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:

• Whistleblower Written Statement;

• 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.

• Letter from safety advocates, researchers, and others to the Department of Transportation Inspector General.
• Published Report – A Literature Review of Lateral Protection Devices on Trucks Intended for Reducing Pedestrian and Cyclist Fatalities

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

• NEWS RELEASE: Victims and Advocates Demand IG Investigation of Suppressed Traffic Safety Research
• Whistleblower says DOT kept important truck safety info from the public, Washington Post, May 15, 2024