Underride Guards coming to front, rear, side of trailers

It’s a proposed bill, a lot has to happen before it becomes the law of the land.

 

Never heard of high center? Lots of shippers wouldn't be able to take these things.

 

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Link is for bumper cars.

Some one will make a gigantic ring that will fit all around a 18 wheeler, weights 5 ton and bounce everyone away. Perfect accident proof 18 wheeler. /sarc

 

Chuck Schumer started talking about this also last year after a multi-fatality accident on 81 above Syracuse. I heard that some of those people in a car that went under a tanker were "somebodies"

 

A front underride guard? Like a bumper? Lol.

 

If you look at the data regarding the total number of vehicle crashes in the country and the number of fatal crashes compared to billions of miles travelled, as NHTSA does; there is little evidence to support the argument that these under ride side guards will provide a meaningful safety benefit on roads. The number of crashes of this type are so few. There are much more important matters for consideration. Politicians always have to appear they’re doing something, even if it means passing meaningless regulations that have little to no impact. The statistics I read show that an average of 5.8 million reported crashes occur every year. This proposed regulation could prevent a potential 500 deaths of the roughly 40k deaths that occur on roads each year. That 500 number is from AirFlow Deflector who make the Angel Wing, a side under ride guard. As usual, politicians have their priorities all wrong.

 

ATA letter Opposing the Stop Underrides Act:
"I would like to bring to your attention ATA’s concerns with the Stop Underrides Act of 2019...

As an example of an unintended consequence, in comments filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in May 2016, the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association (TTMA) noted a European trailer manufacturer’s experience of trailer failures due to the increased rigidity in the trailer structure from added frame supports for side underride guards. The trailers were less flexible when operated over uneven road surfaces or on surfaces that produced twisting forces, which led to the trailers becoming disabled during highway use, presenting safety risks to other motorists. The TTMA comments also point out that there would be a significantly increased likelihood of high-centering of the side guards on steep changes in highway and street levels, such as elevated railroad crossings, and at warehouse docking wells. High-centering incidents already occur when operators of low frame trailers misjudge clearance heights at railroad crossings, which can result in tractor-trailers becoming stranded on railroad tracks. If all commercial vehicles were to have substantial side underride guards, as this bill requires, high-centering incidents would likely become more frequent.

The Stop Underrides Act also fails to consider numerous complicating factors such as engineering tradeoffs involving weight, strength, and effectiveness of side guards. Currently, the only testing that has been accomplished involves a closed course staged dry van 53’ trailer with a dummy car speeding perfectly perpendicular at its side underride guard well below highway speed limits. Furthermore, the bill raises significant operational issues related to ground clearance, moveable trailer axles, and the diversity of truck and trailer designs. For example, the ridged specified design of side underrides would not work well with tank and bulk trailers that are cylindrical in size and require underbelly accessibility; flatbed trailers, which unloaded, are naturally curved to suppress weight; and intermodal trailers that are shipped and locked onto specific designed chassis for hauling. Simply put, these glaring operational concerns do not signify real world applicability, nor justify an industry-wide mandate...

Because NHTSA is currently examining the potential benefits and problems with side underride guards, ATA believes the agency should be allowed to proceed with its efforts to improve underride guards without having the outcome predetermined by legislation."

 

Just look at all the new Freightliner P4’s with the air deflector. A lot of them have already been snapped off.

It’s $200 a pop if you install it yourself. I have to creep through most parking lots now. And drag mine at many of our customers.

Canada tried this BS back in the 80’s. It failed there. It will fail here.

 

A front underride guard and a bumper are not the same.