Underride Roundtable To Consider Underride Research From Around the Globe

April 22, 2016AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyunderide guards, underride research, underride roundtableMarianne

On May 5, 2016, over 65 representatives from the trucking industry, government, safety advocates, engineers, crash reconstructionists, attorneys, and media will be on hand at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Vehicle Research Center to discuss and demonstrate truck underride crashes.

In addition, the Underride Roundtable, which will be taking place from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., will be available to watch via livestreaming–with viewer interaction anticipated. The webcast link will be provided here when it is available.

Webcast Link to the Underride Roundtable is now ready for registration for this upcoming event! Webcast Link for Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Underride Roundtable

Underride Roundtable Agenda May 5, 2016

Vision Zero Petition Book 3rd Edition

Truck Underride Roundtable is one week away! May it be sehr gut!

In order to prepare for that, I am going to highlight some past and current underride research papers and efforts here. It will, of course, not cover everything and others are welcome to send additional information my way, which I would be more than happy to add to the list.

Although most of the research below will not appear as a presentation on the agenda, I am hopeful that the information will be considered by all as recommendations for underride protection are discussed and proposed.

I had actually wanted to put together a packet of this kind of information to hand out to participants. Then I thought that it might be more useful to provide it to a wider audience by posting it on our website. So here it is.

In addition, I have prepared a feedback form to enable you to let me know what you think should be done about truck underride protection. I am hoping to get a good response and will compile any results which I receive before the Underride Roundtable, as well as after the event.

Please print my Dragon Underride Protector Wish List, fill in your answers, scan it, and email it to me at marianne@annaleahmary.com.

Although I don’t know all the names and details, I imagine that there are countless individuals and organizations who have contributed, over a span of many years, to the discussion and development of underride protection. I am thankful that we can build upon that foundation.

Here is some of the research which I have come across in my search for the best possible protection.

Update, May 21, 2016: Other Research Not Listed Below: See this post, Other Research Which Should Not Be Ignored in Current Underride Rulemaking

Australian Underride Research:

Truck Underride Prevention Research Too Long Neglected; How Long Will This Highway Carnage Continue?, includes crash test video footage & links to research papers/reports
Good news from Australia: A Stronger Rear Underride Guard Rule Has Been Proposed!
Australian engineers champion the cause of better truck underride protection
The Future of Underride Prevention: A conversation with underride researcher from Australia
Under-runRaphCommittee
Side Underride Paper Rechnitzer and Grzebieta
Side Underrun Barriers Rechnitzer & Grzetieta

Virginia Tech Senior Underride Design Team:

Aaron Kiefer (North Carolina) Innovative Side/Rear Underride Research:

German Researchers:

Detlef Alwes: Flyer Truck RUP 2015_fb1 Detlef Alwe Detlef Alwes Underrun Protection System Presentation1_2016 (1) & Detlef Alwes aus Bad Honnef entwickelte Unterfahrschutz (go here to get this translated: German to English Translation)
Andreas Ratzek, ADAC, Munchen, Germany: Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mplKzl57uq4 Position Papers: ADAC Underrun Protection Position Paper _Unterfahrschutz_EN_12_12_04 and ADAC Underrun Protection Standpunkt Heckunterfahrschutz_EN

34 Public Comments on the current NHTSA Rear Underride Rulemaking can be found here: NPRM Upgrade Underide.

73 Public Comments on the current ANPRM for Single Unit Trucks: ANPRM Underride Protection of Single Unit Trucks

Please note this comment in particular: Perry Ponder, Seven Hills Engineering, Comment from Seven Hills Engineering, LLC with reference to a 1969 DOT document indicating their intention to extend underride protection to the sides of large vehicles: Regulators, manufacturers, & advocates need to read this engineer’s comment on truck underride

Also, note that Seven Hills sponsored a Senior Capstone Project at FSU College of Engineering in 2010/11 to design a side guard: Side Underride Guard w/ Aerodynamic Fairing – Senior Design Fall 2010—Spring 2011

Other:

Dean Sicking & Kevin Schrum have submitted a proposal for underride research & design based on technology which could provide underride protection in extreme crash conditions: Development of Trailer Underride Preventive Measures and AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety is excited to begin raising money to support NASCAR’s safety hero, Dean Sicking, research for SAFER Truck Underride Guards. and Unexpected Visit With a Hopeful Underride Research Engineer
Wabash National has designed a stronger rear underride guard: Thank you, Wabash, for creating a safer truck rear underride guard! And Stoughton will be having their new guard crash tested at the Roundtable. And Manac has already had theirs tested: The Best Possible Protection.
Bruce Enz, Injury & Crash Analysis (Indiana), Injury & Crash Analysis Underride Research
Trucker, Jeff Halling recommends keeping in mind the docking requirements: https://www.facebook.com/groups/494507530713925/permalink/628529627311714/
Andy Young, truck litigation attorney, truck owner, Piercing the Passenger Compartment–Voluntary Efforts to Stop the Horrors of Underride Truck Crashes and Andy Young-BIO and UNDERRIDE TRUCK CRASHES – WORSE THAN HITTING A BRICK WALL Andy Young
Airflow Deflector will be participating in the Roundtable and I will look forward to finding out more about their side underride protection, particularly for City Trucks to protect Vulnerable Road Users: Airflow Deflector; Airflow Deflector Video and Truck Side Guards for Vision Zero – NYC
Underride Network, I have become aware of many researchers through information made available on the Underride Network website. Stephen Hadley, manager of this website: Underride Network want list for topics at IIHS Underride Roundtable
Byron Bloch has shared with us from his vast experience with truck underride: IMPROVED CRASHWORTHY DESIGNS FOR TRUCK UNDERRIDE GUARDS & Let’s Move From: “A Failure of Compassion, & Tactics of Conceal-‐Delay-‐Deny While Fiery Crashes Occur” to a “Vision of Zero Fatalities”
Jerry Karth‘s Public Comments on the underride rulemaking: Comment from Jerry Karth and Public Comment on the NPRM for Rear Underride Guards on Trailers by Jerry Karth pdf
My comment on the Single Unit Truck ANPRM: Marianne Karth – Comment and March Historically a Momentous Month for Truck Underride Safety Advocacy 2 and Truck Underride A Practical Application of a Vision Zero Goal Marianne Karth Public Comment
Large Truck Crash Study, Matthew Brumbelow, IIHS: CRASH TEST PERFORMANCE OF LARGE TRUCK REAR UNDERRIDE GUARDS
IIHS Large Truck Status Report Articles: Large trucks About 1 in 10 highway deaths occurs in a crash involving a large truck.
Much, much more can be found about truck underride at our website: Underride Guards Page and Underride Guards Posts on annaleahmary.com

And last, but not least, out of the mouths of babes. . .

NOTE: I will likely be updating this post as we get closer to the Underride Roundtable on May 5, 2016! And, of course, I can hardly wait to post the results of the Roundtable itself!

In memory of AnnaLeah & Mary, Precious Ones whose lives were cut far too short.

Australia has embraced Vision Zero. What about US?

April 21, 2016Safety AdvocacyVision ZeroMarianne

Western Australia has embraced Vision Zero. What about the US?

Towards Zero is Western Australia’s road safety strategy for 2008-2020.

Towards Zero aims to improve road safety through four cornerstones:

Safe Road Use – Improving road user behaviour.
Safe Roads and Roadsides – Improving road infrastructure improvements.
Safe Speeds – Ensuring speed limits and travel speeds are appropriate for the safety of the road infrastructure.
Safe Vehicles – Improving the safety of the vehicles on the road.

A vision can serve to direct decisions and actions. What are we waiting for?

Do it, President Obama, for We the People of this United States of America! #VisionZero

Vision Zero/Safe System: foreseen fatalities need to be addressed if a design countermeasure possible

April 20, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyunderride crash, underride guardMarianne

No matter what causes a crash, when underride occurs, it is the victim who pays the price.

The Standards Australia recently-released proposed rear underrun rule says this in Commentary G of its STANDARDS AUSTRALIA Rear Underride Proposed Rule:

“Around twelve fatalities occur each year as a result of truck underruns in Australia. The injuries are usually horrific (see references in paragraph G7.2.1. for Rechnitzer & Foong [1991], Rechnitzer & Grzebieta [1991], Grzebieta & Rechnitzer [2001], Lambert & Rechnitzer [2002], Brumbelow [2011], & IIHS [2014]).

“Given that Australia has adopted a ‘Vision Zero’ road safety philosophy and the ‘Safe System Approach’ road safety strategy, all such foreseen fatalities need to be addressed if a design countermeasure can be implemented.

“The U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has also identified that the truck underrun fatalities and serious injuries are occurring as a result of inadequate truck underrun barriers and the lack of a crash performance test standard (IIHS 2014). They have rated a number of underrun barriers using a performance crash test protocol they recently developed.”

Clearly, they get it: if a fatality is predictable, and a solution exists which could prevent it, then it should be implemented!

See previous post on this topic: Good news from Australia: A Stronger Rear Underride Guard Rule Has Been Proposed!

Same old/same old: Senate Prepares To Make Truck Safety Even Worse, Advocates Warn

April 20, 2016AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetydriver fatigue, grief, HOSMarianne

No matter who causes a truck crash, the victims pay the price. This country needs to understand that there is a better way to resolve traffic safety problems than through a political tug-of-war!

After my daughters, AnnaLeah (17) and Mary (13), were killed in a truck crash almost three years ago on May 4, 2013, I have had my eyes opened and would like others to listen to what I have to say.

We can do better than continue to put our heads in the sand and think that these horrific, preventable, tragic deaths will go away by handling these problems the same old way.

What is being done now to address traffic safety issues is just not working: Senate Prepares To Make Truck Safety Even Worse, Advocates Warn

If you could walk in my shoes (and those of the hundreds of thousands of other Americans who have lost loved ones this way) and bear the unnecessary grief on a daily basis, then you might be able to understand the frustration of knowing that something better could be done about this–but ISN’T.

Are you listening, Congress, everyone involved in the trucking industry and traffic safety advocacy, and especially, right now, President Obama?!

Life & Death Traffic Safety Problems Deserve Proper Treatment: Not Political Tug-of-War Game!

AnnaLeah & Mary, we miss you so much!

Towards Zero: There’s no one someone won’t miss.

Comment on Huffington Post article

Good news from Australia: A Stronger Rear Underride Guard Rule Has Been Proposed!

April 20, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyrear underride guards, underride guards, underride rulemakingMarianne

Yesterday, I received good news on underride rulemaking from the Australian front. George Rechnitzer and Raphael Grzebieta were able to impact Standards Australia to issue a proposed rear underride rule which will be much stronger than their current rule (and than U.S. underride rules) and which will require a crash test.

Comments will be accepted through June 22, 2016 on the proposed standard: STANDARDS AUSTRALIA Rear Underride Proposed Rule

Minolta DSC — Mary would likely get excited!

The following is the letter which I received from Raphael Grzebieta, as well as the letter which he received from Standards Australia:

Hi Marianne,

Great news! Our Australian/New Zealand National Standard is now out for public comment before it is ratified as a standard for regulators (DOTs) and others in Australia and New Zealand.

We will be the first kids on the planet releasing such a standard that demands a crash test for an underrun barrier fixed to the rear of a heavy truck.

It has taken more than a quarter of a century (and many horrific deaths) but George and I have finally done it at last. We got it into the Standard.

There was some resistance by one of the DOTs but after some strong persuasion (by me and other DOTs, particularly NZ) at a couple of key Standards Committee meetings, all DOTs are on board with it now.

See attached – Section 7 and Appendix G.

Any one of you (and others – please email it out) are of course most welcome to submit a comment to Standards Australia. Good comments I hope.

All the best.

Kind Regards

Raphael

Raphael Grzebieta PhD (Professor, Road Safety)

Australian Naturalistic Driver Study, Lead Chief Investigator

www.ands.unsw.edu.au
The letter to Raphael from Standards Australia:

Dear Raphael Grzebieta,

Please note that the following draft is open for public comment:

Draft Number:	AS/NZS 3845.2
Title:	Roadside safety systems and devices – Temporary work sites, bollards, light poles and sign supports
Project Committee:	CE-033 Road Safety Barrier Systems
Public Comment Closing Date:	22/06/2016 23:59

You can view the draft and any incoming comments here after entering your Standards Hub login details.

All comments are to be submitted on the Standards Hub. Follow the link above, login and select the “New Comment” button.

If you have any queries regarding the submission of comments, please contact us on the details given below or contact the relevant Project Manager.

Kind Regards
Standards Australia

Level 10, 20 Bridge Street, Sydney NSW 2000, GPO Box 476 Sydney NSW 2001
P +61 2 9237 6171 FreeCall 1800 035 822 F +61 2 9237 6010 mail@standards.org.au
www.standards.org.au

Standards Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, recognised
by the Australian Government as the peak non-government Standards body in Australia. Standards Australia develops internationally aligned Australian Standards® that deliver Net Benefit to Australia and is the Australian member of ISO and IEC,
Standards Australia is the Principal Sponsor of the Australian International Design Awards www.designawards.com.au

From 1994-2014, 5,081 truck underride deaths (on average, 4/week) recorded by NHTSA.

April 19, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck SafetyCare for Crash Victims, FARS, NHTSA, underride crash fatalities, underride guardsMarianne

April 19, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Marianne Karth asked NHTSA for information on Truck Underride Deaths.

NHTSA provided a revealing and disturbing set of data.

For twenty years about 4 people every average week an American motorist died of their injuries according to NHTSA’s FARS data. From 1994-2014 the total amounting to 5,081 deaths were recorded by NHTSA. See attached.

Year after tragic year the number has remained almost constant at more than 200 deaths each year.

See https://annaleahmary.com/2016/04/truck-underride-fatalities-chart-from-the-fars-1994-2014/

Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) have access to such data, so why don’t we see more stories? See DOT and NHTSA databases available at IRE at
http://ire.org/nicar/database-library/

Let’s get the media focusing on our clear and present dangers here at home in the U.S.A. today.

Let’s get the media to produce change for the better with news we can use.

Lou

Care for Crash Victims website

Tell Obama you are standing with us in this: “Family Continues Fight for Trucking Safety”

Truck Underride Fatalities Chart from the FARS, 1994-2014

April 19, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyunderride crash, underride guards, underride researchMarianne

The Department of Transportation collects statistics from crash reports given to them by each state on fatalities each year. I requested a chart of those crash deaths related to truck underride since they began collecting that information.

I just received that chart from NHTSA: Truck Underride Fatalities, 1994-2014

Unfortunately, it does not contain a breakdown of rear vs side vs front collisions. Also, there is a column for Passenger “Compartment Intrusion Unknown.” Our crash was listed as this category in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). However, there clearly was intrusion into the passenger compartment where AnnaLeah and Mary were sitting.

It makes me wonder how many PCI crashes are underreported. These statistics are taken from the police crash reports and it would be helpful if all states were provided with, and required to use, a uniform report form in order to make reporting and research more efficient and effective.

Previous post on that topic: Truck Underride Prevention Research Too Long Neglected; How Long Will This Highway Carnage Continue?

Hurrah! VA Tech Sr. Dream Team has attached their underride guard to a trailer!

April 19, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyunderride guard, underride research, Virginia Tech Dream TeamMarianne

The Virginia Tech Senior Design Team has installed their innovative underride guard with sine beam to a trailer and sent photos to me! Testing is yet to come.

Doesn’t it look awesome?!!!!!! And we’ll get to see it and meet the Team on May 5 at the Underride Roundtable at the IIHS Vehicle Research Center.

VA Tech Team with installed guard on rig — **VA Tech Team with installed guard**

L to R: Kristen Adriano, Daniel Carrasco, Andrew Pitt, Wayne Carter (Team Facilitator), Brian Smith, Sean Gardner

Not pictured: Jared Bryson (their Sponsor) and Robin Ott (their Project Advisor).

What I was thinking of in June 2014, when I wrote this post: Underride Guards: Can we “sit down at the table together” and work this out?

and made this video:

FMCSA Releases Large Truck & Bus Crash Statistics for 2014

April 19, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck SafetyFMCSA, large truck crash factsMarianne

Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2014 – PDF

Life & Death Traffic Safety Problems Deserve Proper Treatment: Not Political Tug-of-War Game!

April 18, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetydriver fatigue, drowsy driving, HOS, hours of service, traffic safety, Vision ZeroMarianne

I have said it before and I’ll say it again: Life & death traffic safety problems deserve to be handled appropriately and not like some political tug-of-war game played by industry lobbyists, administrators, and legislators!

I have offered what seems to me to be a reasonable alternative when I petitioned President Obama to resolve our national traffic safety travesty in this way:

Set a National Vision Zero Goal (which would serve to raise national awareness and direct national priorities with the goal in mind of doing everything possible to move our country ever closer to zero crash deaths & serious injuries).
Establish a White House Vision Zero Task Force to address these traffic safety problems in an interdisciplinary, non-political manner.
Sign a Vision Zero Executive Order to pave the way for Vision Zero Rulemaking that could truly make Saving Lives a priority rather than an afterthought.

See more here about this ongoing problem & my recommended solution:

An ongoing battle over trucker hours of service and its impact on truck driver fatigue and inevitably fatal crashes is addressed in two recent articles: Maine Voices: In the long haul, tired truck drivers result in hazardous highways and Trucks Are Getting More Dangerous And Drivers Are Falling Asleep At The Wheel. Thank Congress.
I wrote about the congressional truck safety legislation fiasco here: “Trucks Are Getting More Dangerous And Drivers Are Falling Asleep At The Wheel. Thank Congress.” and, of course, here we have addressed the driver fatigue problem at length on our website: Driver Fatigue on annaleahmary.com
We delivered over 20,000 Vision Zero Petition signatures to Washington, DC, on March 5, 2016, in the form of a book which we distributed to key leaders asking for bottomline change and a major paradigm shift in how all traffic safety problems are addressed: Tell Obama you are standing with us in this: “Family Continues Fight for Trucking Safety”

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: