Tag Archives: underride guards

All set up for the Underride Roundtable–to create survivable crashes & save lives

May 5, 2016AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetygrief, underride guards, underride roundtableMarianne

I am here in Virginia waiting to go tomorrow morning to the IIHS’s Vehicle Research Center in Ruckersville for the Underride Roundtable. I wish that I was not here–not because I’m not looking forward to it, because I am. I am expecting it to help move us forward as a country to improving underride protection.

The reason, of course, is that I’m here because we lost AnnaLeah and Mary. And in the aftermath, we discovered that they might not have died if the underride guard had been stronger–more effective. But the federal standard did not require it to be so.

And that is why we are here: to change that. For somebody else.

We stopped at IIHS before going to our motel so that we could set up a table filled with handouts on the history of failed underride protection, as well as photos and mementos of Mary and AnnaLeah. Let no one forget the point of the gathering: to create survivable crashes in order to save lives.

Participants will see this reminder at our table:

Just got home from the latest side guard crash test. Watch it here!

May 1, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetycrash test, side guards, underride guardsMarianne

April 30. 2016

We just got home from helping with Aaron Kiefer’s latest side guard test. Watch it here:

Aaron will be taking this truck with his innovative side/rear guard to the Underride Roundtable at IIHS next week for everyone to see. Then he plans to leave it there in hopes that IIHS will do their own crash testing of his prototype.

Here’s my report on the first crash test of his side guard prototype on March 13, 2016: Witnessed safety defect in action at underride crash tests; this is what snuffed out my daughters’ lives.

Photo album from a day of crash testing from preparation to execution:

If only more had been done to protect against underride before it was too late for Mary and AnnaLeah.

Media Advisory: May 5 Underride Roundtable at IIHS to address truck underride deaths & injuries

April 30, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck SafetyIIHS, underride guards, underride roundtableMarianne

May 5 Underride Roundtable will explore ways to address deaths and injuries in truck underride crashes

RUCKERSVILLE, Va. — The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Truck Safety Coalition and AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety will hold a national meeting on the problem of truck underride crashes on Thursday, May 5. Researchers, government officials and industry leaders will gather to discuss how to reduce the risks for passenger vehicle occupants, bicyclists and pedestrians.

In 2015, 371 of 2,485 passenger vehicle occupants killed in large truck crashes died when the fronts of their vehicles struck the rears of trucks. Pedestrians and bicyclists also died in collisions involving the sides of trucks.

IIHS will conduct a crash test of a trailer with an improved underride guard.

Who:     IIHS, Truck Safety Coalition and AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety
What:    Truck Underride Roundtable
Where: IIHS Vehicle Research Center, 988 Dairy Road, Ruckersville VA 22968
When:   Thursday, May 5, 2016 from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Crash test will be conducted at 12:30 PM.
Media need to be in place by 12:15 PM for the test.

Webcast available: https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1100569

IIHS-HLDI
988 Dairy Road
Ruckersville, VA 22968
+1 434 985 4600

Map

Truck Underride Roundtable is one week away! May it be sehr gut!

April 28, 2016AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck SafetyATA, NHTSA rulemaking, TTMA, underride crash, underride guards, underride roundtable, Vision ZeroMarianne

On June 25, 2014, after a tour of the research & design center of a truck trailer manufacturer in Georgia, I wrote down these perplexing thoughts about the too-long unresolved underride problem:

Now, it is understandable, amid the multitude of demands and the tyranny of the urgent, that—without a ready solution, in fact, one which would require time and money to develop—this problem has not been given much attention. But, if those who bear responsibility for making sure that this problem gets solved (one way or another) had lost two of their beloved children—or any other loved one—I can guarantee you that they would have moved heaven and earth to find a way to prevent underride.

What makes it even more distressing is that there are many individuals and organizations, who truly seem concerned about safety, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and the trailer manufacturers. Yet, from what I can see, very little communication has taken place to move this problem forward from point A (guards that fail and result in death and/or horrific injuries) to Point B (coming up with a better design that will provide the best protection possible). Underride Guards: Can we “sit down at the table together” and work this out?

From where I stood, there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel for this life-ending/changing problem. I had lots of ideas about what needed to be done but no sense that any thing was going to get done about it any time in the near future.

So, in trying to process what we learned at the meeting, I kept thinking over and over: Could an independent work group of qualified individuals, such as an engineering school, take on the challenge of creating such a design—which could then be tested by IHHS, proposed to NHTSA to aid in defining improved rear impact guard specifications, and provided to all trailer manufacturers? Could we do some kind of crowd funding or grant proposal to obtain the necessary funds to support such an endeavor? Could we perhaps even approach the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association (TTMA) and ask them to seek contributions from their members for such a project?

Is cost truly not a factor? Is safety really a priority and not a competitive matter? Is it possible to improve the communication necessary to prevent more unnecessary deaths? Can we “sit down at the table together” and work this out?

I am so happy to be able to say that at the Underride Roundtable, one week from now on May 5, 2016, over 65 representatives from the trucking industry, government, safety advocates, engineers, crash reconstructionists, attorneys, and media will be on hand at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Vehicle Research Center to”sit down at the table together” and discuss and demonstrate truck underride crashes.

This group will include representatives from:

Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association
American Trucking Associations
Seven Hills Engineering
Airflow Deflector
Accident Research Specialists
Sapa Extrusions
Truck Safety Coalition
AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Virginia Tech
East Carolina University
National Transportation Safety Board, Office of Highway Safety
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
J. Hunt Transport
Batzer Engineering
Injury and Crash Analysis
Vanguard Trailer
Smart Cap Technologies
UNC Highway Safety Research Center
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center
Interstate Distributor
NYC Citywide Adminstrative Services
Nurenberg Paris Law Firm
Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance
Sanders & Parks Law Firm
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
North Carolina Department of Transportation
Cargo Transporters
Stoughton Trailers
Great Dane Trailers
North Carolina State Highway Patrol
City of Boston, Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics
Interstate Distributors
Media representatives
Underride victims and families
and joined by an unknown number of individuals globally as the event will be livestreaming at this webcast link.

It is unfortunate that, over the decades in which no adequate solution to this tragic problem has come about, there has been much miscommunication, misunderstanding, misinformation, and mistakes made. I, for one, am ready to encourage things to move forward with positive momentum–aiming for the best possible underride protection.

In my morning reading, I was reflecting on some verses in Mark 11, which reminded me that the outcome is not totally dependent on me or any of the others who will be gathering in Ruckersville, Virginia, next Thursday. Instead, we are to. . .

“Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going go happen; it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.” Mark 11:22-24

And one more key thing, no matter what has and has not been done during the decades following the discovery of the horror of underride, we all need to forgive, put the past behind us, and find ways to work together to overcome this challenge.

“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions.” Mark 11:25

And though we may forgive, we will never forget those we have lost and the reason we are here. . .

Webcast Link now available for May 5 IIHS Truck Underride Roundtable

April 27, 2016AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyunderride guards, underride roundtable, Vision ZeroMarianne

I just received the webcast link for the upcoming Truck Underride Roundtable at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS):

Webcast Link for Truck Underride Roundtable at IIHS on May 5, 2016

Good news from Australia: A Stronger Rear Underride Guard Rule Has Been Proposed!

April 20, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyrear underride guards, underride guards, underride rulemakingMarianne

Yesterday, I received good news on underride rulemaking from the Australian front. George Rechnitzer and Raphael Grzebieta were able to impact Standards Australia to issue a proposed rear underride rule which will be much stronger than their current rule (and than U.S. underride rules) and which will require a crash test.

Comments will be accepted through June 22, 2016 on the proposed standard: STANDARDS AUSTRALIA Rear Underride Proposed Rule

Minolta DSC — Mary would likely get excited!

The following is the letter which I received from Raphael Grzebieta, as well as the letter which he received from Standards Australia:

Hi Marianne,

Great news! Our Australian/New Zealand National Standard is now out for public comment before it is ratified as a standard for regulators (DOTs) and others in Australia and New Zealand.

We will be the first kids on the planet releasing such a standard that demands a crash test for an underrun barrier fixed to the rear of a heavy truck.

It has taken more than a quarter of a century (and many horrific deaths) but George and I have finally done it at last. We got it into the Standard.

There was some resistance by one of the DOTs but after some strong persuasion (by me and other DOTs, particularly NZ) at a couple of key Standards Committee meetings, all DOTs are on board with it now.

See attached – Section 7 and Appendix G.

Any one of you (and others – please email it out) are of course most welcome to submit a comment to Standards Australia. Good comments I hope.

All the best.

Kind Regards

Raphael

Raphael Grzebieta PhD (Professor, Road Safety)

Australian Naturalistic Driver Study, Lead Chief Investigator

www.ands.unsw.edu.au
The letter to Raphael from Standards Australia:

Dear Raphael Grzebieta,

Please note that the following draft is open for public comment:

Draft Number:	AS/NZS 3845.2
Title:	Roadside safety systems and devices – Temporary work sites, bollards, light poles and sign supports
Project Committee:	CE-033 Road Safety Barrier Systems
Public Comment Closing Date:	22/06/2016 23:59

You can view the draft and any incoming comments here after entering your Standards Hub login details.

All comments are to be submitted on the Standards Hub. Follow the link above, login and select the “New Comment” button.

If you have any queries regarding the submission of comments, please contact us on the details given below or contact the relevant Project Manager.

Kind Regards
Standards Australia

Level 10, 20 Bridge Street, Sydney NSW 2000, GPO Box 476 Sydney NSW 2001
P +61 2 9237 6171 FreeCall 1800 035 822 F +61 2 9237 6010 mail@standards.org.au
www.standards.org.au

Standards Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, recognised
by the Australian Government as the peak non-government Standards body in Australia. Standards Australia develops internationally aligned Australian Standards® that deliver Net Benefit to Australia and is the Australian member of ISO and IEC,
Standards Australia is the Principal Sponsor of the Australian International Design Awards www.designawards.com.au

From 1994-2014, 5,081 truck underride deaths (on average, 4/week) recorded by NHTSA.

April 19, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck SafetyCare for Crash Victims, FARS, NHTSA, underride crash fatalities, underride guardsMarianne

April 19, 2016

Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:

Marianne Karth asked NHTSA for information on Truck Underride Deaths.

NHTSA provided a revealing and disturbing set of data.

For twenty years about 4 people every average week an American motorist died of their injuries according to NHTSA’s FARS data. From 1994-2014 the total amounting to 5,081 deaths were recorded by NHTSA. See attached.

Year after tragic year the number has remained almost constant at more than 200 deaths each year.

See https://annaleahmary.com/2016/04/truck-underride-fatalities-chart-from-the-fars-1994-2014/

Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) have access to such data, so why don’t we see more stories? See DOT and NHTSA databases available at IRE at
http://ire.org/nicar/database-library/

Let’s get the media focusing on our clear and present dangers here at home in the U.S.A. today.

Let’s get the media to produce change for the better with news we can use.

Lou

Care for Crash Victims website

Tell Obama you are standing with us in this: “Family Continues Fight for Trucking Safety”

Truck Underride Fatalities Chart from the FARS, 1994-2014

April 19, 2016Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetyunderride crash, underride guards, underride researchMarianne

The Department of Transportation collects statistics from crash reports given to them by each state on fatalities each year. I requested a chart of those crash deaths related to truck underride since they began collecting that information.

I just received that chart from NHTSA: Truck Underride Fatalities, 1994-2014

Unfortunately, it does not contain a breakdown of rear vs side vs front collisions. Also, there is a column for Passenger “Compartment Intrusion Unknown.” Our crash was listed as this category in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). However, there clearly was intrusion into the passenger compartment where AnnaLeah and Mary were sitting.

It makes me wonder how many PCI crashes are underreported. These statistics are taken from the police crash reports and it would be helpful if all states were provided with, and required to use, a uniform report form in order to make reporting and research more efficient and effective.

Previous post on that topic: Truck Underride Prevention Research Too Long Neglected; How Long Will This Highway Carnage Continue?

Each time a layer of apparent deception is peeled away, I am incensed at what seems like betrayal.

April 15, 2016AnnaLeah and Mary, Safety Advocacy, Truck Safetymanufacturer liability, underride guards, underride roundtable, Vision ZeroMarianne

Our particular crash was, of course, due to the failure (for whatever reason) of a truck driver to maintain lane and hitting our car so that we went backwards under another truck. I, and my son in the front seat with me, survived that crash. But, because the underride guard failed to do its intended job, Mary and AnnaLeah (in the backseat) experienced an untimely and unnatural end to their lives.

My question is: Should someone be held accountable for the failure of that federally-required piece of equipment which resulted in two deaths? Is the manufacturer liable to prevent someone from being killed when they collide with a truck? And, mind you, expecting them to do so would not be some pie-in-the-sky kind of expectation. It has been proven that protection is possible from much worse circumstances than are currently required.

Every time another layer of apparent deception is peeled away, I am incensed anew at what seems like betrayal. How many times have decisions been made over a span of decades that have deliberately blocked a strengthening of protection against truck underride? How many people have looked the other way? Surely this is not just a case of ignorance on the part of all persons involved.

The Judicial third branch of the government has provided little hope for ensuring that the truck/trailer manufacturer will be held responsible for the failure of their product, upon collision with it, to prevent horrible, unnecessary death. I was reminded of that unfortunate reality again, when we were in Washington to deliver the Vision Zero Petition, as the topic came up again related to our crash.

In fact, upon a simple search of the internet, I found this example of the difficulty of pinning liability upon the manufacturer:

Defendant . . . avers that despite the truth of these facts, it owed no duty to persons such as plaintiff’s decedent who crash into the rear of its trailers. . . . maintains that there is no duty to design, manufacture and sell a trailer which is “accident-proof” that is, able to protect “invaders” or “trespassers” who run into the trailer and later seek legal redress U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama – 816 F. Supp. 1525 (M.D. Ala. 1993) March 26, 1993.

What?! So there you have it. At least some manufacturers are willing to fight for their right to avoid ethical responsibility for designing their product to be safe to travel around.

Few have been able to bring about a successful judgment against manufacturers, although some have tried: See Beattie v. Lindelof, 633 N.E.2d 1227 (Ill. App. Ct. 1994); Mieher v. Brown, 301 N.E.2d 307 (Ill. 1973), but cf. Harris v. Great Dane Trailers, Inc., 234 F.3d 398 (8th Cir. 2000) (Arkansas law); Buzzard v. Roadrunner Trucking, Inc., 966 F.2d 777 (3d Cir. 1992) (Pennsylvania law); Rivers v. Great Dane Trailers, Inc., 816 F. Supp. 1525 (M.D. Ala. 1993);Worldwide Equipment, Inc., v. Mullins, 11 S.W.3d 50 (Ky. Ct. App. 1999); Detillier v. Sullivan, 714 So.2d 244 (La. Ct. App. 1998); Quay v. Crawford, 788 So.2d 76 (Miss. Ct. App. 2001);Garcia v. Rivera, 553 N.Y.S.2d 378 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990); Hagan v. Gemstate Mfg., Inc., 982 P.2d 1108 (Or. 1999); Great Dane Trailers, Inc. v. Wells, 52 S.W.3d 77 (Tex. 2001).

In one case, a court reasoned that:

the manufacturer is obliged to secure the occupants of only its vehicle from that foreseeable harm: the manufacturer does not owe a duty to protect those who collide with its vehicle. See Mieher, 301 N.E.2d at 308-10; but see id. at 310-11 (Goldenhersh, J. dissenting) (arguing that the duty of care should extend to prevent unreasonable risk to occupants, other drivers, and pedestrians).

In my mind, the question remains: Does the manufacturer owe travelers on the road the duty to exercise reasonable care in designing its motor vehicle?

One author takes a look at this question:

Does a vehicle manufacturer owe a duty to design a vehicle with which it is safe to collide? The Illinois Supreme Court said no in the case of an underride accident, where one vehicle rear-ended a truck and proceeded unimpeded under its bed. The decision unleashed an ongoing debate over the concept of “enhanced injury,” where a manufacturer can be liable for defects in its vehicle that cause injuries over and above those that would have occurred from the accident but for a defective design. Illinois vehicle manufacturers have no duty to protect non-occupants who collide with their vehicles

As it stands, it appears to me that, in general, the manufacturing community is prone to protect themselves from legal impunity rather than protect travelers on the road. I would welcome the opportunity to hear differently.

So, how then do we bring about a more responsible solution to this solvable underride problem? In addition to considering how we might impact each of the three branches of our government, we have also sought for, and encouraged, voluntary action on the part of truck/trailer manufacturers–which has met with some limited success. For the most part, the manufacturers tend to take a wait-and-see attitude–particularly when NHTSA is in the midst of rulemaking–rather than take the initiative to simply go ahead and design a guard which is capable of preventing deadly underride in real life crashes.

I am thankful for the upcoming Underride Roundtable because these questions need to be addressed, once and for all. And I, for one, am unwilling to sit by and watch another underride rule be compromised so that travelers on the road continue to unwittingly play a game wherein too many people will inevitably be dealt a card with a Death by Underride sentence written all over it.

I hope that, this time around, the truth of the matter will be fully revealed and all will agree upon a comprehensive solution which offers the best possible protection. I don’t want any more people to needlessly lose their lives or suffer the unrelenting grief (complicated by anger and helpless frustration) which families like mine undergo.