Due to technical difficulties (no calls were going through on this call-in Talk Show), it has been rescheduled to take place on Saturday, March 3 at 6 p.m. (ET)
Looking forward to this opportunity to talk with truckers about the importance of underride protection on their trucks — and how it will benefit them.
Ask the Trucker Radio Talk Show Features UNDERRIDE this Saturday 2-24-18 6 PM et “Underride Protection Act of 2017- Truck RearGuards & SideGuards” Learn the facts. Join Us. 347-826-9170
Lois Durso, Jerry Karth, and Marianne Karth will join hosts Allen and Donna Smith, advocates for truckers.
We are grateful for this opportunity to increase awareness of the underride problem and the importance of passing the STOP Underrides Act of 2017.
I have read many news reports of truck crashes. It often strikes me how little the media, along with everyone else, understands the underride problem. Last night I read an article about a truck crash which happened in November in Dallas; it was a good example of this common misunderstanding of what an underride is.
A car was traveling northbound along Harry Hines Boulevard when it started coming up on a UPS truck at the Lombardy Lane stoplight. The 18-wheeler’s 53-foot trailer was empty at the time. However, the car’s driver did not stop and slammed into the back of the big rig. The UPS truck’s rear bumper broke as the car went underneath the trailer. http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/11/13/car-slams-into-big-rig-dallas/
What the reporter apparently misunderstood was that the rear bumper did not break off as the car went underneath the trailer. No, the car went underneath the trailer because the bumper broke off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was too weak — just like on the majority of the millions of trucks on the road today. Underride tragedies waiting to happen.
At first I was frustrated with the way underride gets reported (or rather does not get reported). But then I realized that this is a perfect example of the common misperception that something about the severity of the crash forces/dynamics itself is what leads to the car knocking off or bending the rear underride guard. In fact, it is the weak guard which gives way, fails, and bends or comes right off the trailer and then there is nothing to stop the car from going into the empty space under the truck.
Or, as Jerry Karth says, to put it another way, “the guard failed to perform as it was designed to do.” (As this IIHS video so thoroughly explains.)
In contrast, see what happens when there is an effective underride protective device to cause the car to bounce off the guard (deflects the crash forces) and allows the car’s crush zone, airbags, and seat belts to work like they were supposed to upon collision.
Improved Rear Underride Guard Crash Test:
Side Guard Crash Test:
The car is damaged, but the passengers are safe:
I hope this helps people to better understand the dynamics of an underride crash.
A car was traveling northbound along Harry Hines Boulevard when it started coming up on a UPS truck at the Lombardy Lane stoplight. The 18-wheeler’s 53-foot trailer was empty at the time. However, the car’s driver did not stop and slammed into the back of the big rig. The UPS truck’s rear bumper broke as the car went underneath the trailer.
The reporter didn’t understand. The rear bumper did not break off AS the car went under. The car went under because the bumper broke off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was too weak — just like on the majority of the millions of trucks on the road today. Underride tragedies waiting to happen.
I wanted to mark AnnaLeah’s books so that they will always be a part of “her library”. Her sister Susanna picked out this bookplate & just finished putting one in each book. Now they are ready to donate.
Her 600-book collection. . . many of them from a used bookstore where she had volunteered. She hadn’t read them all yet. A precious life ended too soon.
Death By #Underride
#stopunderrides
I recently moved into a new house. This morning I passed a box that has yet to be unpacked. In some past move, I had labeled it “1969 Chicago Cubs Mug” (owned by my diehard Cubs fan husband Jerry).
That caught my attention because, in the last few years, the year 1969 (a fateful Cubs season, now a Thing of the Past) sticks out in my mind as the year that DOT said that they intended to “extend underride protection to the sides” of large trucks.
Well, that would have been wonderful if they had actually done so. But they did not.
Hundreds of people every year could have survived truck crashes. If we estimate 200 people each year, who could still be alive had side guards been required on every truck, times the 49 years since that fateful 1969 baseball season, that would be 9,800 people — almost 10,000 deaths that could have been prevented.
Add to that another 800/year from front and rear underride deaths = 39,200. Almost 50,000 deaths could have been prevented with comprehensive underride protection.
Let’s all work together to make sure that, in the next 49 years, it will be a different story and Death By Underride will become a Thing of the Past.
Previous related post: March Historically a Momentous Month for Truck Underride Safety Advocacy; Beware the Ides of March!
On July 27, 2017, three teens were killed when their car went under a truck in the state of Washington. A report was published last week with a detective’s analysis of what led to their deaths. His conclusion bothered me because it represents the common misunderstanding of what causes people to die in truck crashes.
See if you can figure out what is missing in his analysis of this horrific truck crash.
Read the report from the lead detective below:
“There are several key factors involved in this collision that resulted in the death of three teenagers. . . Given the estimated speed of the driver’s vehicle it is unknown whether or not the rear bumper would have been able to withstand the impact to prevent an under-ride of the semi-trailer.
Driver had THC in system when car slammed into parked semi, killing 3 teens
When I see underride tragedies which involve a parked truck, I often wonder if the car driver was confused by the truck’s location and made the unconscious assumption that the road went that way and they would be following another vehicle in front of them by steering their car in that direction. This study/article addresses the visual challenges involved in split-second driving decisions: http://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/underride.html
Even if the car was going 35 mph and there had been a rear underride guard (designed to meet the current federal standard), the car would have gone under the truck. And in another crash earlier that year, a man rear-ended a truck which had an improved rear underride guard at perhaps 50 mph and survived!
Allison’s Angel Gowns takes donated wedding dresses and creates outfits for babies who don’t go home from the hospital. I just received a message that Deb has taken the wedding dress which I sewed for Rebekah Karth Chojnacki in 2013 and made this beautiful little dress.
This is the message which the seamstress sent to me:
I’m sorry to be invading your FB page but I just wanted to thank you for allowing me to create angel gowns in honor of your beautiful daughters. I need to apologize for the delay, You see, your dress touched me in ways I never expected. I know the pain of losing adult children and I had a hard time getting past my own grief when I worked with your dress which was the very reason I jumped at the chance to sew for you. I think of you every time I sit at my machine. I wish you and your family peace Friend of the heart, Deb
Here’s the full story: A Story of Four Sisters & A Wedding Dress; Bittersweet Memories Transformed Into a Gift of Comfort
My heart is overflowing. 
Aaron Kiefer, a crash reconstructionist, has been working for almost three years now to design and crash test a TrailerGuard System to prevent cars from sliding under trucks. The project is currently at a stage where he needs to move beyond a simple prototype to begin manufacture of a product which can be installed on a set of trucks to demonstrate its practicality.
In 2015, Aaron reached out to the Karth family, who lost two daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), due to a truck underride crash. They had set up a non-profit organization — AnnaLeah & Mary For Truck Safety — for the purpose of encouraging underride research. Since that time, Jerry and Marianne Karth, have been working alongside Aaron to support his crash testing efforts. The ALMFTS website, fortrucksafety.com, serves as a means for other families and organizations to support this project by making donations which may be considered tax-deductible.
The Karths have offered to keep a record here of the names of those whose lives are being remembered by their loved ones through contributions to this life-saving project. Photos and memories can be included. Their stories can also be included in the Interactive Underride Crash Map.
If you would like to know more about this, or would like to contact us about joining in to support our efforts, please email us at marianne@annaleahmary.com. Hope to hear from you soon!
Out of the 43,008 U.S. signatures on the STOP Underrides! Bill Petition, over 4,000 people chose to make a comment in answer to the question, Why do you think Congress should pass the STOP Underrides! Bill?
Find out how they answered that question: Comments on the STOP Underrides! Bill Petition
What would you say? Sign the petition here: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!
