Tag Archives: underride guards

In Memory of Duane Derrick (January 31, 2026)

Underride Crash Map, , , , , , ,

WHP said troopers arrived to find a commercial motor vehicle vehicle had been struck head-on by a Chevy pickup truck. . .

The driver of the Chevy pick up, identified as Duane Derrick, 40, of Logan, Utah, died on scene. The driver of the commercial motor vehicle was transported to the hospital, was treated and released. Pickup driver going wrong way killed after head-on crash with semi truck in Wyoming

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.

Duane Derrick, Precious One Gone Too Soon

Major truck manufacturers have Front Underride Protection designs which can work on American trucks.

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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 & ask them to co-sponsor the STOP Underrides Act of 2026.

Please sign this petition: It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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.

In Memory of Michael Molano (January 18, 2026)

Underride Crash Map, , , , , , ,

The man who was killed in the fiery crash with a semi truck in thick fog has been identified as 23-year-old Michael Molano of Fresno.

The crash happened on the morning of January 18 on Clovis Avenue near Highway 99.

Authorities say Molano’s pickup ran into a semi truck making a u-turn in dense fog. 23-year-old identified as man killed in fiery Fresno County crash

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.

Michael Molano, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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 & ask them to co-sponsor the STOP Underrides Act of 2026.

Please sign this petition: It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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.

In Memory of Jordan Weller (February 1, 2026)

Underride Crash Map, , , , ,

A woman succumbed to her injuries after rear-ending a tractor-trailer last week in South Jersey, authorities told Patch. . .

Jordan Weller was driving westbound behind a Freightliner tractor-trailer when she lost control of her Mazda SUV and rear-ended the truck, Lebron said.

Weller, 26, of Millville, was brought to the hospital, where the succumbed to her injuries the next day. Woman Dies After Rear-Ending Truck In South Jersey: Police

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.

Jordan Weller, Precious One Gone Too Soon

Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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 & ask them to co-sponsor the STOP Underrides Act of 2026.

Please sign this petition: It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!

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.

In Memory of Michael David Schuster (December 31, 2025)

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

Michael David Schuster, 57, was pronounced dead of his injuries after collision on Wednesday, Dec. 31 between pickup and a tractor trailer, said Deputy Kingman Police Chief Joel Freed, confirming Schuster is the brother of Mohave County Sheriff Doug Schuster.

The semi was exiting the Travel Center of America truck stop when it collided with an eastbound 2006 pickup that ended up under the semi trailer. Golden Valley man, brother of Mohave County Sheriff killed in crash with semi-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.

Michael David Schuster, 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.)

Note: In order to raise awareness and preserve the memories of underride victims — precious ones gone too soon — I have periodically written memorial posts on what could potentially be underride crashes; but be aware that this is not a comprehensive, exhaustive record of all such 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.

“Georgia looks to police to decide whether to start tracking deadly underride crashes”

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , , ,

Proving that underride protection can save lives is not enough to convince federal regulators that underride mandates should be issued. The regulatory process requires that a rule be cost effective. There are many factors which should go into a cost benefit analysis equation. Unfortunately, we are aware of a multitude of flaws in this process and that includes excluding certain categories of underride victims:

  • Vulnerable Road Users (pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists) were not included in the 2023 Side Impact Guard ANPRM (See Senior Agency Officials Suppressed Side Guard Research — Impacting Regulatory Analysis);
  • victims of crashes where the posted speed limit is above 40 mph (not taking into account Delta-V forces in collisions);
  • victims of crashes which involve multiple vehicles (NHTSA only includes two-vehicle crashes in their regulatory analysis!);
  • as well as overestimating the weight of guards, not counting the fuel savings of side guards installed in conjunction with side skirts, or ignoring the cost to industry of lawsuits for preventable fatalities.

Another problem is the undercounting of underride fatalities, as we have previously documented, Joshua Brown/Tesla Side Underride Crash Coded as “No Underride” in FARS Data, and as described by Safety Research Strategies, GAO Concludes Underride is Underreported, Duh. In fact, very few states even have a checkbox for underride on their official state crash report form, as reported by the Institute for Safer Trucking in 2022:

A Georgia 11Alive investigative report continues to address that problem and is watching to see whether Georgia will add an underride checkbox to their state crash report form, Georgia looks to police to decide whether to start tracking deadly underride crashes:

This report, published on December 10, 2025, follows up on a previous report published in April 2025:

Kaizen and Underride Protection: A New Industry Approach

Uncategorized, , , ,

What is the industry’s approach to underride protection? Is it anything like the Japanese attitude of Kaizen? This blogpost caught my attention:

I am reminded of a Japanese word: Kaizen. I read a book once that discussed the difference between the American mindset and the Japanese mindset – explaining that Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning “improvement or change for the better”. Kaizen is defined as a continuous effort by each and every employee… to ensure that there’s continual improvement. The book suggested the American mindset is to build something, work hard at it, step back, admire it, and then move on. The Kaizen mindset is to continue to improve what was built. . . This isn’t about perfectionism. The perfectionist mindset is fixated on what is wrong. The improvement mindset is fixated on what we can make better.

If that was our mindset in the United States, what might we hope to see in underride protection progress? How many more lives might be saved?

What’s New In Underride?

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, ,

There’s nothing new about underride. Despite the fact that it has taken loved ones from us for decades, bringing an end to preventable underride continues to be an uphill battle. We fight on.

Here are some recent instances of underride getting media coverage:

And, by the way, in case you missed it, here are videos from crash testing of collisions between bicyclists and tractor-trailers — conducted by Aaron Kiefer in Raleigh at the North Carolina State Highway Patrol training facility on September 13, 2024. . .

Unguarded (no side guard) VRU Crash Test:

LPD+ Crash Test with Fully-Guarded Trailer:

Here are some posts I’ve written about Lateral Protection Devices+, i.e. side underride guards:

The proof is in the pudding. I rest my case.

Advisory Committee on Underride Protection Reports to Congress & DOT Secretary

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

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

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , ,

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

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

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.