Tag Archives: crash tests

What Don’t They Want to See? DOT Declines to Send Observer to Underride Crash Test… AGAIN!

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , , ,

“TEAM Underride,” a loosely-organized coalition of engineers, researchers, safety advocates, and families of underride victims have planned multiple underride crash tests, underride crash test events, and a vigil for underride victims. Two of those events were in D.C. — an D.C. Underride Crash Test Event on March 26, 2019 in the Audi Field parking lot one mile from DOT and an Underride Victim Vigil in September 2023 on the sidewalk in front of the DOT building on New Jersey Avenue in D.C.

Despite multiple communications inviting the Department of Transportation, and especially NHTSA who is responsible for underride rulemaking, to these events, less than a handful of department representatives have shown up. What’s with that? What don’t they want to see? What they should want to see is honest to goodness research being undertaken to solve the decades-old problem of Death By Underride — proof-positive that the ball is in their court to issue regulations which could end countless preventable tragedies.

I emailed multiple people at DOT on January 11, 2019 — inviting them to our March crash test. Then, on February 6, 2019, after Lois Durso and I had checked out the Audi Field parking lot and walked over to DOT from there, we hand delivered a stack of event flyers and asked that they be distributed. I was told, “We will make sure that the event flyers are distributed.” Only one person — from FMCSA, which is not primarily responsible for underride rulemaking — bothered to come. Two months isn’t enough notice to put it in their schedule (no travel approval necessary)?

On July 11, 2023, I sent an online scheduling request to the Office of the Secretary — hoping that Secretary Buttigieg could attend the August 3, 2023, Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event. I followed up with an email to the Office of the Secretary. On July 19, I received this reply:

Unfortunately, DOT will not be able to send a representative to the event in Raleigh. Our team is sorry this didn’t work out, but we’re grateful for your continued advocacy and safety work and look forward to continued collaboration.

This is what they would have seen — had they bothered to come: Underride Crash Tests – Unguarded Trailer vs Guarded Trailer

Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event, August 3, 2023

I received a reply on August 23, 2024, to my August 5 request for the Secretary — or someone from the Department — to come to the Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event on September 13, 2024. I understand that Secretary Buttigieg could not fit it into his schedule, but the response was rather disturbing — though not surprising:

Thank you very much for the follow-up. Unfortunately, DOT won’t be able to send a representative for this event. We’re very sorry it won’t work out this time, and we are sending our best for an impactful event next month.

It won’t work out this time?!

Here’s the event flyer for the crash testing event coming soon in Raleigh at the North Carolina State Highway Patrol training facility: Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event – SAVE THE DATE: September 13, 2024

Be there, or be square!

A day in the life of an underride crash test crew; A Photographer’s Perspective

AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

A local photographer became part of the all-volunteer TEAM Underride — offering his skills to capture a day in the life of an underride crash test crew at the Raleigh Underride Crash Test Event on August 3 at the North Carolina State Highway Patrol training facility. Here’s a glimpse of that day from a photographer’s perspective: Team Underride Crash Test Event.

Note: Adam Trevillian provided these photos for TEAM Underride to use. If outside sources would like to use these photos (for publications, etc.), please contact Adam so that he can handle those requests: adam@adamtrevillian.com.

STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety (ALMFTS) is collaborating with State Highway Patrols & safety groups to demonstrate engineering solutions at 2-day Underride Crash Test Events in at least 4 regions of the U.S.

Each Regional Event will include multiple crash tests — including one with & one without a side guard — as well as a keynote speaker & panel discussion to educate first responders, crash investigators, insurers, regulators, & the trucking industry on the deadly underride problem and solutions.

Organizers:

The STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour is a collaborative TEAM Underride effort of ALMFTS, StopUnderrides.org, TrailerGuards.com, AngelWingSkirts.com, Institute for Safer Trucking, The Law Firm for Truck Safety, and many other organizations and individuals, including families of underride victims. Go, Team, Go!

Crash Test Tour Event Sites:

As plans develop, information will be provided here on the schedule and locations where Crash Test Events will take place during 2023. Potential sites under consideration include Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Indiana, New York, and New Mexico. Subject to change.

Donors:

We are thankful for The Law Firm for Truck Safety, who graciously offered to match all donations up to $25,000. They were later joined by the Academy of Trucking Accident Attorneys (ATAA), who have added another $25,000 to our matching challenge. We welcome contributions of any size and wish to recognize all of our Business Partners and TEAM Underride Partners here.

How You Can Help TEAM Underride:

  • Contact us at marianne@annaleahmary.com, if you would like to become involved in planning and/or participating in the Tour.
  • For instructions on how you can donate to AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, contact us at: marianne@annaleahmary.com.
  • Donations can also be made on Facebook HERE.

STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour – Demonstrating Solutions:

Many Underride Stories – Tip of the Iceberg – Precious Loved Ones, Gone Too Soon:

One Underride Story:

Video of the Underride Panel Discussion at the D.C. Underride Crash Test Event, March 26, 2019

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , , ,

Safety engineers and professionals share their knowledge and thoughts in a Panel Discussion on the underride issue at the D.C. Underride Crash Test Event on March 26, 2019:

  • David Friedman, Consumer Reports, VP, Advocacy, formerly the CR Director of Cars and Product Policy and Analysis, former NHTSA Acting Administrator
  • Malcolm Deighton, engineer with Hydro, which supplies aluminum for manufacturing underride protective devices and trailer parts and which produces comprehensive underride protection technology in Europe
  • Glen Berry, Safety Director for Thomas Transport Delivery, AngelWing installed since 2017, truck driver
  • Perry Ponder, inventor of AngelWing, engineer with an accident reconstruction engineering company
  • David Dorrity, worked for Stevens Transport for years and testifies all over the country on safe trucking practices.
  • Aaron Kiefer, forensic engineer & crash reconstructionist, inventor of SafetySkirt

Moderated by Andy Young, truck litigation attorney and CDL holder.

The discussion can be viewed in four consecutive videos below.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Thank you, Perry, David, Malcolm, Aaron, Glen, David, and Andy, for taking the time to share your knowledge and thoughts on the underride problem and solutions to this deadly but preventable traffic tragedy.

Note: Video of the crash tests are available here.

Video Links from the Second Underride Roundtable at the IIHS on August 29, 2017

Truck Safety, , , ,

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety once again did a fantastic job of hosting the Underride Roundtable. They have now provided us with links to the Second Underride Roundtable held at the IIHS Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville, Virginia, on August 29, 2017. Here is the agenda, followed by the videos:

Truck Underride Roundtable 2 – Morning Session, Part 1:

 

Truck Underride Roundtable 2 – Morning Session, Part 2:

 

Truck Underride Roundtable 2 – Side Guard Panel:

 

Truck Underride Roundtable 2 – Industry Response and Crash Avoidance Panel:

 

Side Guard Crash Test at 40 mph on August 29, 2017:

 

Side Underride & Side Guard Crash Tests at 35 mph at IIHS on March 30 & 31, 2017:

 

 

New Stoughton Rear Underride Guard Proven Successful In Real Life Crash; Driver Survives

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I found out which crash the new Stoughton rear underride guard was in. Here is a photo of a recent crash on the New York State Thruway.

Photo from Syracuse.com crash story: At least 3 people injured in pileup on NYS Thruway in Warners

Imagine. The new guard did what it was supposed to do! There was no Passenger Compartment Intrusion. The driver in this car survived.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Stoughton. Thank you, Trucking Industry for responding to the research and our pleas. Thank you, everyone who has supported this effort.

Here are the crash tests done by IIHS on the 5 major trailer manufacturers who have voluntarily improved their rear underride guard:

2 Moms Collaborate With Innovative & Insightful Truck Industry Leaders

Great Dane Trailer Crash Test at IIHS; Receives Toughguard Award For Improved Rear Underride Guard

Truck Safety, , , ,

I have seen quite a few underride guard crash tests in the last two years. It’s not something I ever planned to do and it is never easy.  Some of them ended in severe underride and it always shakes me up at how quickly life can change forever. In a matter of seconds.

The crash test I viewed at IIHS on January 19, 2017, was particularly hard to watch. It was a test of Great Dane’s newly designed rear underride guard. A Great Dane trailer was what our Crown Vic collided with on May 4, 2013 — with tragic results.

Demonstration of Improvement in Rear Underride Guard; Great Dane Trailers Crash Test at IIHS, January 19, 2017:

They have proven that creative minds can come up with better underride protection. The cars are damaged from the crash, but underride and Passenger Compartment Intrusion (PCI) are prevented. Lives are preserved.

Here is a Youtube video, posted by Cars-Trucks TV, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the improved rear underride guards designed by five of the major trailer manufacturers — Great Dane, Manac, Stoughton, Vanguard, and Wabash — from 2013 to 2017. They received a Toughguard award from IIHS — as announced on March 1, 2017.

Last year, about this time, I posted this: March Historically a Momentous Month for Truck Underride Safety Advocacy; Beware the Ides of March!

Here is an excerpt:  It is my fervent hope that, when March 2017 rolls around, we will be celebrating a vastly improved federal standard–enthusiastically and immediately adopted by the trucking industry–for all-around-the-truck underride protection at higher speeds, including now-exempt single unit trucks as well as retrofitted to existing trucks and trailers.

If this seems like a costly venture, try comparing it to the price paid by thousands upon thousands of individuals and families during the past decades of ineffective underride protection–added to the countless precious people who will be saved in the years to come from tragic, preventable death by underride.

We aren’t finished yet, but we have come a long ways!

AngelWing Side Guard Crash Test A Success!

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

Great progress is being made in underride protection on the sides of large trucks in the month of January 2017. While Aaron Kiefer is preparing for a crash test of his innovative TrailerSafe System side/rear guard on January 20 in North Carolina, Airflow Deflector tested Perry Ponder’s Angel Wing side guard design in New York.

AngelWing

The Angel Wing crash test was declared a success: the side guard prevented the side of the trailer from going past the windshield thus promising protection from Passenger Compartment Intrusion (PCI). In other words, it is likely that, due to the side guard in combination with the crashworthiness of the car, no one would have been killed or seriously injured by the collision between the side of this truck and a smaller passenger vehicle.

Side underride is not a new problem. For too long, nothing has been done about it. Yet here are two unique and innovative solutions to protect us from deadly side underride. Two Life-Savers.

I count myself privileged to be cheering these innovative and compassionate engineers on in their important work which will save countless lives. Now, here’s to getting these marvelous inventions onto the trucks we all drive around each day. . .

The Crash Death Clock is ticking; America will soon reach 4 million crash deaths.

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , ,

The Crash Death Clock is ticking; America will soon reach 4 million crash deaths.

What can you do to slow the highway carnage to a crawl?

stand-up-for-traffic-safety

CBA Victim Cost Benefit Analysis Victim

Support side guard crash testing to prevent deadly truck side underride: Donate at AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety, 501(c)(3)

“‘He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;
Then it was well.
Is not that what it means to know Me?’ declares the LORD.

“For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help,
The afflicted also, & him who has no helper.
He will have compassion on the poor & needy,
And the lives of the needy he will save.
He will rescue their life from oppression & violence;
And their blood will be precious in his sight.”
Jeremiah 22:16 and Psalm 72:12-14

Thank you, Wabash, for taking steps to protect innocent lives! @WabashNational

Truck Safety, , ,

We are grateful that Wabash has taken the initiative to improve rear underride protection on the trailers which they manufacture, as seen on their website: RIG-16 REAR UNDERRIDE GUARD SYSTEM

RIG-16 REAR UNDERRIDE GUARD SYSTEM

For the past three years, Wabash National has spent considerable time, capital and facility resources in R&D specifically focused on enhancing rear impact guard performance. As part of these efforts, we conducted numerous crash tests, and consulted and worked with some of the premiere testing facilities in the country. The new RIG-16 system is designed to:

  • Prevent vehicle underride in multiple offset impact scenarios
  • Better absorb and deflect vehicle impact at any point along the bumper
  • Exceed U.S. (FMVSS) and Canadian (CMVSS) requirements

Key Design Features

To achieve our performance objectives, our engineering and product development teams incorporated a number of design enhancements that are engineered to work together, as a system, to better absorb energy and deflect impact.

  • Engineered a bolt-on, integrated rear impact guard system that better absorbs and deflects impact energy
  • Added two vertical bumper legs to the design for a total of four
  • Placed the outer vertical bumper legs closer to the sides of the trailer
  • Constructed the bumper legs and tube of a higher-strength steel
  • Hot-dip galvanized the assembly

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0258951 and other patents pending

Picture 275

See more about this great underride story here: An unexpected phone call from a trailer buyer with good news on underride guards