If your eyes are glazing over from my endless posts on truck safety, this one is a little different. Dawn King, president of the Truck Safety Coalition, lost her dad in a truck crash. She talks here about what she saw and experienced at the amazing Underride Roundtable on May 5, 2016. Thanks for sharing, Dawn.
The day after the Underride Roundtable, I feel drained, exhausted. There may have been a few people whom I did not greet, but it is quite possible that I talked with almost all of the 84 participants. That, in itself was very rewarding–touching base in person with so many people with whom I have spoken via phone or corresponded online over the last few years about this underride issue.
The successful crash testing of the Stoughton trailer’s new underride guard design in the 30% offset crash area (and Wabash’s last week) — like the other crash tests which I have observed — was a bittersweet moment. Grateful for the victory! Mourning that it was too late for Mary and AnnaLeah.
Not to mention the emotional challenge of sharing our story in that setting.
And then there were the stimulating discussions and the fact that I raised my hand countless times to ask a question. Push, push, push. . . challenge, question. Surely there are some who think that I am a thorn in their side.
But when it comes right down to it, most of those tasked with the responsibility of doing something about the underride problem (thankfully) do not have that inner voice reminding them that every ounce of patience with the status quo, every moment of pausing to be thankful for that bit of progress which has been made, is torture because it feels like a compromise is being made to stop forward momentum–thus giving up on the Best Possible Protection and sacrificing the life of yet one more underride victim as the Crash Death Clock continues to tick. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
With yesterday’s successful crash test, 4 out of the 8 major trailer manufacturers have passed all of the tests posed by IIHS at 100%, 50%, and 30% overlap. That means, when a passenger vehicle collides with the rear of 50% of new tractor-trailers at a speed of up to 35 mph, passengers have a better chance of survival. That is good news.
What is next? Where do we go from here?
At least 50% of the new tractor-trailers will not yet have that level of protection.
Current underride standards require protection up to 35 mph. What about crashes which involve higher speeds?
There are thousands of existing trailers which are not required to be retrofitted with safer rear underride guards.
Trailers on North American roads are still not required to have side underride protection–despite it being anticipated in a 1969 DOT document.
And Single Unit Trucks, for the most part, are not required to have rear underride protection–except for the 1953 variety.
No trucks are required to have front underrun/override protection.
Conspicuity–the ability to clearly notice the trucks from a distance in time to react safely as a passenger vehicle driver–is still an issue for both day and night driving.
Adequate parking options for truck drivers, who need to stop and rest or whose truck may be broken down, are in shortage. And drivers need to be appropriately trained and equipped to mark their truck so that motorists can safely navigate around them.
Australia/New Zealand has recently issued a proposed underride rule which is stronger than the current U.S. and the Canadian rules. What would stop us from adopting the strongest possible underride protection? Let’s not reinvent the wheel –not to mention neglect to save lives when it is possible to do so.
Looks like we need to get back to the drawing board come Monday morning. We’ve still got our work cut out for us. But, now that such a diverse and large group has voluntarily gathered together for an informative and challenging time at the Underride Roundtable, it is my hope that communication and collaboration will continue and good things will come out of our day at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Ruckersville, Virginia, on May 5, 2016.
Thank you to each one who went out of their way to participate in this memorable event. In memory of those who died too early, AnnaLeah & Mary and thousands of others. . .
You will find multiple links below reporting on the Underride Roundtable, which took place on May 5, 2016 at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville Center, co-hosted by them with the Truck Safety Coalition, and our family (AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety).
Please note: If you are visiting this site for the first time, please be aware that the reason this Underride Roundtable was organized was because the CURRENT DOT/NHTSA underride standards are TOO WEAK. In way too many cases, even new trucks with underride guards meeting current rules (not just corroded ones) fail and allow underride by a passenger vehicle colliding with them. People die from these kinds of crashes and it has been proven that stronger guards (if required and manufactured) could stop this deadly underride!
I know about this because my two youngest daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), died because of this kind of crash on May 4, 2013. I was driving. A truck hit us–spinning us around so that we went backwards into the tractor-trailer ahead of us. AnnaLeah and Mary were in the back seat which went under the truck. They died. I did not.
The Virginian Pilot interviewsMatt Brumbelow Research Engineer from IIHS and Jennifer Tierney, Truck Safety Coalition Volunteer: Safety Group Tests Rear Crash Bar on Trucks
Post by the president of the Truck Safety Coalition, Dawn King: Crash Dummy Survives!
Here is a brief look at the event from the law firm of Andy Young, who was the moderator of the panel discussion in the afternoon:
Like this facebook page during May and Nurenberg, Paris, Heller, & McCarthy will donate $2 to AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety toward research & advocacy efforts.
Around 90 people attended the Underride Roundtable today. The discussions were lively and interactions were fruitful. More reports will be upcoming in the days ahead.
This couid be the first ever Underride Roundtable of its kind. In any event, it’s the first one I’ve ever attended and I’m looking forward to witnessing a life-saving meeting of the minds. Let’s hope. . .
After reading so many encouraging words of comfort today and reminders of how we are being lifted up in prayer, I wanted to mention the indescribable blessing of hearing stories about how our story impacted you — either when you first heard about it or along the way.
Like water to a thirsty soul. Refreshing. But leaving me wanting more.
I am here in Virginia waiting to go tomorrow morning to the IIHS’s Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville for the Underride Roundtable. I wish that I was not here–not because I’m not looking forward to it, because I am. I am expecting it to help move us forward as a country to improving underride protection.
The reason, of course, is that I’m here because we lost AnnaLeah and Mary. And in the aftermath, we discovered that they might not have died if the underride guard had been stronger–more effective. But the federal standard did not require it to be so.
And that is why we are here: to change that. For somebody else.
We stopped at IIHS before going to our motel so that we could set up a table filled with handouts on the history of failed underride protection, as well as photos and mementos of Mary and AnnaLeah. Let no one forget the point of the gathering: to create survivable crashes in order to save lives.
It’s almost like the Lord inspired that artist to make a statue of AnnaLeah and Mary.
I planted some sunflowers behind the statue in hopes of growing some morning glories that will climb up them and put the girls in a garden. Might attract some real butterflies. Vanessa found a bug caught in the tiny butterfly net one day.
I had to thin the sunflowers today and felt bad deciding which ones would get to survive and which ones would get pulled up.
And I would have felt bad leaving the girls out in the rain except I knew that they probably would have enjoyed it–based on past experience! (photos of Mary from May 10 and July 25, 2012–some rare rainstorms in Midland, Texas, and one of AnnaLeah in a raincoat in Michigan with her siblings playing in the puddles).