Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced the dates for the next four meetings of its Advisory Committee on Underride Protection (ACUP), which is tasked with providing advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation on safety regulations to reduce underride crashes and fatalities related to underride crashes.
The next four ACUP meetings will be held Feb. 8, March 13, April 24, and May 22 -- each from 12:30-4:30 p.m. Eastern. Pre-registration is required to attend each online meeting. A link allowing access to each meeting will be distributed to registrants within 24 hours of the meeting start time.
Each meeting will be open to the public and will be held virtually via Zoom. Information and registration for the meetings will be available on the NHTSA website at least one week in advance of each meeting, NHTSA said. The committee's establishment comes after NHTSA last year published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking signaling the possibility of a mandate for side-underride guards on trailers. Study of the issue was required by 2021-passed infrastructure legislation, directing the DOT to complete research on side underride guards to better understand their overall effectiveness and assess the feasibility, benefits, and costs..
The committee during the Feb. 8 meeting will discuss rear underride crashes, prevention and mitigation technologies, and the committee’s recommendations to the DOT. The March 13 meeting will cover side underride crashes, prevention and mitigation technologies and the committee’s recommendations.
The April 24 meeting will cover front underride crashes and prevention and mitigation technologies, and the final scheduled meeting on May 22 will cover underride data needs.
[Related: Side underride guard mandate: Rail disaster waiting to happen?]
