S. 3775 — Stop Underrides Act 2.0

This section declares congressional findings that underride crashes involving passenger motor vehicles or vulnerable road users (including motorcyclists) and trucks or trailers constitute a significant public health and safety threat, citing an advisory committee report of 25,100 underrides and 31,500 fatalities since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's formation and National Transportation Safety Board recommendations for rear, side, and front underride guards; honors specific victims of such crashes; and states the Act's purposes of reducing preventable deaths and injuries, ensuring the efficacy of comprehensive underride protection systems, and improving vulnerable road user, motor carrier, and passenger motor vehicle safety.

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act, including: (1) commercial motor vehicle, as defined in 49 U.S.C. §31132 (generally, a self-propelled or towed vehicle used in interstate commerce with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of at least 10,001 pounds, or designed/used to transport more than 8 passengers for compensation or more than 15 passengers including the driver, or transporting placarded hazardous materials); (2) comprehensive underride protection system (i.e., all applicable front underride guards, rear underride guards, or side underride guards installed on a commercial motor vehicle); (3) front underride guard (i.e., a device installed on or near the front of a commercial motor vehicle that prevents or limits a struck vehicle from sliding under the front of the striking commercial motor vehicle); (4) rear underride guard, as defined in 49 C.F.R. §571.223 (or successor regulation, i.e., rear impact guard); and (5) passenger motor vehicle, semitrailer, side underride guard, single unit truck, trailer, and vulnerable road user, as defined in 49 U.S.C. §30102(a).

This section amends the definitions in 49 U.S.C. §30102(a) by—(1) redesignating paragraphs (11), (12), and (13) as paragraphs (12), (17), and (19), respectively; (2) inserting after paragraph (10) a definition of *passenger motor vehicle* (cross-referencing 49 U.S.C. §32101); (3) inserting after paragraph (12) (as redesignated) definitions of *Secretary* (i.e., Secretary of Transportation), *semitrailer* (cross-referencing 49 C.F.R. §571.3(b) or successor), *side underride guard* (i.e., a device installed on or near the side of a trailer, semitrailer, or single-unit truck that limits front-end underride of striking vehicles and prevents vulnerable road users from sliding under), and *single unit truck* (i.e., a large commercial truck excluding any attached trailer); (4) inserting after paragraph (17) (as redesignated) a definition of *trailer* (cross-referencing 49 C.F.R. §571.3(b) or successor); and (5) inserting after paragraph (19) (as redesignated) a definition of *vulnerable road user* (cross-referencing 23 U.S.C. §148(a)). It also makes technical punctuation changes to paragraphs (1) through (19).

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation to finalize, not later than 18 months after enactment, regulations under new 49 U.S.C. §30130 prescribing motor vehicle safety standards that require side underride guards on new trailers, semitrailers, and single-unit trucks. (As background, side underride guards prevent passenger vehicles and vulnerable road users—i.e., pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists—from sliding under the side of a trailer or truck in a crash, which can cause fatalities by intruding into the passenger compartment.) The guards must meet a performance standard that (1) prevents intrusion into a passenger motor vehicle's occupant survival space during perpendicular impacts at closing speeds up to 40 miles per hour; (2) impedes vulnerable road users from passing underneath along the side; and (3) incorporates aerodynamic design to improve fuel efficiency. In the cost-benefit analysis, the Secretary must account for prevented deaths and injuries among passenger occupants and vulnerable road users, as well as net fuel savings relative to the current voluntary adoption rate of aerodynamic side skirts without guards. This section further requires full compliance within two years after regulations are finalized; directs the Secretary to review and potentially update the standards beginning five years after finalization and every five years thereafter; clarifies that any withdrawal of NHTSA's April 21, 2023, advance notice of proposed rulemaking on side underride guards (88 Fed. Reg. 24,535) does not affect the rulemaking mandate; and makes conforming amendments to the table of contents for 49 U.S.C. chapter 301.

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation to reconvene, not later than 180 days after enactment, the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection established under §23011(d)(1) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and amends §23011(d) of that Act as follows: (1) increases total committee membership to 22 (from 20) and adds two new categories of members representing families of underride crash victims who were occupants of passenger motor vehicles or vulnerable road users (i.e., pedestrians, cyclists, and other non-motorized or motorized users as defined in 49 U.S.C. §30102(a)); (2) increases meeting frequency to monthly via conference call or virtual platform plus annually in person at Department of Transportation headquarters until final underride protection regulations are promulgated under 49 U.S.C. §30130(a), and annually in person thereafter (from not less frequently than annually); (3) expands exemptions from public disclosure of committee information to include deliberative materials; (4) requires annual reports (from biennial); and (5) establishes a termination date of September 30, 2031.

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation to publish a publicly accessible website serving as a repository of underride resources (i.e., materials related to preventing crashes in which a smaller vehicle slides under a truck or trailer) for industry, researchers, advocates, and the public, including (1) Department of Transportation research on rear, side, and front underride guards; (2) a link to the database of the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; (3) information and links relating to all Department underride rulemakings; (4) stories of victims of underride crashes; and (5) documentation of past and ongoing underride crash data collection. The Secretary must update the website not less frequently than quarterly.

This section requires (1) the Secretary of Transportation to seek, not later than one year after enactment, an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for a study on the prevalence of front-of-large-truck crashes, including threats to vulnerable road users (i.e., pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists), with the National Academies submitting a report to Congress not later than 180 days after study completion that includes recommendations to prevent underride crashes and deaths, efficacy assessments of devices such as front override guards, and statistics since 2010 on relevant fatal and non-fatal crashes (including vehicle details, road types, and fatalities); and (2) the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct, not later than one year after enactment, a study on implementation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's final rule entitled "Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Rear Impact Guards, Rear Impact Protection" (87 Fed. Reg. 42339, July 15, 2022), with a report to the Secretary of Transportation and Congress not later than 180 days after study completion that includes an implementation analysis, potential Department of Transportation improvements, and recommendations to prevent rear underride crashes in trailers, semitrailers, and single-unit trucks.

This section directs the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), not later than one year after enactment, to review the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)—NHTSA's national census of police-reported fatal motor vehicle crashes—to determine (1) the number of fatalities reported as underride crashes by state and local law enforcement, (2) the number of fatalities in crashes not reported as underride crashes but determined by the Administrator to qualify as such after reviewing crash data (including initial point of impact for fatal large truck crashes), the Crash Investigation Sampling System, open-source media with photo evidence, and other sources, and (3) recommendations to improve underride crash reporting. Not later than 18 months after enactment, the Administrator shall develop free, on-demand web-based training for state and local law enforcement on identifying and documenting underride crashes.