NHTSA Putting Together Underride Advisory Committee

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has begun taking applications for an advisory committee focused on underride protection. 

The committee’s purpose is to “provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation on safety regulations to reduce underride crashes and fatalities relating to underride crashes,” according to a July 6 notice in the Federal Register. 

Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on Aug. 5. 

The notice says the committee will have no more than 20 members, with two representatives from each of the following categories: motor carriers, truck and trailer manufacturers, law enforcement, motor vehicle engineers, motor vehicle crash investigators, truck safety organizations, the insurance industry, emergency medical service providers, families of underride crash victims and labor organizations. 

These members will deliberate on issues relevant to underride crashes and provide written advice to the secretary on underride protection.  

The committee will also submit a biennial report with advice and recommendations, as well as an assessment of progress made, to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. 

This request for applications comes days after the NHTSA finalized a rule requiring rear impact guards on trailers and semi-trailers with “sufficient strength and energy absorption to protect occupants of passenger vehicles.”