The Underride Network is concerned with issues affecting crash compatibility between small and larger vehicles including all sizes of trucks and SUV's. We support improved underride guards for large trucks and trailers; on the front, side, and rear! World regulation of guards has not kept pace with technological advancements to save lives and prevent injuries. We believe truck safety and vehicle compatibility are human rights issues and governments must address these issues from this perspective to ensure the safety and well being of their citizens.
Safety begins when we acknowledge victims, without victims there can be no safety initiative, without victims there is no reason or need for safety. Governments and organizations that do not acknowledge victims provide zero motivation for safety efforts and do not promote a healthy safety culture.
Underride Network
New crash tests and analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety demonstrate that underride guards on tractor-trailers can fail in relatively low-speed crashes confirming similar results in NHTSA's own crash tests in the early 1990s. The Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association (TTMA) had already issued a voluntary Recommended Practice in April 1994 that included all the essential elements of the subsequent NHTSA standards except for the energy absorption requirement, the new guard standard issued by the Clinton Administration was a rubber stamp of the industry guards already on roadways, even these worthless guards were exempted from large trailers manufactured prior to January 26, 1998, single unit trucks, truck tractors, pole trailers, low chassis and special purpose vehicles, and "wheels-back" vehicles. These guards were shown to be ineffective in low speed crashes above 25 mph with catastrophic failures of the guard attachment to the truck or trailer common.
PR Newswire - UNDERRIDE GUARDS ON BIG RIGS OFTEN FAIL IN CRASHES; INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY PETITIONS GOVERNMENT FOR NEW STANDARD - Crash Tests
Truck Underride Accidents: Drivers Endangered When Cars Slide Under Trailers, Trailer Bumpers Not Good Enough, Says Insurance Institute for Highway Safety - Report by ABC News
CRASH TEST PERFORMANCE OF LARGE TRUCK REAR UNDERRIDE GUARDS - IIHS Paper in PDF
The reinforced pallet box showed clearly, that side underrun can be prevented. While the a-pillar was heavily deformed in the test with the conventional pallet box, a compatible structure was provided by the reinforced pallet box in crash tests at 65 km/h. APROSYS.
Car on left survives 65 km/h crash test with proper side guard
Reinforced pallet box side guard APROSYS
An example of truck side underride protection, it is time! APROSYS D224 Demonstration of truck side design improvements in PDF
APROSYS - Integrated Project on Advanced Protection Systems www.aprosys.com
Strategies for enhanced pedestrian and cyclist friendly design - Deliverable Report D212A/B.
Softened cone in front diverts cyclists and pedestrians.
NHTSA evaluated the effectiveness of the new rear impact guard safety standard in 2004. They have no current or future plans posted for rear underride guards or underride victims! They do not allow mentioning that underride or trucking victims even exist, which blocks efforts at any type of charitable assistance to seriously injured children or those orphaned by these easily fixed crashes.
Truck Underride Guards plans at NHTSA - Description: Analysis of frontal fatalities for those with air bags and wearing seat belts showed truck underride as the third largest group of fatalities behind extreme severity crashes and corner/oblique impacts. Evaluation shows more severe intrusion in offset crashes. The agency will assess research data and decide on the next steps. Next milestone: agency decision in 2012.
Results from VC-COMPAT Project show underride deaths can be reduced!
The analysis revealed that about 11 % of the fatally and 30 % of the seriously injured car occupants could be saved if trucks were equipped with energy absorbing front underrun protection systems (e.a. FUPS) instead of rigid FUPS, and that approximately 57 % of the fatalities and 67 % of seriously injured could be prevented from their injures due to improved rear underrun protection systems (RUPS). The report closes up with the major conclusion that improving rear underrun protection systems show a comparable reduction potential as for improving front underrun protection systems.
"The size of an energy-absorbing truck front structure directly correlates to the survivable closing speed between car and truck in head-on collisions (e.g. 75 km/h survivable closing speed requires a 400 mm long energy-absorbing structure, 90 km/h, requires 800 mm)."
Road traffic crashes kill 1.2 million people a year or an average of 3242 people every day. Road traffic crashes injure or disable between 20 million and 50 million people a year. Road traffic crashes rank as the 11th leading cause of death and account for 2.1% of all deaths globally. Most of the victims are young and classified as vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, and bicyclists). Current projections indicate fatalities will rise to 2 million per year by 2020. We are in the midst of a world crisis and vehicles designed to be crash compatible with vulnerable road users will be a critical part of the solution.
Quote from the Highway Safety Desk Book:
"The Washington State Department of Transportation has stated, "Millions of dollars are spent each year to make highways safer and the roadside features more forgiving to errant drivers. Why, then, do we tolerate parked or abandoned vehicles to remain along our highways for extended periods of time? We have designed standards that require a 'clear zone' on limited access highways. Nothing can be placed in this zone without providing protection to the motorist in the form of a guardrail, barrier, crash cushions, or break-away supports. Yet, we allow heavy vehicles to stand a few feet or even inches from the traveled lanes"
Killer Parked Trucks
During the 1990's even NHTSA's own engineers were sounding the alarm bells! A new guard regulation was being promulgated for the first time in the U.S. since 1953, the reach of this regulation was limited to certain trailers only, excluding the majority single-unit trucks. Crash tests were performed only at 30 m.p.h. (48 km/h) perhaps showing the lack of confidence in their own proposal or to hide lack of performance at higher more common crash speeds. Trailer heights were not standard, real world tests were limited, and only eight tests were performed for a standard to protect tens of thousands of lives. Testimony against this standard was almost completely unanimous from politicians, safety groups, victims, and the non-industry engineering community. Crash tests had clearly shown stronger guards would be needed for real world crashes. NHTSA knew minimally compliant guards under their proposal would only be reasonably completely effective at around 25 m.p.h. (40 kp/h). Curiously, many industry guards on the roadway since the early 90's would already meet this standard? We saw the beginnings of so-called public private partnerships during this period within government agencies (See the article above for more on this topic!) The current administration has delayed studies that preclude new regulation efforts to the end of their administration. People continue dying! See the article below for an analysis of the current standards during the late 90's.
NHTSA in 1991 stated "Rear impacts involving underride, which are virtually all PCI, have the highest severe injury rate, from 25-28 percent of all injuries sustained in rear end crashes. Without doubt, the great majority of these serious injuries occur above 30 mph, especially when one acknowledges the fact that two-thirds of all rear impact closing speeds are judged to exceed 30 mph. It is not surprising that severe injury production would be inordinately high in rear impacts by passenger cars given the statistical anomaly that over 50% of combination truck rear underride crashes by passenger vehicles occurred with big rigs that were stopped on the shoulders of high speed highways." The current U.S. guard standards were acknowledged to be effective to 30 mph, a 40 mph standard was acknowledged to be feasible, but was overuled as not cost-effective due to a 40% higher cost for the stronger guards. Modern cars can withstand a 40 mph impact into a stiff wall but an impact with current U.S. underride guards above 25 mph can often be fatal.
We know how to reduce 50% of truck related fatalities. There oughta be a law!
In the U.S. the most effective means to reduce fatalities and injuries by the largest numbers is not even discussed let alone allocated research dollars.
Picture - HINO Motors Concept Truck
800 mm front crash cushion
Rounded corners to divert vehicles in crashes
Soft front protects pedestrians and cyclists
improved visibility
Outerframe side protection
Flat side with no sharp angles to spread energy
Covered side improves airflow and mileage
Corners protected for offset crashes
Rear energy absorbing guard
Fatalities of all types of road users vastly reduced
Krone Safeliner with outer frame side underride protection
Stronger guard due to full frame design
Protects rear corners
Softens crashes into tires
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that newer SUVs with bumpers lowered by only a half inch reduced the fatality rate in side impacts with cars by 50%. They found similar results with front underride guards on SUVs. Regulating the heights of bumpers and requiring guards on large pickups, vans, and SUVs will save many lives. Governments are long overdue to address the vehicle crash compatibility issue in at least this minimal way. Right now cars may absorb 90% of the crash energy in crashes with heavier vehicles to the detriment of their passengers. When a heavy vehicle is manufactured there is a moral obligation to have it absorb it's fair share of the excess crash energy that it's heavier weight creates!
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) FIRST RESULTS OF NEW CRASH TESTS: MOST CAR BUMPERS DON’T WORK IN LOW-SPEED CRASHES; 3 CARS SUSTAIN $4,500 DAMAGE IN 6 MPH TEST WHILE OLD FORD ESCORT SUSTAINS LITTLE DAMAGE
IIHS Press Release
Guillotine Guard
In 2008, the U.S. still allows deadly guillotine guards on the backs of all single-unit trucks and many specialty trailers, including all trailers built prior to 1998. Is this 1952 safety regulation the best the U.S. government can achieve after 55 years, and why are car companies building trucks with 56 year old technology? These guards have no strength standard whatsoever, they can be 30 inches from the ground, 18 inches from the sides of the truck, and 24 inches in from the back side of the truck or trailer. The regulation states "The rear impact guard(s) must be substantially constructed and attached by means of bolts, welding, or other comparable means." Thin aluminum will do! These false guards do not prevent underride even at low speeds and cannot be considered state-of-the-art in civil litigation. They constitute false truck safety and should be removed and replaced from all vehicles before they kill thousands of additional victims.
It is clear to achieve substantial reductions in the number of severe injury and fatal crashes a FUP standard will be required in the U.S. The U.S. DOT should immediately harmonize a new U.S. FUP standard for new trucks to the current ECE Regulation No. 93 and allow length exemptions for extended underride devices. Work then must begin on a strong energy-absorbing guard standard meeting current state-of-the-art research standards.
The current stiff rear underride guard standards are a safety compromise that do not protect all sizes and weights of current vehicles. They ultimately are too stiff for small vehicles or are too weak for large vehicles. Only energy-absorbing guards provide protection for most sizes and weights of current vehicles and modern designs are cheap and simple to implement. Any new rear underride guard standard should be an energy-absorbing guard standard to reflect state-of-the-art research and interact properly with modern vehicle designs.
The U.S. must regulate the use of bull bars or cow catchers on the front of cars and trucks. These stiff mostly cosmetic vehicle protection devices increase the aggressivity of vehicles in a crash and pose a severe risk to pedestrians and cyclists. Europe regulates the aggressivity of these devices with Directive 2005/66/EC .
The crash compatibility of all vehicles is a human right!
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Truck Safety is a Human Rights issue.
Governments will be judged on the value they place on the lives of their citizens.
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