The Advisory Committee on Underride Protections will have its charter extended through June 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Confirmation of the extension has come about two weeks after the underride committee was under the impression it had conducted its final meeting.
After not receiving a response to its request to extend the charter for another year, the committee ended its May 22 meeting with a plan to draft reports to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by the end of June.
Now, it appears the underride committee will have another year to conduct additional meetings or to draft its recommendations to the agency on how to reduce the number of underride crashes and fatalities.
The committee
Congress created the committee through a provision in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Underride crashes most commonly occur when a car slides underneath a tractor-trailer. Regulations already require rear underride guards, but truck safety groups have long advocated for a side underride guard mandate. NHTSA is expected to consider the committee’s recommendations before it decides whether to issue a formal proposal to require side underride guards on tractor-trailers.
The issue of a side underride guard mandate led to a division among the 16-person committee throughout its six meetings. Three of the committee’s original 16 members lost loved ones in underride-related crashes. In addition, several of the members have long lobbied for a side underride guard mandate. Doug Smith, an OOIDA board member, is the only truck driver on the committee.
The divide between the safety advocates and those in the industry led the committee to form a plan to draft two reports – a majority report and a dissenting opinion. Lee Jackson, the committee’s chairman, planned to write the majority opinion, and committee members Smith and Jeff Bennett were in charge of the minority report.
Rulemaking
NHTSA issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking in 2023 that considered requiring side guards on trailers. The comment period ended in July with about 2,000 comments submitted.
Safety groups have long advocated for the requirement, while opponents have pointed to the cost-benefit analysis and the feasibility. The preliminary research provided by NHTSA indicated that the annual cost of the mandate would be as much $1.2 billion, while saving fewer than 20 lives each year.
According to the DOT’s Fall 2023 Unified Regulatory Agenda, the rulemaking was in the “analyzing comments” stage, and no action was expected until October 2024.
Assuming NHTSA will wait for the underride committee’s recommendations before making a decision, it is unlikely a proposal will be issued before 2025. LL
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