New legislation was introduced earlier this month to protect drivers from deadly tractor-trailer accidents.

The Stop Underrides Act2.0 would require side underride guards on new trucks and direct additional research and data collection about underride crashes, according to the bill’s authors, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN-9), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10), and Deborah Ross (D-NC-2).

Under current federal law, underride guards are not required to be on the sides or front of trucks.

The legislation would expand current restrictions by requiring side underride guards on new trucks, improving data collection, and directing additional research on underride crashes.

“Truck underride guards are one of the best and easiest solutions for protecting passengers during collisions with large trucks,” said Senator Gillibrand. “The Stop Underrides Act 2.0 is commonsense legislation that will protect passengers and make our roads safer. I look forward to working across the aisle to get this passed.”

According to a press release issued by Senator Gillibrand’s office, the bill would specifically:

• Require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to finalize rulemaking requiring side underride guards on commercial trucks.
• Restart the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, to provide recommendations for how to reduce underride crashes, severe injuries, and fatalities caused by underrides.
• Require the DOT to publish a website making underride research accessible to researchers, industry, and advocates.
• Instruct the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study on the prevalence of underride incidents, including those involving the fronts of large trucks.
• Instruct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study of the implementation of NHTSA’s 2022 rear underride rule and provide suggestions to improve the rule.
• Instruct NHTSA to review its Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and correct crashes in the database that should have been classified as an underride but were not.
• Instruct NHTSA to create free, on-demand web-based training for state and local law enforcement to identify and document underride crashes.

In the Senate, the Stop Underrides Act 2.0 is cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

The bill has the support of several organizations, including Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Center for Auto Safety, EndDistractedDriving.org, Institute for Safer Trucking, and the Truck Safety Coalition.

Several provisions of Senator Gillibrand’s Stop Underrides Act were included in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including a requirement that NHTSA complete rulemaking to improve protections for drivers and passengers in the event of an underride crash.