If you were not able to witness the Underride Crash Tests in D.C. in person on March 26, then the next best thing is to see the media coverage of this important event and to view the video footage of all three tests of a car colliding at approximately 30 mph with the side of a tractor-trailer:
- The first crash test was into a trailer with an AngelWing side guard — SUCCESSFUL because it prevented underride and Passenger Compartment Intrusion (PCI).
- The second crash test was into a trailer with a SafetySkirt side guard — SUCCESSFUL because it prevented underride and Passenger Compartment Intrusion (PCI).
- The third crash test was into a trailer with NO side guard (as is the situation with 99.9% of the trucks on the road today) — SUCCESSFUL in that the devastating underride which occurred clearly showed what it is that the other two tests so importantly prevented.
VIDEO FOOTAGE from MGA Research of all three crash tests can be seen here:
Third test with NO side underride protection:
Compilation of all three crash tests, including aerial views & views from inside the car:
Here is some of the media coverage of the D.C. Underride Crash Test Event:
- WRAL Raleigh, Rocky Mount mother pushes for side guards for trucks after daughters’ deaths
- Albuquerque Journal, Parents campaign to make semi-trailer trucks safer
- WDRB Charlestown, Indiana, Local mother of underride crash victim pushes for semi-truck safety regulations
- CBS4 Denver, Colorado Woman Fighting For Law To Make Semi-Trailers Safer
- Legal Reader, DC Truck Underride Crash Tests Support New Safety Legislation
- Safety Research, Underride Activists Campaign with Crash Tests
- WYMT Kentucky, Deadly crashes: Families push for new legislation regulating tractor-trailers
- WXYZ Detroit, Parents of crash victims push Congress to pass law requiring guards for tractor-trailers
- WUSA9 Washington, D.C., Dramatic crash tests outside Audi Field show dangers of semi-trailer
- WUSA9 Washington, D.C., Crash tests show dangers of semi-trailer
- WJLA7 ABC, Mothers who lost daughters in deadly semi crashes push for tractor trailer guardrails
- CBS17 Raleigh, Advocates work toward preventing underride crashes with tractor trailers
- WUSA9 livestreamed the event. Archived video can be found here.
- WUSA9 Washington, D.C., Dramatic crash tests outside Audi Field show dangers of semi-trailer
MGA Research brought their high speed cameras to capture this video footage. Links to additional video will be shared when their creative team completes their work. WUSA9 had a GoPro camera inside the crash car.
Video of the Underride Panel discussion at the event can be viewed here.
- David Friedman, Consumer Reports, VP, Advocacy, formerly the CR Director of Cars and Product Policy and Analysis, former NHTSA Acting Administrator
- Malcolm Deighton, engineer with Hydro, which supplies aluminum for manufacturing underride protective devices and trailer parts and which produces comprehensive underride protection technology in Europe
- Glen Berry, Safety Director for Thomas Transport Delivery, AngelWing installed since 2017, truck driver
- Perry Ponder, inventor of AngelWing, engineer with an accident reconstruction engineering company
- David Dorrity, worked for Stevens Transport for years and testifies all over the country on safe trucking practices.
- Aaron Kiefer, forensic engineer & crash reconstructionist, inventor of SafetySkirt
Unsung hero of the event: Last year, on May 15, 2018 (what would have been the day my daughter AnnaLeah turned 24), after a hard day of hitting our heads against the wall in trying to convince legislative staffers to move the STOP Underrides! Act forward, I texted my son and said, “How are we going to get them to move?!” He texted back, “Hold a crash test at a field hearing.” I said, “What?!” It was a brilliant idea to let the leaders of this country, who can take action to end these preventable tragedies, witness crash testing in person!
Well, we couldn’t bring about a Field Hearing, but we quickly began the overwhelming process of organizing an Underride Crash Test Event right there in D.C. — less than 2 miles from The Hill and 1 mile from the Department of Transportation.
Lois Durso and I, along with our families, friends and other underride victim families, want to thank the multitude of individuals, organizations, and companies (both named & unnamed) who have helped us as we work to pass the STOP Underrides! Act (S.665 & HR.1511) and bring about this amazing and totally volunteer-organized event:
Contributors to the STOP Underrides Initiative
Contributors to STOP Underrides! & DC Underride Crash Test
And I want to especially thank the skilled and dedicated Team Underride Crash Test Crew:
We also want to thank Akridge and ImPark for allowing us to use their D.C. parking lot (not an easy thing to find!), Northern Neck Auto Parts for providing the crash cars, and Sunbelt Rentals for providing safety barriers and equipment helpful in moving around the many vehicles to make the three crash tests go smoothly in such a short space of time. MGA Research captured amazing video footage, Mister Video ran the sound system, Andy Young served seamlessly as MC, and Aaron Kiefer masterfully orchestrated the crash test crew in order to help us all see the clear-cut life & death difference which underride protection can make.
We hope that this event will continue to raise awareness and that our message to Congress will grow stronger as people sign & share this petition: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underride!
This event was brought about in memory of countless underride victims and in hopes of helping countless others walk away from truck crashes and live to tell about it. . .