker hours of service tug-of-war.
All of this, and more — most especially my daughters’ truck crash deaths which might have been prevented had all of this nonsense been addressed appropriately — has led to my efforts to work with others to organize a successful Truck Underride Roundtable and an upcoming Tired Trucker Roundtable.
And I really do keep hoping that a national traffic safety advocate will be appointed and Vision Zero Rulemaking will become a thing. . .
