WASHINGTON — Members of a committee advising Congress on how to reduce truck underride crashes with cars and the resulting deaths took regulators to task for not doing enough to protect against such crashes.
In a 410-page biennial report sent to Congress and to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday, members of the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP) alleged whitewashing within the U.S. Department of Transportation of information that could have been used to inform the rulemaking process on side impact guard requirements for truck trailers.
“It is the assessment of the ACUP that NHTSA excluded relevant data from its cost-benefit analysis for its ANPRM [advance notice of proposed rulemaking] on side impact guards,” stated members of ACUP, which is sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Disturbing allegations have been made regarding the potential suppression of or interference with publicly funded side-underride guard research by the Volpe Center that needs to be assessed by an impartial investigator. The fact cannot be ignored that very little has changed regarding side underride guard advancements in the last 50 years and no substantial progress has been made by DOT to prevent these horrific crash fatalities and injuries.”
In May, crash victims and safety advocates called on the DOT’s inspector general to investigate the allegations of data suppression related to the ANPRM, following a similar request last year.
In a separate statement, ACUP Chair Lee Jackson, a motor vehicle crash investigator, noted, “Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come. Preventing underride crash deaths and injuries is an exceedingly attainable goal.
“This report cuts through the noise and provides clear recommendations, that if followed, will undoubtedly save lives. We are experiencing a truck crash fatality crisis, and it is incumbent on all parties to step up and commit to putting an end to these preventable tragedies.”
The recommendations included having NHTSA withdraw its pending side-guard ANPRM or reissue a revised rulemaking using a cost-benefit analysis that takes into account previously omitted underride victim categories, including pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists.
The panel also recommended that NHTSA require new semitrailers be equipped with side guards capable of preventing injuries or deaths when struck by a vehicle “at any angle, at any location, and at any closing speed up to and including 40 mph.”
ACUP members divided
Because of deep division among the 16 members of ACUP, however, the biennial report included a separate “minority report” perspective from ACUP members who sharply disagree with the majority’s assessment.
“The Biennial Report fails to provide Congress and the Secretary with the requested consensus advice on reducing underride crashes and associated fatalities and injuries,” wrote ACUP board members Doug Smith, a board member of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, and Jeff Bennett, CEO of Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co.
“While [ACUP] did offer some recommendations aligned with this goal, most of the Committee’s recommendations as contained in the Biennial Report reflect only the preconceived views and biases of a slim majority of Committee members, who wrote a report that both included significant material never considered by the ACUP in its deliberations and omitted items that did not further the majority’s desired narrative.”
Material never considered by ACUP, they point out, includes data suppression allegations made by Quon Kwan, a former Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration employee who provided DOT officials with a notarized statement alleging the violations.
However, “Since NHTSA was not allowed to and did not discuss or consider the material related to Mr. Kwan’s allegations, they cannot be said to be the majority view of the ACUP,” Smith and Bennett wrote. “Including them in the Biennial Report is improper.”
Before imposing new regulations, dissenters from the majority’s view pushed for “objective and evidence-based studies” on the underride problem, including the ability to solve it with available technology.
Feds quiet on whistleblower allegations
NHTSA acknowledged receiving the ACUP report “and looks forward to reviewing it,” according to a spokesperson there.
However, the agency has refused to acknowledge whistleblower allegations of wrongdoing regarding underride guard data suppression despite several requests to comment on them. Similar requests made to DOT public affairs for a response from Buttigieg also went unanswered.
Asked to comment on victim advocates’ repeated calls for an investigation, DOT’s inspector general’s office could “neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation.”