The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) final rule aimed at improving protection for drivers and passengers in a rear-underride crash will take effect early next year. Rear-underride crashes occur when the front end of a vehicle crashes into the back of a larger vehicle, such as a tractor-trailer. The rule requires that the rear-impact guards on trailers and semitrailers possess sufficient strength and energy absorption to protect occupants of passenger vehicles in multiple crash scenarios. NHTSA’s final rule upgrades current safety standards addressing underride protection.

However, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) president David Harkey, in response to NHTSA’s announcement of the updated rule for rear underride protection on large trucks, has stated that the new requirements fall well short of addressing most of the concerns raised in their petition to the federal government in 2011 to improve underride protection.

Harkey said “for nearly 50 years, IIHS has pushed for stronger government regulations to improve rear underride guards on large trucks. While an updated standard went into effect in 1998, it was still too weak. Our research in the early 2000s confirmed that and showed that much more could be done to prevent underride.”

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Speed limiters on heavy trucks urged

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Meanwhile, in more safety information from the IIHS, in a recent regulatory comment, this safety organization urged the federal government to expedite plans to require speed limiters on large trucks and extend the requirement to medium-duty trucks.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requested comments on a proposal to require devices that limit the top speed on commercial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating over 26,000 pounds. A specific top speed would be determined later in the rulemaking process.

Excessive speed was a factor in nearly a third of all U.S. crash deaths in 2020. But limiting speed is especially important for large trucks, Eric Teoh, IIHS director of statistical services, wrote in the comment.

Because of their greater mass, trucks have more momentum and thus require longer stopping distances than smaller vehicles. They also do more damage in the event of a crash. This is true not only for the largest tractor-trailers but also for class 3-6 trucks, which weigh 10,001-26,000 pounds when they are loaded to capacity.

The problem has only grown more urgent since the FMCSA began discussing speed limiters more than a decade ago, Teoh pointed out. Many states have raised their maximum speed limits considerably, and the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a burst in speeding and associated crash deaths.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out given the varying maximum speed limits in the U.S. On interstate and limited access highways the maximum speed limits in many states, including New York, is 65 mph while in Texas the maximum can be as much is 85. The rule makers may have a difficult time setting specific top speeds.