Longtime research by IDSA Member Byron Bloch, an auto safety expert, has been featured in a February 2017 investigative report on NBCs TODAY show by reporter Ronan Farrow entitled “Side Guard Safety Push” in the “Undercovered” series.
When a vehicle hits the side of a tractor trailer and gets crushed under the truck, the resulting accident is called a “side under ride collision.” 200 people die in such accidents each year.
In Europe, all trucks have been required since 1989 to be equipped with side guards. But this is not mandatory in the United States. Bloch has continuously fought for side guards. “The TODAY show story will hopefully alert the public and the government officials and the media that we still need to correct this horrendous problem,” says Bloch. See more of his research.
According to the TODAY show: the US Department of Transportation has been considering mandatory side guards since the 1960s. In 2014, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration require that “newly manufactured trailers… be equipped with side underride protection systems.” But TODAY reports a truck and trailer manufacturing industry letter claimed “dangerous effects of adding rigid structures underneath the sides of trailers.”
Some cities such as Boston and San Francisco have started mandating guards on trucks purchased by the cities.
Read more about Bloch’s efforts on AutoSafetyExpert.com and CarCrashJustice.com.