Stakeholders are polarized on a potential rule proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that would require new commercial trucks to be equipped with underride guards on their trailers.
On one hand, safety organization Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) supports the mandate claiming side underride guards could save the lives of many motorists by mitigating collision severity.
On the other hand, trucking group Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) asserts that mandated installation of side underride guards would be costly and impractical for small-business truck drivers. Moreover, the group claims the proposal sidelines safety, economic, and operational concerns drivers have raised before.
Equipment poised to prevent dangerous underride crashes
The NHTSA defines underride crashes as those in which the front end of a vehicle impacts a generally larger vehicle and slides under the chassis of the impacted vehicle.
The purpose of side underride guards is to prevent this sort of collision between smaller passenger vehicles and large commercial trucks. The latter’s trailer bed is often taller than the former’s hood which creates a dangerous phenomenon known as passenger compartment intrusion (PCI) crashes.
PCI crashes are when the passenger vehicle underrides to the extent that side of the struck commercial truck intrudes into the passenger compartment. This type of crash can result in passenger vehicle occupant injuries and fatalities.
That said, the NHTSA’s rulemaking considers implementing side underride guards on trailers to prevent PCI crashes.
Rear underride guards are already required by a January 2023 law.
As of now, no federal requirements exist for these guards to be equipped onto trailers.
Insurance groups support the rule
A non-profit organization, the IIHS represents more than 100 insurance groups with a mission statement to reduce casualties from motor vehicle accidents.
The collective insists the rulemaking will not just save several lives, but hundreds.
The NHTSA projected that an underride guard mandate could prevent 17 fatalities and 69 serious injuries each year on America’s roadways. However, through its own forecasts, the IIHS estimates a more generous spare—up to 217 fatalities could be prevented from the rule.
Owner-operators not so much
With a membership of over 150,000 owner-operators (independent truck drivers), OOIDA is one of the country’s most prominent trucking interest groups. OOIDA calls the rule’s implementation impractical.
“Nobody cares about road safety more than truck drivers, and every single truck driver wants to operate in a safe environment to return home, just like drivers in passenger vehicles. The NHTSA has consistently concluded a federal mandate would be impractical and costly, thus outweighing any safety benefits,” said OOIDA president Todd Spencer in comments submitted to the NHTSA.
The NHTSA predicts a $778 million price tag for equipping all new rigs in the country with side underride guards. While that number looks high, OOIDA further asserts additional expenses, like reinforcing trailers or changing trailer loading patterns, are not included in this estimate.
As another piece of equipment attached to their trucks, drivers and fleets will be responsible for extra operating costs if repairs need to be made to the guards, Spencer added.
The baggage of these guards too has presented concern within OOIDA. The large equipment flanking across the trucks could prevent safety inspectors from detecting malfunctions, while trucks could also be grounded or damaged when driving over uneven or humped roadway, like railroad crossings.
Final Thoughts
Despite installation and maintenance costs, it is reasonable to assume this preventative measure, which mitigates severe impacts of PCI crashes, can reduce injuries and damage to trucks and cargo.
It comes with a price tag. Trucking companies, including, and especially, owner-operators, may dismiss this as an unjustified overreach into complicating their operations, but in terms of public reception, no one ever looks reasonable when turning away from a technology projected to save lives on America’s roadways.
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