NHTSA to analyze underride comments before taking next step

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration appears to be taking its time before determining whether it will propose a formal rulemaking regarding side underride guards on tractor-trailers.

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 2024.

In 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.

Safety groups have long advocated for the requirement, while opponents point to the cost-benefit analysis and the feasibility.

The preliminary research provided by NHTSA indicated that the annual cost of the mandate would be as much $1.2 billion, while saving fewer than 20 lives each year.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small-business truckers, said that an underride guard mandate would be “premature and shortsighted.”

“Over the last several years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has considered numerous options involving side underride guards but has consistently concluded a federal mandate would be impractical and costly, thus outweighing possible safety benefits,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer stated in the comments. “Advancing any side underride mandate disregards this reality and ignores the safety, economic and operational concerns that have been raised by small-business truckers.”

NHTSA also launched an Advisory Committee on Underride Protections in 2023. The 16-member committee is tasked with providing recommendations to the agency.

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.

Doug Smith, a member of the committee and OOIDA board member, has brought up operational concerns, including trucks getting stuck on railroad tracks.

“There are 162,827 public railroad crossings,” he said. “There are 1,160 low-clearance railroad crossings, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. I’m pretty sure there is no one else on this committee who has experienced the sheer terror of being grounded on a railroad crossing.”

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