“We went around the state to talk to people about Vision Zero. We’re happy to announce a new video which explains why zero is the only acceptable goal. ”
Tracy Anderson, NC Vision Zero Coordinator
Off-road vehicles are more dangerous on-road. So why push for use on public roads? I don’t get it.
More than 14,000 people, including roughly 3,200 children age 15 or younger, have been killed in crashes of all-terrain vehicles since federal safety officials began keeping track in the early 1980s.
Studies have shown (here and here) that over half of the deaths occur on public or private roads — even though ATVs are required to display safety warnings that they are not designed to be operated safely on roads.
Yet in recent years, officials in small towns and rural areas around the country, at the urging of riding enthusiasts, have been approving the use of ATVs — and other off-road machines known as recreational off-highway vehicles, or ROVs — on public roadways. Safety advocates have pushed back, but they are losing more fights than they win. . .
Read more here: Despite Hazards, Push to Open Public Roads to Off-Road Vehicles in High Gear, Fair Warning, By Paul Feldman on August 1, 2017
Eric Flack, Investigative Reporter at WUSA9, recently began an extensive investigation into truck underride. The segments which have already aired are listed here. They plan to shed light on the problem until it is adequately addressed in this country.
Update (November 2020): The WUSA9 Underride Investigation Series
Update (December 6, 2018): entire “Big Rigs, Big Risks” series,
A Bill to Mandate Comprehensive Underride Protection: RAMCUP Draft 15 with Cover
On the way from a meeting in the House to a meeting in the Senate, we had a chance encounter with Senator Edward Markey (D-MA). Lois Durso shared how she had lost her daughter Roya (26) twelve years ago in a truck side underride crash. I shared how I had lost my youngest two daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), in a rear underride crash four years ago. And Senator Markey shared how he was in a car crash when he was 5.
That crash from his childhood clearly made an impression on him. So when we told him that we were looking for support for an underride bill which we had drafted, he told us that he has worked to bring about safety and that we should contact his legislative staff.
We walked away laughing and smiling at yet one more chance encounter orchestrated by the hand of God in this exhausting but exciting quest to pass the Roya, AnnaLeah & Mary Comprehensive Underride Protection Act of 2017 (RAMCUP).
After receiving raw data from the IIHS on truck underride deaths in 2015 by State, I followed a suggestion from Lou Lombardo (Care for Crash Victims) and asked my son, Isaac Karth, to put it into a chart by Red & Blue States.
See it here in chart form: Underrride Statistics 2015 (annaleahmary.com & stopunderrides.org) – by States
See it here in a bar graph:
See it here by House District:
Underrride Statistics 2015 (annaleahmary.com & stopunderrides.org) – by House District
See it here by Party: Underrride Statistics 2015 (annaleahmary.com & stopunderrides.org) – by House District Sorted by Party
Underride can happen to anyone at any time anywhere. What more do we need to know?
Comprehensive underride protection all around trucks — front, both sides, and rear — is possible. Installing it makes truck crashes more survivable.
Let’s make truck crashes more survivable. Or, do we want people to die?
PVEH_LRGTRK_UNDERRIDE_FATS_STATE_2015B
Comprehensive Underride Protection Bill RAMCUP Draft 15 with Cover
WUSA9 reports that Senator Schumer has joined our call for stronger underride laws.
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA9) – Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y.) is launching a major effort to improve critical safety features on semi-trailers that could save hundreds of lives on U.S. highways.
The WUSA9 Special Assignment Unit has reported on the issue for weeks.
On Friday, Sen. Schumer called on the federal government to update and upgrade safety standards by requiring trucks be equipped with energy-absorbing rear underride guards.
Schumer is also calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require trucks be equipped with side underride guards. He also asks for new research into front underride guard standards. . .
Watch their news report here: Powerful Senator joins calls for stronger semi-trailer underride guard laws
After learning of yet another terrible side underride tragedy earlier this month in New York, we reached out to NY legislators asking them to support this cause.
@SenSchumer Underride crash in NY kills 4; Ball’s in your court, Congress, to end these preventable tragedies. https://t.co/hZ2WErquED pic.twitter.com/JcG3fMNusY
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) July 9, 2017
@SenGillibrand Underride crash in NY kills 4; Ball’s in your court, Congress, to end these preventable tragedies. https://t.co/hZ2WErquED pic.twitter.com/OR3JlAKz0N
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) July 9, 2017
@RepJohnKatko Comprehensive Underride Protection Bill will end these preventable tragedies. https://t.co/xTLERYd2DN https://t.co/yVEZIC1fMD
— Marianne Karth (@MaryandAnnaLeah) July 8, 2017
How sad it is that it takes tragedies like these to bring about change. How hopeful I am that we are moving quickly to seeing comprehensive underride protection become a reality. Let’s do this!
Yesterday I contacted NHTSA and IIHS and asked them if they would be able to look at their data on underride deaths and break them out by State. They both graciously made it a priority and created some new charts, graphs, and a map.
The pdf from NHTSA has data taken from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), by which NHTSA collects information on fatal crashes from each state. This extensive chart covers the time period of 1994 to 2015, showing underride deaths when the initial collision was at the front, side, and rear of trailers — first for the country, followed by a similar format for each state. Numbers are shown one year at a time and then totaled:
Passenger Vehicle Underride Fatalities by State, 1994-2015, by NHTSA
Please remember that it is well-known that underride deaths are under-counted in these charts. In fact, Lois Durso and I both have found that our daughters deaths are not accurately reported in these charts.
We also received a graph of underride deaths by State for 2015 from Matt Brumbelow at the IIHS. Specifically, these are “2015 Passenger vehicle occupant fatalities in 2-vehicle crashes with tractor-trailers.”
Matt asked me to explain further, “that 2015 is still the latest year of data that NHTSA has released. Also, that while not all these crashes will have involved underride, our estimates based on other studies is that underride occurs in 80-90% of tractor-trailer rear and side crashes with serious/fatal injuries.”
PV Fatalities in Truck Crashes 2015 per IIHS
U.S. Map PV Fatalities Truck Crashes in 2015 per IIHS
I hope that these visual and informative tools will aid us, as a nation, in addressing this tragic but preventable public health problem.
Part 2 of the truck underride series aired on Friday, July 14, on WUSA9: Special Assignment Unit: Cost of a Life
Here is the accompanying article on their website: How much is your life worth?
Video for Parts 1 & 2 can be found here: Mothers fight for tougher tractor trailer laws after daughters die in underride crash
