“Obviously any safety accident we’ll do everything we can to prevent it,” Sen. Thune

Truck Safety, , ,

A trip to South Dakota by Lois Durso, to raise awareness of the truck underride problem at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, led to some media interviews in which both she and Senator John Thune talked about the STOP Underrides! Bill.

According to Senator Thune,

“Obviously, any safety accident or safety incident we’ll do everything we can to prevent it. The authority exists on the Department of Transportation to require that.” . . .

I’d like the opportunity to discuss with Senator Thune the fact that, if that is truly so, then moving the STOP Underrides! Bill to a vote would be a logical action for him to take to prevent underride tragedies.

I’d also like to discuss with the senator that the Department of Transportation may have the authority to require strong underride protection but, in over 50 years, they have not acted upon it to require side guards — even though they said that they intended to in March 1969. Furthermore, NHTSA has not acted upon that authority to adequately address the underride deaths and injuries which continue to occur year after year.

It seems to me that the three branches of the government were designed for the purpose of keeping each other in line and that the role of Congress includes making sure that the administrative branch is doing its job to protect the American people. ( To ensure the government is effective and citizens’ rights are protected)

“The cost that is associated with that obviously is a big issue,” Sen. Thune said. “And there are also, I think, as they look at these things, other safety issues come into play, as well. So, sometimes when you tweak one thing or fix one problem, you create others. .  “

I would like the opportunity to sit down at the table with Senator Thune and show him the facts about the negative financial impact of underride injuries and deaths upon the trucking industry. I would also like to discuss with him the tangible ways in which the passing of the STOP Underrides! Bill will lead to a win/win for both the industry and the vulnerable victims of underride violence.

Senator Thune is not the first to mention “unintended consequences.” It is a tired old argument that the trucking industry is always using and gets us nowhere. Frankly, I don’t think that it is productive to talk in generalities like that and refuse to engage in open and honest discussion about specifics. Just what safety issues is he talking about anyway, because he doesn’t spell them out? And really, what could be worse than dying at the scene like AnnaLeah who was crushed and died because she couldn’t breathe or Mary who had just about every bone in her face broken and suffered multiple strokes and head trauma so that she died a few days later?

The industry also frequently brings up issues like: Will the guards be so low that trucks will get caught on railroad tracks or in loading docks? Will they weaken the trailer structure? Will they negatively impact over the road travel? Will they last the life of the truck? I don’t know about the people who ask those kinds of questions, but I have talked to engineering experts to find out the answers to those questions; mostly they don’t think those concerns are valid and realize that, if issues do crop up, then they can be addressed with engineering ingenuity.

“I think as they evaluate and examine this proposal they’re trying to do it in a way that makes sense and find the right balance in terms of the path forward,” Sen. Thune said. . .

There is nothing that does not make sense about the STOP Underrides! Bill. Engineering experts were an integral part of developing the legislation. And the bill itself calls for the establishment of a Committee On Underride Protection to be part of the rulemaking process.

The right balance? What does that mean? Does that mean that we will continue to let the trucking industry off the hook from taking responsibility for deaths and injuries which occur from the dangerous design of truck bodies in relationship to a geometric mismatch with passenger vehicles? Does that mean that some people will have to continue to die from preventable Death By Underride to protect the profit of the trucking industry? Were my daughters’ lives not worth saving? How about yours or your loved ones? The industry has avoided paying anything for years. Shouldn’t they have to make up for lost time and finally pay the piper?

Senator Thune says there have not been any proposals that would cost the taxpayers. He says truckers would have to pay for the changes. http://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Two-women-are-traveling-across-the-state-to-raise-awareness-of-Underrides-490493581.html

Senator Thune is right that the bill does not require that money be added to the federal budget which would cause further debt to taxpayers. Although he says that truckers would have to pay for the changes, he doesn’t spell out exactly what that will mean or that an honest cost/benefit analysis will show that effective and comprehensive underride protection will, in the end, actually be to their financial benefit and it will help to preserve their careers and emotional well-being.

Of course, it will require an initial output of money but won’t those costs be passed along so that we all share in this? And, in all this talk of costs, no one has actually indicated what the costs will be compared to the overall revenue and profit of the industry.

What it gets down to is that Senator Thune, as the Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee to whom the bill has been referred, has the power to protect the traveling public and therefore the responsibility to act in a way that is in the best interest of the American people. It behooves him, therefore, to meet with those of us who understand every nuance of the underride issue. That is why Lois Durso and I have asked to meet with him to discuss this in depth.

He needs to know that the trucking industry has, for decades, neglected the known problem of deadly underride and refused to take appropriate action to aggressively address the issue. Clearly, they are not going to get it solved without intervention from the federal government.

There, the gauntlet has been thrown down — not to defeat Senator Thune or the trucking industry but to engage in productive and passionate dialogue which will help us to arrive more quickly at a resolution of this public health problem — together.

If Senator Thune is unwilling to take decisive action, then who should bear the responsibility for the people who continue to die as a result of this needless delay in passing the bill?

Mary Lydia Karth, you will not be forgotten. Forever 13. August 6, 1999 – May 8, 2013

AnnaLeah and Mary, , ,
Mary Lydia Karth. Forever 13. August 6, 1999 – May 8, 2013
 
Sharing this post full of videos because I don’t want Mary to be forgotten: Every Day’s A Holiday With Mary; Joyful Memories of Mary
 
Every memory is both sweet & bitter. So full of life! Oh, my heart breaks for her lost years. <3

Taking the STOP Underrides! Message to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety,
Lois Durso and her friend Anita Bomgaars (injured in an underride crash in the 70s) are bringing the STOP Underrides! message & bumper stickers to the Sturgis, South Dakota, Motorcycle Rally.
 
They were interviewed by a Fox affiliate station today: http://www.kotatv.com/video/?vid=490202881
 
Help us reach our goal to get STOP Underrides! Bumper Stickers on cars in every state in the U.S.A.! Why? So we can raise awareness & get the STOP Underrides! Bill passed to end these senseless tragedies. Find out how to get your bumper sticker here: Reach Every State to STOP Crash Underrides Everywhere! (RESSCUE) Bumper Sticker Project

Reach Every State to STOP Crash Underrides Everywhere! (RESSCUE) Bumper Sticker Project

Truck Safety, ,

I wear my STOP Underrides! shirt wherever I go. It often starts a conversation: “What’s an underride?” “When a car goes under a truck. Like what happened to my daughters.” Too often they say, “That happened to someone I know.”

Help us reach our goal to get STOP Underrides! Bumper Stickers on cars in every state in the U.S.A.! Why? So we can raise awareness & get the STOP Underrides! Bill passed to end these senseless tragedies.

You can participate in this project in three ways:

  • Make a $5 tax deductible donation here. Then, send your mailing address to  stopunderrides@gmail.com. We will mail you one vinyl STOP Underrides! bumper sticker. OR
  • Make a $25 tax deductible donation here. Then, send your mailing address to  stopunderrides@gmail.com. We will mail you ten vinyl STOP Underrides! bumper stickers, so you can put a bumper sticker on your own car and ask 9 friends to do the same! AND
  • Share this post in every way that you can!

Any money donated above our printing and shipping costs will go toward the expenses of the Washington, D.C., Seeing Is Believing Underride Crash Test event, which we are planning for the Fall of 2018.

We will keep an updated list of States With STOP Underrides! Bumper Stickers here:

https://annaleahmary.com/2018/08/states-with-stop-underrides-bumper-stickers-on-cars/

@SenJohnThune, please take a real look at the STOP Underrides! Bill. I hope you do.

Truck Safety

When I read a Tweet by Senator John Thune this morning, I thought he made a great point. So I decided to make the same point back to him:

Senator Thune, Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, could shepherd the STOP Underrides! Bill through to a successful vote and join my Underride Hero Hall of Fame!

“It served its purpose. It worked as it was designed. It saved a life,” one highway worker said.

Truck Safety, , ,

One highway worker put it so well after observing a recent collision between a tractor trailer and a crash-impact vehicle:

Road Users Should Have the Right to Life: STOP Underrides!

Truck Safety, ,

I don’t know the exact fatality rate for people who experience Passenger Compartment Intrusion (PCI) when their passenger vehicle collides with a truck. But I imagine that it is close to 100%. After all, PCI means that the truck comes into your survival space. When a truck hits your body, what do you think is going to happen? You don’t stand a chance of survival, that’s what!

So, if there is technology which can prevent PCI, don’t you think that we should put it on large trucks? Don’t you think that road users should have the right to life?

STOP Underrides!

 

Road to Zero Coalition Members Can Sign On Here to the Truck Underride Priority Statement!

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

We were excited to receive news on June 26 that the Road to Zero Coalition (RTZ) has published a Truck Underride Priority Statement on their website.

The Road to Zero Coalition is working to end preventable deaths on U.S. roadways by 2050. With that goal in mind, the Coalition is developing Safety Priority Statements that most – if not all – Coalition members can support.

Truck Underride Priority Statement

Road to Zero Coalition Released a Truck Underride Priority Statement

We are thankful to the RTZ Steering Group for taking the time to discuss and approve this important means of providing a stronger voice for the vulnerable victims of truck underride.

Those who wish to add their voice, but are not RTZ Coalition members, can either join RTZ here: Road to Zero Coalition Membership Form

Or, write their own Letter of Support and Sign the STOP Underrides! Petition here: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!

My knee-jerk reaction to the ATA Letter of Opposition to the STOP Underrides! Bill

Truck Safety, , , ,

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) sent a letter, on June 4, 2018, to the sponsors of the STOP Underrides! Bill — including Senator Gillibrand — listing the reasons that they are opposing this life-preserving legislation.

ATA letter to Commerce TI on Safety and the STOP Underrides Act FINAL 6.1.18

Here is my knee-jerk reaction written as soon as I read the ATA’s letter. If there is a more official response, I will update this post.

    1. What % of the industry annual revenue and profit is the $10 billion Safety Spending?
    2. What is the industry annual revenue and profit for the same time period?
    3. ATA states that, “Without question, these investments are paying dividends in highway safety. Over the past decade, the number of truck-related fatalities has decreased by 11 percent despite steady growth in the overall number of trucks and truck-miles traveled” RESPONSE:  NHTSA: Large truck crash fatalities increased in 2016 According to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 4,317 fatalities occurring last year in crashes involving large trucks, which is 5.4% higher when compared to 2015 and is also the highest level of large truck crash deaths since 2007. http://www.trucker.com/safety/nhtsa-large-truck-crash-fatalities-increased-2016
    4. ATA states that: “significantly increased likelihood of high-centering of the side guards on steep changes in highway and street levels, such as elevated railroad crossings, and at warehouse docking wells. High-centering incidents already occur when operators of low frame trailers misjudge clearance heights at railroad crossings, which can result in tractor-trailers becoming stranded on railroad tracks. If all trailers were to have substantial side underride guards extended beneath the trailer sides, high-centering incidents would likely become more frequent.” Response: In fact, that is not a true statement. The engineers who have worked on trying to solve the side underride problem are ENGINEERS; they think about every aspect of the problem. They listen to truck drivers and motor carriers. Here is a reaction to that concern from Perry Ponder, an engineer for a small trailer manufacturer and designer of the AngelWing side guard: A 2002 Study by the University of West Virginia showed that trailers and trucks must be much lower to the ground than an underride guard to hang up on regulation railroad crossings and driveway and dock slopes.  One need look no further than how low semi-tractors are to the ground, or low-boy trailers. or car hauling trailers, to dispel the notion an underride guard at 16 to 18 inches from the ground cannot operate safely over the road.    Development of Design Vehicles for Hang-Up Problem (https://trrjournalonline.trb.org/doi/abs/10.3141/1847-02) , 2002 “Design vehicles were developed to evaluate the operation of low-ground-clearance, long-wheelbase, overhang vehicles on extreme hump or sag profile alignments. The literature review indicated that although formal studies had been conducted to develop design vehicles, these vehicles did not include the information needed to assess hang-up susceptibility on a particular vertical alignment. Relevant design vehicle dimensions for 17 vehicle types prone to hang-up were developed.  Relevant dimensions included wheelbase, ground clearance, and front and rear overhang. These vehicles can be used in conjunction with the HANGUP software or other tools in designing vertical alignments that reduce the likelihood of hangup problems. Because they are based on representative samples of both field-collected and manufacturers’ data and have been evaluated using the HANGUP software, the design vehicles are reasonable and have a rational basis. The proposed vehicles should receive broad review with an eye toward inclusion in appropriate design policies and guidelines.”
    5. ATA states that, “ the bill is not based on science, data or safety benefit. Moreover, the bill ignores the potential technical issues it raises, as well as the diversity of our industry and other technologies for addressing these and other crashes. In trucking we know unequivocally that one size does not fit all, and that investments in certain technologies that one company makes may not make sense for another. Standards for new and in-service truck equipment should be based on sound economic and engineering principles that enhance safety, take into account real-world operations, and weigh the potential unintended consequences.” Response: Their statement ignores the multitude of research studies (including NHTSA’s own Texas A&M virtual side underride study which was recently completed) and crash tests which have been done by engineers for decades. And, in fact, the ATA — knowing that the underride problem is vastly undercounted — could have been conducting their own research or putting tangible support behind ongoing research when they were predicting underride regulations in 2002. How much money could have been devoted to solving this problem if they had contributed $1 billion every year for 16 years since that time? See this ATA/TMC 2002 paper: A Brief Look at the Far Horizon An Exploration of What’s to Come for Trucking
    6. ATA states: “Recently, twenty automakers representing more than 99 percent of the U.S. auto market committed to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on virtually all new passenger vehicles by 2022, which will help reduce many of the crashes where a passenger vehicle strikes a truck.” Response: How long before this will be present in 100% of the passenger vehicle fleet? What about weather-related conditions when that technology will not be effective? What about front override? What about side underride?
    7. ATA states: “the Stop Underrides Act would divert a significant amount of both NHTSA and industry resources away from important crash avoidance technologies with wide-ranging benefits in all types of crashes to focus on a narrow type of crash and a specific countermeasure that is unproven in real-world applications.” Response: Please specify exactly which resources will be taken away from crash avoidance technologies. What is now being put toward them? What will be required to be put into underride protection technology?
    8. ATA states:  “Regrettably, the bill is not based on science, data or safety benefit.“ Response: What do they call what the IIHS has done for years if not scientific, data-driven, safety-proven research? Jerry says, “The bill is based upon the NTSB Truck Underride Safety Recommendations to NHTSA in 2014.
      The bill was developed by a team of experts, engineers, manufacturers,  academic both national and international, lawyers, safety advocates and victims. The research by IIHS is scientific data driven and safety benefit research and testing. I recommend a field hearing at IIHS to not only disprove this point but to inform and educate the  House T&I Committee and Senate Commerce Committee on the facts of underride.
      “The courts differ on this as the Dodgen vs PJ Trailers case demonstrated through crash testing that the trailer design was dangerous and added known safety measures would have prevented the fatality in that situation.”
    9. ATA states: “a narrow type of crash and a specific countermeasure that is unproven in real-world applications.” Response: Terry Rivet is a good example of a proven countermeasure. 
       We know for certain that Terry Rivet is alive today because Stoughton trailers voluntarily upgraded the rear guard on their trailers. Mr. Rivet had an accident in snowy weather in New York and collided with a new Stoughton trailer with an improved rear underride guard on March 2,  2017. Tractor trailers need to be safer to prevent underride deaths, Gillibrand says  Maybe we should ask him if we should have waited until 2022 to see if the crash avoidance technology works. On January  3, 2018, there was another traffic pile-up in New York during whiteout conditions with dozens of vehicles involved. The only fatality was from a car rear-ending a tractor trailer with an older, weak rear underride guard — resulting in an underride death. 1 dead, 1 critical from Thruway crash involving dozens of vehicles Unfortunately, we cannot ask that driver how he feels about the idea of waiting until crash avoidance technology is available to end truck underride tragedies.

I Survived Because Of Stoughton.

Here are some other relevant trucking industry communications related to Underride Technology Mandates (with a response from Senator Gillibrand & a blogpost from a truck driver advocate):

It is unfortunate that the regulated industry has such power over how they are regulated. Their decisions and actions are apparently informed by a strong inclination to protect the bottomline rather than by the conscience of individuals within that industry. How frustrating that they do not truly take into account the “honest bottomline” for, if they did, they would know that it would be to their ultimate advantage to make full use of every safety technology available to them.

Here is a FAQ document with answers to frequently asked questions about the STOP Underrides! Bill: FAQ STOP Underrides Bill. I hope that it helps to get us all on the same page and moving more quickly toward effective collaboration to end truck underride tragedies with Win/Win solutions.

After all, this is not about making the truck industry get in line — or else. To quote Rose in The Last Jedi: That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love.

 

 

 

“Emergency Medical Care for Crash Victims” by Lou Lombardo & Traffic Safety Facts 2016 from NHTSA

Safety Advocacy, , , ,
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
 
On the 4th of July holiday, Legal Reader has published an article I submitted to them pro bono on this subject. 
 
 
Historically each and every holiday weekend, hundreds have died and thousands have suffered vehicle injuries.  And all across the country emergency medical teams are activated to save people while often endangering themselves.
 
This article calls attention to GM OnStar’s latest ad campaign, NHTSA’s call for information to improve EMS, and possible upgraded national attention by DOD and HHS to improving trauma care in the U.S.A — which the American people have long needed.
 
It is that need which I, and many others, have worked on for decades and led to the creation of “Care for Crash Victims.”
 
On July 3rd, 2018, NHTSA published its annual report Traffic Safety Facts 2016 copy attached. {See below.} The statistics on pp. 16 and 17 show that fatalities and fatality rates per 100,000 people have been rising the past decade.
 
Let’s hope that we are closer to making substantial advances because we can and we must do better and save more lives.
 
Lou Lombardo