Tag Archives: NHTSA

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection Reports to Congress & DOT Secretary

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

On June 28, 2024, the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP) completed a scathing critique of the Department of Transportation. In a 410-page report, it documented a long history of agency reluctance to regulate the trucking industry’s safety practices, exposed allegations of misconduct by senior officials, and called for the reversal of recent rulemaking that the committee believed made “no substantial progress” to improving public safety.

In its Biennial Report, commissioned by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, the committee contended that fatalities from underride crashes, in which large commercial trucks cause severe injuries to occupants of passenger vehicles, as well as pedestrians, bicyclists or motorcyclists, are largely preventable. But the committee found that, for over 50 years, the Department has not required manufacturers to install guards under the open sides of trailers, due to pressure from the industry.

The report exposed allegations from a whistleblower of serious misconduct. According to a former project manager at the Department in the agency that enforces rules for the trucking industry, senior Department officials in the Trump administration suppressed taxpayer-funded research into the cost-effectiveness of regulations requiring side guards on trucks. Trucking company lobbyists reportedly were angered by the research findings and pressed the Department to alter them. Officials in the Biden administration commenced a rulemaking process that ignored the key findings of the suppressed research. The report called upon the Biden administration to reverse course and start the rulemaking process over again, this time by counting the benefits it previously ignored. Advocates have asked the Inspector General to investigate.

Many of the ACUP’s critiques and recommendations were adopted over the objections of the trucking industry, which lacked the ability to veto the committee’s actions. They published their dissent in a minority report authored by the CEO of Utility Trailer Manufacturing Corporation, which recently was found negligent for the fiery death of a 16 year-old boy in a side underride crash. Utility’s share of the punitive damages was $18.9 million.

The committee, which was composed of engineers, emergency medical professionals, victims, safety advocates, law enforcement, and the trucking industry, sent its Report via NHTSA to Congress and the Secretary of Transportation on July 2, 2024. 

Below are links to the complete ACUP Biennial Report, the Majority Report, a Minority Report, and Appendices, including the statements of concurrence or dissent from ACUP members:

Other useful information to help you dig deeper into the work of the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection:

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, April 24, 2024 Meeting Record

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The NHTSA Advisory Committee on Underride Protection held its fifth meeting on April 24, 2024, via Zoom. The main agenda items were side and front underride. Presentations and discussions from the meeting can be viewed by using the YouTube video links below.

ACUP April 24, 2024, Meeting Segment Video Links
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Welcome & Call to Order, Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP)
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Side Underride Data and Analyses, Eric Hein of the Institute for Safer Trucking
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Missed Opportunities to Prevent Side Underride Fatalities, with Marianne Karth
 NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Front Underride, with Marianne Karth of AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety
 NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Concrete Barriers Then and Now, with Doug Smith of the Ralph Smith Company
 NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Front Override, Keith Friedman of the Friedman Research Corporation
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Side Underride Guards and Intermodal Chassis, with Dennis Lombardi of the IICL
NHTSA ACUP Meeting – Motions and Discussion, the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP)
Full YouTube Playlist of Meeting Videos
Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, April 24 Meeting Video Playlist POST

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, April 24 Meeting Video Playlist

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

The NHTSA Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP) held its fifth meeting on April 24, 2024, via Zoom. The main agenda items were side and front underride. Presentations and discussions from the meeting can be viewed by using the YouTube video playlist link here.

The next (and last currently scheduled) ACUP meeting will be held via Zoom on May 22, 2024. The ACUP’s two-year charter is due to expire by the end of June.

DOT Victim & Survivor Advocate Act Introduced To Give Victims A Voice

AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, , , , , , ,

On average, 42,075 people die on our roads every year, while 170,280 people are injured. Industry opposition. Regulatory capture. A lack of a sense of urgency or personal responsibility. These and other factors occur simultaneously — resulting in Too Little being done Too Late to prevent an unimaginable number of irreversible tragedies for those people and their loved ones.

It’s time to give vulnerable victims of vehicle violence a vigilant voice at the table. It’s time for a National Roadway Safety Advocate to serve the public’s best interests at the Department of Transportation. That’s why Senator Ben Ray Lujan (on May 9, 2024), and Congressman Steve Cohen (on May 10, 2024) introduced the DOT Victim & Survivor Advocate Act of 2024 — as a first step to provide safety advocates with a tangible means of bringing about meaningful change in a timely manner.

Find out more here:

You can help make this happen:

Hear Families Share Victim Stories — It’s time for a National Roadway Safety Advocate!

Senior Agency Officials Suppressed Side Guard Research — Impacting Regulatory Analysis

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

All road users are vulnerable to deadly collisions with large trucks. Truck underride guards can reduce the severity of injuries which occur when a passenger vehicle, pedestrian, bicyclist, or motorcyclist goes under a truck.

Advocate efforts to bring about federal underride regulations have been blocked for decades. Recent testimony from a whistleblower revealed that senior agency officials suppressed vital research — hiding the fact that side underride guards would be cost-effective. Key documents are provided here:

  • A slide presentation by Mr. Kwan to safety advocates and researchers on April 22, 2024, explaining the suppressed research — pdf and video;
  • Exhibit A — the Statement of Work for contract number SA9PAI. FMCSA contracted with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center for these deliverables to fulfill the research project entitled, Truck Side Guards to Reduce Vulnerable Road User Fatalities; 
  • Exhibit B — The Suppressed Research – Truck Side Guards and Skirts to Reduce Vulnerable Road User Fatalities: Final Report on Net Benefits and Recommendations, the final report received from the Volpe Center, meeting all the requirements of the Statement of Work. Among other things, this final report found that it was cost effective to require tractor-trailers and single-unit trucks to be equipped with lifesaving side impact guards. The cost-benefit analysis and most of the rest of this final report were suppressed from the published report by U.S. DOT; and 
  • Exhibit C — email communications obtained through the Freedom of Information Act which document that meetings and discussions concerning the Volpe Center report occurred among senior officials at DOT, NHTSA, and FMCSA in 2019 and 2020 without Mr. Kwan’s participation.

Sign this PETITION:

If this suppression of research goes unchecked, people will continue to be killed senselessly from preventable Death By Underride. Tell President Biden to take immediate action in order to undo the damage done by this misrepresentation of the costs and benefits of truck underride protection:

  1. Direct the Secretary of Transportation to withdraw the erroneous Side Impact Guard rulemaking and then do it right in a new one by counting all preventable deaths as a benefit to society;
  2. Appoint a Presidential Advisory Committee on Integrity of Underride Research to review and ensure the scientific integrity of all underride-related research and rulemaking; and
  3. Establish the Office of National Roadway Safety Advocate in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation proposed by members of Congress.
  4. Amend the July 2022 Rear Impact Guard Rule – bring it up to the TOUGHGUARD strength, as directed by Congress (Appropriations).

Can we expect the Department to adhere to its scientific integrity policy published in January 2024, or is it simply meaningless rhetoric?

Require that agency officials, including public affairs officers, shall neither ask nor direct nor
suggest that agency scientists and technology experts alter the presentation of their
scientific findings in a manner that may compromise the objectivity or accurate
representation of those findings. Scientific Integrity Policy of the United States Department of Transportation, p.11

Can we count on them to mend the broken trust and act with a sense of urgency to fulfill their mission to reduce roadway deaths and injuries?

Media Coverage

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, February 8, 2024 Meeting Record

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The NHTSA Advisory Committee on Underride Protection held its third meeting on February 8, 2024, via Zoom. The main agenda item was rear underride. Presentations and discussions from the meeting can be viewed by using the YouTube video links below.

Meeting Segment
ACUP Welcome & Call to Order
Rulemaking Process – Lina Vallivullah (NHTSA)
A History of Trailer Rear Impact Guards from Utility’s Perspective; Jeff Bennett (Utility Trailers)
Truck Rear Underride; Matt Brumbelow (IIHS) 
Hydro Concept Rear Impact Guard (RIG); Malcolm Deighton (Hydro Aluminum Extrusions) 
Crash Avoidance Technology; Wolfgang Hahn (ZF CV Systems North America) 
Rear Underride Guard Report Recommendations & References; Lee Jackson & Jennifer Tierney (Truck Safety Coalition) 
A Historical Overview of Rear Underride Research, Recommendations, & Rulemaking; Marianne Karth (AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety)
Rear Underride Prevention – Creating Crash Compatibility: Rear Guard Standards; Rear Guard Weight; Rear Guard Retrofit; Aaron Kiefer (Collision Safety Consulting) 
ACUP Member Discussion of Past & Present Motions – NHTSA Response to Information Requests, Assessment, & Recommendations, as well as ACUP communications

Upcoming Underride Advisory Committee Meeting Schedule

Truck Safety, , , , , , ,

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced the next four meetings of the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP):

  • February 8, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topic: Rear Underride
  • March 13, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topic: Side Underride
  • April 24, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topic: Front Override
  • May 22, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET; Topic: Underride Data

Register here to observe via Zoom.

February 8 will be the third public meeting of the committee, which was established to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation on safety regulations to reduce underride crashes and fatalities relating to underride crashes.

Video of Speakers at Underride Victim Vigil

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Families of underride victims gathered on September 14, 2023, in front of the U.S. Department of Transportation at 1200 New Jersey Ave SE in Washington, DC — with crash test cars from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2017 side underride research in the background — to remember loved ones, who lost their lives due to truck underride.

The families rang a commemorative bell for over 750 victims, primarily from the last few years, and called upon the Department to re-evaluate publicly available data, end their decades of inaction, and issue strong underride regulations. Their message was this: Delay = Death.

Thanks to Sarah Haedrich, Vision Zero Coalition Coordinator for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), we have video footage of some of the speakers at this event:

We are thankful for all who spoke at the Underride Victim Vigil, including:

  • Dr. Elisa Braver, epidemiologist and safety researcher
  • Andy Young, The Law Firm for Truck Safety
  • Barry Davis, father of underride victim Ally Davis
  • Lois Durso, mother of underride victim Roya Sadigh
  • Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
  • Sean O’Malley, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
  • Abbie Bingham Endicott, cousin of underride victim Sylvia Bingham
  • Daniel Langenkamp (husband of underride victim Sarah Langenkamp) read a statement from Stephen Bingham, father of underride victim Sylvia Bingham
  • Nancy Avis, cousin of underride victim Carling Mott
  • Harry Adler, Institute for Safer Trucking
  • Jerry and Marianne Karth, parents of underride victims AnnaLeah & Mary Karth

A Record of Those Remembered in the Underride Victim Vigil

Media Coverage of DC Underride Victim Vigil & Press Conference

  • Congresswoman Schakowsky next to crash test car (no side guard on trailer)
  • STOP Underrides Commemorative Underride Victim Bell

Media Coverage of DC Underride Victim Vigil & Press Conference

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Families of underride victims gathered on September 14, 2023, in front of the U.S. Department of Transportation at 1200 New Jersey Ave SE in Washington, DC — with crash test cars from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2017 side underride research in the background — to remember loved ones, who lost their lives due to truck underride. The families rang a commemorative bell for over 750 victims, primarily from the last few years, and called upon the Department to re-evaluate publicly available data, end their decades of inaction, and issue strong underride regulations.

Their message was this: Delay = Death.

A Record of Those Remembered in the Underride Victim Vigil

Media coverage included:

Grieving families say US Department of Transportation failed victims of tractor-trailer underride crashes

Speakers at the press conference included:

  • Dr. Elisa Braver, epidemiologist and safety researcher
  • Andy Young, The Law Firm for Truck Safety
  • Barry Davis, father of underride victim Ally Davis
  • Lois Durso, mother of underride victim Roya Sadigh
  • Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
  • Sean O’Malley, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
  • Abbie Bingham Endicott, cousin of underride victim Sylvia Bingham
  • Daniel Langenkamp (husband of underride victim Sarah Langenkamp) read a statement from Stephen Bingham, father of underride victim Sylvia Bingham
  • Nancy Avis, cousin of underride victim Carling Mott
  • Harry Adler, Institute for Safer Trucking
  • Jerry and Marianne Karth, parents of underride victims AnnaLeah & Mary Karth

“Underride crashes, which occur when a car slides underneath the body of a truck, have tragically become all too common on our highways. These crashes are preventable. Underride guards on large trucks save lives. I urge @NHTSAgov to implement stronger protections without delay,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. “I would be remiss if I did not mention all the survivors and family members who are turning their personal tragedy into advocacy. We could not do this without you.”

Underride Victim Families Appeal to Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Letter to DOT Office of Inspector General, September 14, 2023

We pray for Secretary Buttigieg

  • Underride Victim Remembrance Walk from The Capitol to USDOT
  • Ringing the Bell for Unknown Underride Victims 1966 – 2023
  • Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
  • Congresswoman Schakowsky next to crash test car (no side guard on trailer)
  • STOP Underrides Commemorative Underride Victim Bell
  • Underride Victim Binder – 750 names & photos, mostly from 2020-2023, plus other known victims
  • The Tip of the Iceberg
  • The Tip of the Iceberg
  • The Tip of the Iceberg
  • IIHS crash test car into trailer with NO side guard
  • Car crashed into trailer with side guard

Video of Speakers at Underride Victim Vigil

Underride Victim Vigil & Press Conference on DOT Steps in DC

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

On September 14, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m., families of victims of horrifying truck underride crashes will be standing vigil in front of the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC. We will be ringing a bell to memorialize the victims and sound an alarm. We will hold a press conference calling upon the Department of Transportation to require truck underride guards which will protect pedestrians, cyclists, and the motoring public from these violent and preventable deaths.

SAVE THE DATE Underride Victim Vigil & Press Conference FINAL

Participants will be invited to ring the bell for their own loved ones or for truck crash victims remembered in these underride crash memorial posts — the tip of the iceberg of precious loved ones gone too soon.

Underride Victim Memorial Bell