In the early hours of October 15, 2018, a devastating crash took the lives of Leslie
Rosenberg, 62, and his daughter Sophie in an incident that many Americans might
never have heard of—an underride crash. Their minivan, traveling near Austin,
Texas, collided with a poorly illuminated semi-trailer truck that had pulled out in
front of them without yielding the right of way.
For Leslie Rosenberg, the pain of losing his wife and daughter in such a preventable
way is unbearable. “My wife went under the truck... she obviously didn’t even see the
truck because there were no skid marks,” he recalls. “If the car had hit any sort of
guards like they have on the back of trucks—maybe they’d still be here.”
Leslie and Sophie Rosenberg's vehicle after the crash (Photo Credit: Texas DOT crash report)
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), underride crashes are
responsible for the deaths of over 500 people every year. While many trucks have
rear underride guards that help prevent vehicles from sliding underneath the back
of a truck, no such protection exists on the sides.
Underride guards are simple, cost-effective safety devices that could prevent many
of these tragic accidents. These guards are often made of strong metal and are
designed to stop a car from going under a truck in the event of a collision. The lack
of side guards, especially in the case of high-speed crashes, makes underride
crashes even deadlier.
The American Trucking Association (ATA) called underride guards an excessive
“unfunded mandate” that would cost the trucking industry $35 billion to install on
all existing trucks and would divert money from other safety investments. In its
statement to KXAN, the ATA said the trucking industry invests $14 billion a year on
safety training and technology and supports solutions to reduce and prevent all
crashes, including underride.
However, experts like Dr. Sean Brumbelow, who is part of the Advisory Committee
on Underride Protection, argue that the cost of these measures is nothing
compared to the human lives they could save. According to IIHS research, installing
side underride guards could save up to 200 lives a year. “It is really frustrating that
we have to put a dollar value on human life,” Brumbelow says. His frustration
reflects a sentiment that many safety advocates share: these are simple, effective
solutions that could drastically reduce fatalities, yet they’re being held up by
industry pushback over costs.
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