Could a crash test between a Tesla car and a trailer with a side guard turn out differently than Joshua Brown’s tragic crash with his Tesla into and under the side of a trailer without a side guard?
Would Elon Musk be willing to partner with us to discover the answer?
Could a crash test* between a Tesla & a side guard silence the skeptics?
* Multiple crash test scenarios could be utilized to compare with and without side guard, with Tesla and with a Malibu (or similar model), with Airflow Deflector/Perry Ponder’s AngelWing and with Aaron Kiefer’s TrailerGuard System.
The U.S. has been talking about the tragedies of side underride and the possibility of using side guards on trucks since 1969.
The recent Tesla S underride crash fatality could quite likely have been prevented if there had been a side guard on the tractor-trailer it collided with.
Let’s change that, people. Make use of the federal rulemaking process which provides a way for the public to make comments on issues of national importance. Right now, the federal government is working on a rule to upgrade the regulation of truck underride guards; it addresses the rear guards for tractor-trailers–but not side guards.
YOU CAN HELP GET THE RULES CHANGED: Go to the Federal Register and hit the Comment Now button to tell them that you want trucks to be required to have side guards to prevent people from dying. It will then ask you to choose a CATEGORY; choose PUBLIC COMMENT.
Note: It will say that the Public Comment Period is closed as of February 16, 2016. Don’t worry; they will continue to look at Public Comments submitted after that date because the Final Rule is not yet issued.
Stand up and be heard. Government of the People. By the People. For the People.
Now tell other people that they can do it, too! Thank you.
Note: See a Youtube video from Aaron Kiefer, a North Carolina crash reconstructionist, who has recently designed an innovative side/rear underride guard:
“The driver of a Tesla Model S sedan using the vehicle’s self-driving mode has been killed in a collision with a truck, federal officials said Thursday, the first U.S. fatality using the new technology.
“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the Tesla at a highway intersection.”
The problem was that the car went under the side of a truck. Trucks are not required to have side guards. There was nothing for the car’s sensors to detect.
