Tag Archives: underride guards

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection Reports to Congress & DOT Secretary

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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

Unsung Underride Prevention Heroes

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Yesterday, Jerry and I received a phone call from Aaron Kiefer, who shared with us the tragic news of the unexpected death that morning of Paul Hutson. Paul, after learning about the underride hazard, devoted many hours of his life to bringing about engineering solutions. First as an engineering student intern in 2015, and later as a volunteer after hours while working as a full-time engineer, Paul was an invaluable resource to Aaron Kiefer in his development work on prototypes for the RIG Retrofit (crash test seen below) and SafetySkirt.

Paul selflessly offered his engineering talent and skills to the mission of AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety and TEAM Underride. He helped behind the scenes and on numerous crash test sites, including the Underride Crash Test Event in D.C. in 2019. He came to an Underride Roundtable, and he participated as an expert at one of our Underride Briefings for legislative staff on The Hill.

Why did Paul do this? We can no longer ask him this question, but I can only imagine that — like so many others — he understood the violence and severity of the underride problem and he loved to solve problems. This is how he described himself on LinkedIn:

  • Principal Engineer – Structural Analysis, Northrop Grumman · Full-time Working as a structural analysis engineer on Northrop Grumman’s Propulsion Systems team. My work focuses on the five-segment rocket boosters used on NASA’s Artemis, and the ground based strategic deterrent Sentinel.
  • Mechanical Engineer, Collision Safety Consulting, PLLC · Part-time Designed and analyzed a semi-trailer safety device that protects passenger vehicles during collision with a semi-trailer, preventing both side and rear underrides from occurring. My work included product design, drafting, analysis (FEA), and full-scale crash testing the system.

Just last week, an Australian engineer died. George Rechnitzer, whom Jerry and I had met early on in our mission to make truck crashes more survivable, contributed greatly to understanding and solving the underride problem. Of course, numerous other engineers have likewise passed away before seeing their contributions to underride research fully implemented to benefit road users. That includes Mark Roush from Vanguard Trailers, who held a side underride guard patent and who worked on Vanguard’s TOUGHGuard design. It also includes Rod Ehrlich, who among other accomplishments worked on a side underride guard design while an engineer at Wabash Trailers.

My Underride Hero Hall of Fame is full of well-known as well as unsung heroes, who have made important contributions to solving the underride problem:

Imagine what we could accomplish if the hard work of these engineers, who are no longer with us, were to be acknowledged and embraced by key members of the trucking industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection. Together, how many lives could we save? Let’s take the baton and finish the race.

Upcoming PBS/Frontline Documentary: “America’s Dangerous Trucks”

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“FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate deadly truck accidents and the fight over measures that could save thousands of lives. As deaths rise, the documentary examines decades of legal maneuvering, political influence, lax regulation and industry opposition.”

Coming June 13, 10:00 p.m./9 CT.

Watch the trailer here: America’s Dangerous Trucks

What Do Baseball & Truck Underride Have In Common?

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Now, I’m only a Cubs fan by marriage. Early on in that marriage, I learned what a die-hard fan is and joined the club. But I’m not as familiar with historical details as my husband. Like, what’s with the 1969 Cubs?

However, I have become acquainted with truck underride history and know that, in 1969, our U.S. Department of Transportation was working on rear underride guard rulemaking — though it never became law until 1996 — and said that they intended to add side underride protection on trucks. Never happened.

After losing AnnaLeah and Mary in 2013 due to rear underride, I was, of course, very interested in the updated rear underride guard rule in July 2022. In fact, I was quite disturbed to learn that NHTSA blew an opportunity to require a level of underride protection proven possible by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and nine trailer manufacturers, who were given the TOUGHGUARD award — further evidenced as technically feasible by the survivor of a 2017 rear end truck crash.

Imagine my further consternation when I learned that at least part of the basis for that July 2022 Rear Impact Guard Rule was a NHTSA “engineering judgement concern” for “potential rotation outboard.” What that means is that if the rear guard were stronger at the outer edges of the tractor trailer, that is strong enough to prevent underride, then the car upon collision might rotate or spin out into traffic and collide with another vehicle causing a secondary collision — what the industry dubs “unintended consequences.”

Rear Retrofit Crash Test

Ha! The reality is that a secondary crash such as that would be so much more likely to allow the crashworthiness features (crumple zone, airbags, seat belt tensioners) of the involved vehicles to protect the occupants as intended. Was that really their rationale? Allow people to die under a trailer so that some other fender bender, i.e., non life threatening crash, wouldn’t occur?

I asked an engineer at a university to weigh in on this concern during a February 24, 2023, Friday brown bag lunch TEAM Underride Zoom discussion. Here are the rather garbled notes I jotted down: . . . fear that it would go out into the traffic; misplaced fear; projecting less inertia as it is deflected out from hitting truck — missing the fact that there is no catching equipment on a trailer — energy absorption — the trailer does not catch the car. If it collides at the rear corner, With or without guard it will rotate. The reason rotation takes place. . . because it is the 30% offset. Unintended Consequences.

I asked him to write up his thoughts for me to share and Jared Bryson, Smart Road Operations and Mechanical Systems Innovation Director at Virginia Tech, graciously and creatively obliged.

Baseball & Underride

I’d say that well-thought out explanation should be taken into consideration during a careful review of the July 15, 2022 rear underride guard rule and the questionable (my words) NHTSA decision to decline from requiring life-preserving underride protection at the outer edges of the guard. It’s guaranteed to mean the difference between life & death for more than one person in the days ahead.

Why are we working so hard to get weak rear underride guards replaced?

FARS Coding of a Sample of Rear Underride Crashes

In Memory of Richard Leth (November 24, 2022)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

Troopers say 75-year-old Richard Leth, of Hartley, was driving a GMC Sierra pickup truck north on Highway 4. . .

Leth’s truck crossed the centerline and collided with the tractor-trailer, troopers reported. Iowan dies in crash with tractor-trailer

Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes —front, side, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Richard Leth, Precious One Gone Too Soon

See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)

How You Can Help

Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.

Please sign this petition: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underrides.

Note: In order to raise awareness and preserve the memories of underride victims — precious ones gone too soon — I have been writing memorial posts on what could potentially be underride crashes. I am not a crash reconstructionist, and I do not have all the facts on these crashes; but underride should be investigated as a potential factor in truck crash injuries and deaths.

We are asking that people send us crash reports for collisions with trucks which they suspect involved underride. Send them to marianne@annaleahmary.com. We will submit these as complaints to USDOT. Read more here: Launching a Campaign To Flood NHTSA With Underride Complaint Reports

Partners in the STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour

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We are thankful for The Law Firm for Truck Safety, who graciously offered to match all donations up to $25,000 for the STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour. We welcome contributions of any size and wish to recognize all of our Business Partners and TEAM Underride Partners here.

Note: This is a work in progress; partners will be added as they join — although I might fall behind in getting them recorded! If you don’t see your name, or don’t receive a receipt, please let me know at marianne@annaleahmary.com.

How You Can Help TEAM Underride:

  • Contact us at marianne@annaleahmary.com, if you would like to become involved in planning and/or participating in the Tour.
  • For instructions on how you can donate to AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, contact us at: marianne@annaleahmary.com.
  • Donations can also be made on Facebook HERE.
STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour – digital flyer

Business Partners

Learn about the companies that have donated expertise, facilities, financial support,  and materials to this project for the saving of many lives.

      Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys       

 Maverick MetalWorks    AngelWingSkirts.com    TrailerGuards.com   

  Institute for Safer Trucking         StopUnderrides.org      Swenson & Shelley, PLLC

TEAM Underride Partners

Lois Durso-Hawkins and Mark Hawkins

In Loving Memory of Roya Sadigh

Aaron Kiefer

Trista Jean

Peggy Kiefer

Anthony Mastriano

Daniel Michel

Reshard Alexander

STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety (ALMFTS) is collaborating with State Highway Patrols & safety groups to demonstrate engineering solutions at 2-day Underride Crash Test Events in at least 4 regions of the U.S.

Each Regional Event will include multiple crash tests — including one with & one without a side guard — as well as a keynote speaker & panel discussion to educate first responders, crash investigators, insurers, regulators, & the trucking industry on the deadly underride problem and solutions.

Organizers:

The STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour is a collaborative TEAM Underride effort of ALMFTS, StopUnderrides.org, TrailerGuards.com, AngelWingSkirts.com, Institute for Safer Trucking, The Law Firm for Truck Safety, and many other organizations and individuals, including families of underride victims. Go, Team, Go!

Crash Test Tour Event Sites:

As plans develop, information will be provided here on the schedule and locations where Crash Test Events will take place during 2023. Potential sites under consideration include Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Indiana, New York, and New Mexico. Subject to change.

Donors:

We are thankful for The Law Firm for Truck Safety, who graciously offered to match all donations up to $25,000. They were later joined by the Academy of Trucking Accident Attorneys (ATAA), who have added another $25,000 to our matching challenge. We welcome contributions of any size and wish to recognize all of our Business Partners and TEAM Underride Partners here.

How You Can Help TEAM Underride:

  • Contact us at marianne@annaleahmary.com, if you would like to become involved in planning and/or participating in the Tour.
  • For instructions on how you can donate to AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, contact us at: marianne@annaleahmary.com.
  • Donations can also be made on Facebook HERE.

STOP Underrides Crash Test Tour – Demonstrating Solutions:

Many Underride Stories – Tip of the Iceberg – Precious Loved Ones, Gone Too Soon:

One Underride Story:

NHTSA Failing To Educate Stakeholders On Underride

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that their mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards, and enforcement. They seem to do a decent job of informing the public with a webpage on driver assistance technologies. However, the NHTSA Truck Underride Page only contains a very short list of studies. This is the extent of entries on that page:

For a century-old problem, there is actually a wealth of research, reports, and recommendations available. As a national traffic safety leader, NHTSA could be a source of all things underride. In fact, by posting a broader set of underride specific information, NHTSA could make use of their website to better inform and inspire all stakeholders at the same time without fear of unfairly communicating with one stakeholder. This would fulfill the first purpose of the Administrative Procedures Act which “requires agencies to keep the public informed and up-to-date on agency activities.”

On September 2, “TEAM Underride” met via Zoom to discuss how we could aid NHTSA in that mission by making recommendations for additions to the NHTSA Truck Underride Page. In an attempt to be helpful, TEAM Underride participants briefly brainstormed ideas for what we thought would be useful to add to the NHTSA Truck Underride webpage, including:

That would be a good start. And we’re more than willing to help in whatever way we can to get this resource development underway.

Update on Underride Protection Progress

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

In July 2022, eight years after our original petition was delivered to the Department of Transportation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), whose mission it is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards, and enforcement, took the following actions related to underride protection:

In this crash test video, the top test shows what IIHS has proven possible, the bottom test shows what the 2022 rule will require:

By refusing to revise the December 2015 NPRM to the TOUGHGuard proven level of strength, NHTSA has demonstrated an unwillingness to require that all manufacturers install these stronger guards as Standard on new trailers. To state the obvious, the result is that manufacturers may continue to offer these guards as an Option, thereby allowing the ongoing production of trailers — into the future — with guards having a known unreasonable risk of Death By Underride. How do they sleep at night knowing that their meaningless rhetoric and regulatory malpractice means many more innocent people will needlessly die?

This is nothing less than a reckless disregard for human life.

Why are we working so hard to get weak rear underride guards replaced?