Tag Archives: National Sheriffs’ Association

In Memory of Justin Folsome (November 24, 2020)

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Campos was arrested following a November 24 crash on S.R. 85 near Buckeye, Arizona, that killed Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detention officer Justin Folsome.

Police say that Campos was driving northbound on S.R. 85 when he failed to slow for traffic stopped at a light, striking vehicles at speeds of 55 m.p.h. His truck hit Folsome’s car first, then pushed the car into two other vehicles.

Folsome died as a result of the crash. Truck driver in crash that killed Arizona sheriff’s officer had license, log book problems, police say

MCSO detention officer dies in traffic wreck

Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes — front, side, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Justin Folsome, Precious One Gone Too Soon

See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)

Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.

How You Can Help

Please sign this petition: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underrides.

Note: In order to raise awareness and preserve the memories of underride victims — precious ones gone too soon — I have been writing memorial posts on what appear to me to be underride crashes. I am not a crash reconstructionist, and I do not have all the facts on these crashes; but underride should be investigated as a potential factor in truck crash injuries and deaths.

NATIONAL SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATION SUPPORTS THE EFFORTS OF STOP UNDERRIDES AND ADVOCACY FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLE SAFETY

Nat’l Sheriffs’ Association Resolution Advocates to STOP Underrides & Improve Commercial Vehicle Safety

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Law enforcement officers might not always be familiar with the term underride, but they all too often are familiar with the devastation of an underride crash. For that reason, the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) Traffic Safety Committee was eager to provide us with a Letter of Support when the STOP Underrides! Bill was introduced.

Additionally, the NSA Board of Directors included this public health and traffic safety issue in their 2018  Resolutions. Find the NSA Underride Resolution here.

Of particular note, the Resolution states:

Be It RESOLVED, that the National Sheriffs’ Association and The National Sheriffs’ Association’s Traffic Safety Committee believe that retrofitting commercial vehicles is vital to the efforts to prevent these crashes from occurring, first and foremost and also to lower roadway deaths, injuries, and property damage.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the National Sheriffs’ Association and the National Sheriffs’
Association’s Traffic Safety Committee encourages further collaborative efforts by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; the Federal Highway Administration; the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration; the Governors Highway Safety Association; the National Sheriffs’ Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police to monitor and collect data that properly identifies underride deaths caused by Commercial Vehicle-involved crashes.

My heroes! Thank you, NSA!

National Sheriffs’ Association Urges Congress To Enact The “Vital & Pivotal” STOP Underrides! Bill

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We were excited to receive a Letter of Support for the STOP Underrides! Bill this week from the National Sheriffs’ Association and their Traffic Safety Committee. It was encouraging to know that they “get it” and are supporting our efforts to end preventable underride tragedies.
The NSA STOP Underrides Letter of Support to Congress closes with these thoughts:

. . . these substandard designs can be retrofitted and adapted with the proper side guards and rear guards that will provide passenger vehicle protection. These pivotal changes are in the hands of Congress to enact solutions that are mandatory for compliant commercial vehicles. The STOP Underrides Act of 2017, in both the House and the Senate, is an important piece of legislation that works to correct this “geometric mismatch” to better protect roadway drivers and traffic safety.

The National Sheriffs’ Association Traffic Safety Committee believes that this bill is vital to the efforts to prevent these crashes from occurring, first and foremost and also to lower roadway deaths, injuries, and property damage. We applaud the efforts of Senators Gillibrand and Rubio, as well as Congressman Cohen and DeSaulnier as they work to combat and improve safety on our nation’s roadways.

This request is deeply personal to all of us and will protect our constituents on our roadways, protect our law enforcement officers and first responders, and lower deaths and injuries.

Thank you for your consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

Sheriff Harold Eavenson, Rockwall County, TX, President, National Sheriffs’ Association

Sheriff John Whetsel (Ret.), Oklahoma County, OK, Chair, Traffic Safety Committe

Lois Durso and I will be back in DC next week to attend the May 16 nomination hearing for NHTSA Administrator nominee Heidi King (currently serving as the NHTSA Deputy Administrator). We welcome opportunities to sit down and share our stories and knowledge of this preventable problem. And we are hopeful that there will be significant action to move this life-preserving legislation forward posthaste.