Prominent national organizations have very different views on a possible US-proposed rule National Road Safety Authority (NHTSA) which would require the use of side skid plates on newly built large trucks.
The speaks for the mandate Insurance Institute for Road Safety (IIHS) said that NHTSA grossly underestimated how many lives the rule could save, claiming side skid plates could save 10 times the lives NHTSA originally projected. In contrast, the Owner-Operator-Independent Driver Association (OOIDA) said not only would installing side skid plates be costly and impractical, but the proposed mandate ignores safety, economic and operational concerns previously raised by small business owners.
To prevent smaller vehicles from slipping under the sides in traffic accidents, skid plates are fitted to truck trailers. NHTSA proposed a rule on April 23, 2023, in part in response to a rulemaking petition by Marianne Karth and the Coalition for Truck Safety. NHTSA closed the public comment period on July 20, 2023.
The IIHS is a not-for-profit organization that represents more than 100 insurance groups and works to reduce deaths and injuries from automobile accidents. The organization said NHTSA’s predictions failed to highlight many types of “probably relevant” accidents, including accidents involving more than a single passenger vehicle and a single tractor-trailer truck, and collisions that occur at speeds in excess of 40 miles per hour. NHTSA predicted that equipping all new large trucks in the US with side skid plates could prevent 17 deaths and 69 serious injuries each year. However, the IIHS estimates that the mandate could actually prevent up to 217 deaths per year through an alternative forecasting method.
OOIDA, with more than 150,000 members who collectively own and operate over 240,000 individual heavy-duty trucks, finds the implementation of the rule impractical. “No one cares more about road safety than truck drivers and every single truck driver wants to return home in a safe environment, just like drivers in passenger cars. NHTSA has consistently concluded that a federal order would be impractical and costly and therefore would outweigh any safety benefits,” said OOIDA President Todd Spencer in comments submitted to NHTSA.
NHTSA predicted that it would cost approximately $778 million to equip all new large trucks in the US with side skid plates. But OOIDA said this rules out additional costs associated with beefing up trailers or changing trailer loading patterns. Additional operating costs could arise from repairs to guards caused by poor road conditions or more difficult vehicle safety inspection procedures that could prevent inspectors from detecting certain types of device malfunctions, Spencer said. He added that a possible mandate would also fail to address other issues that limit the practicality of side underrun protection devices, such as the risk of trucks running aground or being damaged when crossing level crossings with high “humps”.
“Any move by the agency to advance such a measure is premature and short-sighted,” Spencer added.
Other countries have already introduced skid plates similar to the proposed US mandate. Since safety standards were tightened in 2007, Canadian trucks have been required to install skid plates that can withstand about twice the force of U.S. skid plates, according to a blog post by Reiff law firm. Since 1994, the EU has stipulated that trucks must be equipped with front and side underrun protection devices. Only rear skid plates are currently required in the US due to a law introduced on January 11, 2023.
“A number of safety advocates have called guards like these a win-win-win solution, as everyday drivers gain from improved safety and fewer injuries in accidents,” the law firm said. “Haulage companies win because in an accident, the injuries are less severe and the truck and load are less likely to suffer damage. Likewise, the trucking company’s customer also benefits because their cargo or goods are better protected and less likely to be damaged or destroyed by the accident.”
