Underride accidents account for twenty-five percent of all fatal truck accidents. California leads the country in the number of all underride deaths with 426 recorded between 1993 and 2015. Death by underride is drastically undercounted, as some crash report forms do no contain a check box for underrides. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) tested safeguards called AngelWings that prevent passenger cars from sliding beneath the side of a tractor-trailer or large truck. Side underride crashes generally occur when a tractor-trailer jackknifes, causing vehicles behind to crash into the side. Very often airbags fail to deploy because of the height of the trailer. Roofs can [...]

Three medical groups have followed the lead of head Democrat Chuck Schumer, denouncing the transportation agencies withdrawal of the sleep apnea rule. Early in August, Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the U.S. DOT to “immediately reverse course” on it’s recent decision to withdraw a rule requiring sleep apnea screening for truckers and railway operators. He said that the DOT’s decision to withdraw the rule “commemorates a disaster waiting to happen.” “It’s high time to move forward with making sleep apnea testing a federal requirement; no ifs, and or buts about it,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement to the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA). [...]