Tag Archives: Senator Lujan

STOP Underrides Bill Re-Introduced In Senate & House

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

Today, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN-9), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10), and Deborah Ross (D-NC-2) introduced legislation to help prevent deadly truck underride crashes.

Sign the 2026 Petition: Tell Congress to Pass STOP Underrides 2.0 – Make Truck Crashes Survivable

Legislation was introduced in 2017, 2019, and 2021. Underride provisions were included in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The 2026 Stop Underrides Act 2.0 would expand on current restrictions by instructing rulemaking to require side underride guards on new trucks, improving data collection, and directing additional research on underride crashes. Specifically, this bill would:

  • Require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to finalize rulemaking requiring side underride guards on commercial trucks. 
  • Restart the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, to provide recommendations for how to reduce underride crashes and severe injuries and fatalities caused by underrides.
  • Require the DOT to publish a website making underrides research accessible to researchers, industry, and advocates. 
  • Instruct the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study on the prevalence of underride incidents, including those involving the fronts of large trucks.
  • Instruct NHTSA to create free, on-demand web-based training for state and local law enforcement to better identify and document underride crashes. 
  • Instruct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study of the implementation of NHTSA’s 2022 rear underride rule and provide suggestions to better improve the rule. 
  • Instruct NHTSA to review its Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and correct crashes in the database that should have been classified as an underride but were not — including Vulnerable Road Users, i.e., pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists.

The House bill is H.R. 7354. Its companion bill in the Senate is S. 3775. You can read the full bill text here.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Basic Underride Information

This is what the bill sponsors are saying:

“Truck underride guards are one of the best and easiest solutions for protecting passengers during collisions with large trucks,” said Senator Gillibrand. “The Stop Underrides Act 2.0 is commonsense legislation that will protect passengers and make our roads safer. I look forward to working across the aisle to get this passed.”

“I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing life-saving legislation to make our roads safer,” said Senator Luján. “The Stop Underrides Act will help prevent deadly underride crashes and protect families from tragic, preventable loss. I’m grateful for Senator Gillibrand’s leadership on this important issue, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this bill signed into law.”

“The Stop Underrides Act 2.0 would help prevent these terrible and too-often fatal truck-trailer accidents by ensuring that cars can no longer slide underneath trucks,” said Representative Cohen. “In introducing this legislation, I’m reminded of my constituents Randy and Laurie Higginbotham who lost their son in an underride crash in Memphis in 2014. The Stop Underrides Act 2.0 builds on important progress made in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and will save lives by helping to end these fatal crashes.”

“With truck underride collisions claiming the lives of at least 300 people per year, the time to act on reforms is now. Small changes will make a big difference, and we cannot leave any room for error,” said Congressman DeSaulnier. “I am proud to join my colleagues in advancing this bill to put an end to these avoidable tragedies.”

“Requiring trucks to have underride guards is a simple way to prevent hundreds of deaths on our roads,” said Congresswoman Ross. “These guards are a proven, effective safety measure that will reduce underride crashes as well as severe injuries and fatalities caused by underrides. I have heard directly from families in my district about the lives this improvement could save. I’m proud to introduce legislation that will prevent vehicle fatalities and make our roads safer for drivers in North Carolina and across the country.”

We had the opportunity to discuss underride with our representative, Congresswoman Ross, during a 2025 Town Hall. We appreciate her responsiveness and her support of this important legislation.

In the Senate, the Stop Underrides Act 2.0 is cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). This bill is supported by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, America Walks, AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety, Cascade Bicycle Club, Casey Feldman Foundation, Center for Auto Safety, EndDistractedDriving.org, Families for Safe Streets, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, League of American Bicyclists, Institute for Safer Trucking, Kids and Car Safety, Ride Illinois, Ride of Silence, Road Safe America, Sylvia Bingham Fund, Safe Routes Partnership, Stop Underrides, and Truck Safety Coalition.

Rationale for Republican Support of STOP Underrides Bill

Let’s make 2026 the year we pass legislation to make truck crashes more survivable!

DOT Is Asking For Input. Tell Them To Give Crash Victims a Voice

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When it comes to changes needed to make our roads safer, who cares more deeply than crash survivors or victim families? The Department of Transportation is asking for the public to submit their comments on what should be included in the 2026 Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill; Secretary Duffy is looking for ideas to make our roads safer.

Let him know that you want victims to have a voice within the Department and that a means to do so has already been proposed by Senator Lujan and Congressman Cohen. The DOT Victim & Survivor Advocate Act would create a National Roadway Safety Advocate to serve as a voice for victims and survivors of roadway crashes and their families — ensuring their perspectives are considered in transportation safety policies.

I know from twelve years of road safety advocacy that this resource is extremely important but is not currently available to assist those who are keenly motivated to bring about change. Let Secretary Duffy know that you want him to put that plan into place.

Submit your Public Comment here no later than August 20, 2025.

(step-by-step instructions)

Then, please share this request to amplify your voice.

Podcast from Streetsblog, July 29, 2025, What Will It Take To Give Victims and Advocates a Voice at US DOT?

There are too many families like the ones who have told their stories below. They need to be heard. . .

I’m grateful for everyone who takes the time to submit a comment. You can see all comments submitted here. Running list of comments requesting a National Roadway Safety Advocate are here.

Quotes from supporters are available here (a list of safety groups and victim/survivors quoted in Senator Lujan & Congressman Cohen press release upon bicameral introduction of the DOT Victim & Survivor Advocate Act).

First-time Ever: NHTSA Nominee Questioned On Underride By Senator

Truck Safety, , , , , ,

For the first time in DOT’s history, a nominee for NHTSA Administrator was questioned in a hearing about the agency’s lack of progress in preventing underride deaths. Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) questioned Jonathan Morrison about NHTSA’s failure to consider the benefit of preventing hundreds of pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorcyclist deaths in a pending rulemaking for side underride guards. 

According to a 2014 study by the National Transportation Safety Board, about 120 pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists are killed every year under the sides of tractor trailers. A side underride guard that blocks those vulnerable road users from falling under the tandem wheels of trailers would prevent their deaths.

But a pending NHTSA rulemaking on side underride guards neglected to count a single vulnerable road user’s death in the all-important cost-benefit analysis.

Senator Lujan: Another issue that I care about deeply is ensuring that trucks have side underride guards to prevent cars, pedestrians, and cyclists from being crushed underneath. . . . According to NHTSA, the cost of installing side underride guards exceeds the benefits. Unfortunately, to reach this estimate, NHTSA makes assumptions in their cost benefit analysis that excludes whole categories of preventable deaths of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

Senator Lujan: I don’t understand that. If it’s going to be studied, it should be studied. And then an answer should result based on whatever the research is.

Senator Lujan: Yes, or no? Will you commit to counting pedestrians and bicyclists as preventable deaths for road users in the cost benefit analysis for any future rulemaking on side underride guards?

Jonathan Morrison: I will work with the economists within NHTSA to make sure that everything appropriate is being considered. I’m not familiar with that particular study.

Well, that would be refreshing. . . to have everything appropriate considered by the federal regulator whose mission it is to reduce roadway injuries and deaths. And that includes underride.

If pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorcyclist deaths had been included in the cost-benefit analysis as they should have been, the annual number of deaths side underride guards could prevent would have been estimated to be at least 137. Under those circumstances, the benefits of regulation would have outweighed or been equal to the costs, and the agency would have mandated side underride guards.

Here’s the clip from the hearing (1:02:02 in the video of the Senate Commerce hearing on July 16, 2025):

Senator Lujan questions NHTSA Administrator nominee Jonathan Morrison on underride

Will Victims & Survivor Advocates Be Given a Voice at DOT?

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Senator Lujan and Congressman Cohen recently re-introduced the DOT Victim & Survivor Advocate Act. Much appreciated. But will Congress and the Department of Transportation respond by establishing this vital position within the Office of the Secretary? Is Secretary Duffy truly dedicated to safety?

Read more here: Luján, Cohen Reintroduce Bicameral Legislation to Improve Roadway Safety and Uplift Victim Voices at DOT