Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand led 25 of their colleagues in a letter urging Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg to swiftly execute the provisions from their Stop Underrides Act, which passed in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The legislation requires the creation of a rule within a year of enactment mandating trucks to have strengthened rear underride guards to stop cars from sliding underneath trucks in the event of a crash. In the letter, the lawmakers also call for DOT to initiate a study on the impact of side underride guards, solicit public input via an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), and strengthen requirements on any new rule regarding rear underride guards.
“I have long been an advocate of tractor trailer underride guards because I have witnessed the harm done to victims of these crashes and their surviving family and friends such as the death of Michael Higginbotham from my district who was killed in an underride crash in Memphis,” said Congressman Steve Cohen, a senior member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. “I was proud to champion and see included several provisions of our bill, the Stop Underrides Act, in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and urge for their expeditious implementation so that we can prevent these horrific crashes and save more lives.”
“The provisions in our Stop Underrides Act will save lives and make our roads safer,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Deaths caused by underride crashes are preventable, and I’m urging the Department of Transportation to quickly implement these measures to help prevent future tragedies. Every day we don’t act, we are losing an opportunity to save the lives of innocent Americans.”
An underride crash occurs when a car slides under a large truck, such as a semi-trailer, during an accident. When these accidents happen, a car’s safety features are rendered useless because most of the car slides under the trailer and the trailer undercarriage crashes straight through the windows and into the passengers. The passengers in the car often suffer severe head and neck injuries, including decapitation. These accidents are often fatal, even at low speeds. Each year, hundreds of people are killed in underride accidents, but this data is estimated to be undercounted due to differences in local police reporting.
Original source can be found here.
