Same goal, different perspectives

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Advisory Committee on Underride Protections is tasked with providing recommendations on how to reduce underride crashes and fatalities.

While the 16-person committee is unanimous in its hopes to reduce traffic deaths, the members have been divided on whether mandating side underride guards on tractor-trailers would help that cause.

At the committee’s most recent meeting in November, several members discussed potential unintended consequences that could stem from a side underride guard mandate.

“I agree that we should be doing all that we can do to reduce fatalities on the road – no question. My heart goes out to those of you who have lost loved ones. I can’t imagine a greater hell on earth,” said Jeff Bennett of the Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company. “But at the same time, these side underride guards do change the system, and they change the system in ways that we are not fully aware … We do not want to trade off side underride deaths for another type of death. Because truck drivers can’t tell when they have high-centered something until it’s really too late.”

Bennett added that side skirts and side guards can introduce other dangers on the road.

Underride crashes most commonly occur when a car slides underneath a tractor-trailer. Regulations already require rear underride guards, but NHTSA is considering the idea of mandating side underride guards. In addition, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act required NHTSA to create the advisory committee.

The committee also includes three members – Jennifer Tierney, Marianne Karth and Jane Mathis – who lost loved ones in underride-related crashes. Tierney, who represents the Truck Safety Coalition, made the case for requiring guards.

“I just want you all to understand that if you could guarantee that this never happened to you, you would, but you can’t,” Tierney said. “So anybody on this committee today could be sitting here with the same broken heart that Jane has, that Marianne has and that I have. And I just ask that you all remember that and think about that. If we sit on this committee for all these months, if we do nothing to stop these horrific crashes and then God forbid, something happens to someone you love, would you ever forgive yourself? I would give anything to have been able to have done something to prevent this from happening to my dad.”

Research and data

Current regulations specify requirements for rear impact guards on trailers, but there are no federal requirements for side underride guards.

NHTSA estimates that a side underride mandate on all trailers and semitrailers would save 17.2 lives and reap up to $166 million in safety benefits annually. Meanwhile, the annual cost of the mandate would be up to $1.2 billion.

The resulting cost per equivalent life saved would fall in the range of $73.5 million to $103.7 million. The analysis did not include any effects of side underride guards on port and loading dock operations and freight capacity. It did not take into consideration modifications to infrastructure, maintenance, and practicability and feasibility of intermodal operations for trailers equipped with side underride guards.

Rulemaking

NHTSA appears to be taking its time before determining whether it will propose a formal rulemaking regarding side underride guards.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fall 2023 Unified Regulatory Agenda, the rulemaking is in the “analyzing comments” stage, and no action is expected until October. Last April, NHTSA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that considered requiring side underride guards on trailers. The comment period ended in July with about 2,000 comments submitted. Now, NHTSA plans to spend much of 2024 reviewing those comments before deciding how it will move forward.

It is likely that NHTSA will wait to see the committee’s recommendations before issuing a proposal. LL