Here is some basic information on understanding underride from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS):
A panel of experts discuss underride at a Briefing on The Hill, October 12, 2017, to bring greater understanding of the problem and solutions of deadly but preventable truck underride. Matt Brumbelow, a research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), discusses the problem of truck underride and the research which IIHS has done to study rear and side underride protection.
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:
Watch the video footage of this historic IIHS side underride crash testing at 35 mph on March 30 and 31, 2017 — with and without a side guard. It speaks for itself.
Now decide what we should do about this deadly but preventable public health problem.
On March 30, Jerry and I witnessed a crash test at 35 mph of a car into the side of a trailer — with an AngelWing side guard installed — at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville, Virginia. The guard was successful in stopping the car from riding under the trailer, i.e., passenger occupants would have survived.
The next day, another car was crashed at 35 mph into the side of a trailer — with a side skirt but no side guard. The car went under the trailer. Occupants would not have survived.
See it for yourself because Seeing Is Believing:
This one may be tough to watch:
The IIHS released the news today:
Note this quote from David Zuby, IIHS Chief Research Officer:
“Our tests and research show that side underride guards have the potential to save lives,” says David Zuby, the Institute’s executive vice president and chief research officer.“We think a mandate for side underride guards on large trucks has merit, especially as crash deaths continue to rise on our roads.”
The wheels on a tractor and trailer offer some underride protection if a passenger vehicle were to strike them. With no side underride guard, only 28 percent of a 53-foot trailer’s length would be protected from underride. With the AngelWing side underride guard in place, 62 percent of the trailer’s length would be protected. Side underride guards can be retrofitted to existing semitrailers.
The IIHS also released data from their recent in-depth analysis of NHTSA FARS truck crash fatality information:
Passenger vehicle occupant deaths in 2-vehicle crashes with tractor-trailers, 2005-15
IIHS analysis of NHTSA FARS Data
Year
Passenger vehicle
strikes side
of tractor-trailer
Passenger vehicle
strikes rear
of tractor-trailer
All crashes
with tractor-trailers
2015
301
292
1,542
2014
308
220
1,409
2013
274
213
1,377
2012
306
216
1,376
2011
246
189
1,362
2010
319
181
1,417
2009
269
174
1,237
2008
290
180
1,526
2007
417
218
1,771
2006
394
260
1,853
2005
441
258
1,932
Per Matt Brumbelow and Eric Teoh, IIHS, May 10, 2017
March 30, 2017, AngelWing Crash Test: Lois Durso, John Lannen, Andy Young, Marianne Karth, Jerry Karth, Martin Fleury, Perry Ponder, Mariella Amoros, Robert Martineau
If this many people were dying from an automotive defect and we knew it and we knew how to fix it, would we stand by and let those deaths continue?! Maybe that is the wrong question to ask because those kinds of deadly defects have been neglected as well. But the point is,
What will we choose to do at this crossroads?
Continue to allow underride deaths?
OR
Act responsibly to prevent these tragedies?
This is not the first time we have witnessed successful prevention of deadly side underride:
