New Underride Guard Rules Are Not Enough Says Safety Critics
Two safety groups are calling on U.S. regulators to further strengthen underride guards, in which they argue that incoming rules do not go far enough to protect drivers.
The Truck Safety Coalition and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety filed a petition that calls on the NHTSA to revise the final rule that they call “inadequate and alarming.”
“For those of us who have lost loved ones in these incredibly violent underride crashes, the rule is exasperating and heartbreaking,” said Truck Safety Coalition board member Jennifer Tierney, whose father was killed in an underride crash.
Meeting the IIHS Testing Requirements
The groups note that 94% of commercial vehicles already comply with the updated ruling and criticized regulators for dropping a directive that would have required the barriers to be effective at 35 mph (55 km/h) when 30% of the passenger vehicle overlaps the guard.
The IIHS standards are voluntary, however “There is no sound excuse for the rule, at a minimum, to not meet the test the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has been using to rate rear underride guards for the last five years, especially considering nine major trailer manufacturers meet it,” said Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety president Cathy Chase.
Rules Designed to Protect Drivers and Passengers
Updated U.S. rules are designed to better protect drivers and passengers of light vehicles at crash speeds up to 35 mph (56 km/h). Previous standards were based on speeds of 30 mph (48 km/h), and the upgraded guards need to withstand higher forces when a car hits a guard straight on, or when the front half of a car overlaps a trailer’s back end. Manufacturers will need to comply with the updated rules two years after they’re formally published in the U.S. federal register.
Featured image via: Coastal Law
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