In Washington, truck drivers have urged leaders in the House and Senate to avoid drafting legislation based on what they describe as a deeply flawed report. The report, which recommends implementing new safety equipment on trucks, has sparked controversy due to concerns over the reliability of the data used to form its recommendations.
In a letter addressed to Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who chair the House Transportation & Infrastructure and Senate Commerce committees respectively, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer criticized the recent Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP) biennial report sent to Congress earlier this month. According to Spencer, the majority and minority viewpoints within the committee diverged significantly, casting doubt on the validity of the report’s conclusions.
OOIDA, represented on ACUP by board member Doug Smith, alleged that the committee’s recommendations were pushed through by a slim majority, ignoring dissenting voices and failing to provide adequate empirical support for its assertions.
Spencer emphasized that the proposed safety measures would be costly and difficult to implement, urging caution in using the report as a basis for policy development. He also raised concerns about sections of the report that allegedly exceeded the committee’s mandate and lacked sufficient data to support their recommendations.
The controversy escalated with allegations that certain crash data had been suppressed by Department of Transportation officials, potentially skewing the economic analysis underlying the proposed side-guard rulemaking at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Spencer called on NHTSA to delay any new underride standards until further comprehensive research, analysis, and testing as mandated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has been completed. He stressed that the only consensus among ACUP panel members was in favor of enhancing research and reporting, suggesting these aspects should be the focus of congressional and USDOT attention.
In response, the Truck Safety Coalition (TSC), representing crash victims, criticized OOIDA’s stance as reminiscent of past delays in safety reforms, asserting that decades of avoidable deaths and injuries from side underride crashes cannot be tolerated any longer.
TSC Executive Director Zach Cahalan pointed out the industry’s historical resistance to safety measures that increase operational costs, advocating for greater credibility to be given to the voices of crash victims and survivors in these critical policy decisions.