{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.rubio.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=48A97C09-7D4B-45D7-B2EE-AA4BF9395816", "Rubio, Gillibrand Introduce Legislation to Help Keep Drivers Safe from Fatal Tractor-Trailer Truck Accident", "2017-12-12", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "FL", "Marco Rubio", "R000595", "www.rubio.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Press Releases \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHome\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNewsroom\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPress Releases\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\tWashington, DC \u2013 U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) today introduced the Stop Underrides Act, legislation that would help prevent deadly truck underride crashes. U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) introduced the companion bill in the House.\u00a0An \u2018underride crash\u2019 is when a car slides under the body of a large truck, such as a semi-trailer, during an accident. When these accidents happen, a car\u2019s safety features are not able to protect passengers because most of the car slides under the trailer, and the truck crashes straight through the windows and into the passengers.\u00a0The passengers in the car often suffer severe head and neck injuries, including decapitation, on impact with the truck. These accidents are often fatal, even at low speeds.\u00a0Studies and pilot programs show that a simple barrier attached to the lower area of a truck, called an \u2018underride guard\u2019, would help prevent a car from sliding underneath a truck in an accident. Under current federal law, underride guards are not required to be on the sides or front of trucks. Underride guards are already required for the back of a truck, but the standards are outdated.\u00a0\u201cFlorida is one of the states with the highest number of reported fatalities due to underride collisions. With hundreds of Americans losing their lives due to these crashes every year, the Stop Underrides Act seeks to prevent these kind of deaths, make our roads safer, and spare more families the grief of losing a loved one by implementing underride guards on trucks across the nation,\u201d said Rubio. \u201cI ask my colleagues in Congress to join me in advancing efforts to save hundreds of lives across the country.\u201d\u00a0\u201cWith so many unpredictable accidents on the road, underride guards are an easy solution for protecting people and preventing them from dying when a car collides with a truck,\u201d said Gillibrand. \u201cThis bipartisan legislation would save lives, and we should pass it as quickly as possible to keep Americans safe while they\u2019re driving, whether they\u2019re heading to see family and friends for the holidays or driving to work on their morning commute. I urge all of my colleagues to join me and Senator Rubio on this bipartisan bill.\u201d\u00a0\u201cI am proud to sponsor this bipartisan, bicameral legislation to finally address the issue of truck underride fatalities. By implementing the use of strong rear, side, and front underride guards, this legislation will make full use of the decades of car safety technologies already required in passenger vehicles and prevent needless deaths,\u201d said Representative Cohen. \u201cMy heart goes out to all the families who have been affected by these tragic collisions, including Marianne Karth, Lois Durso, Jennifer Tierney and especially Randy and Laurie Higginbotham, whose 33-year old son, Michael, was killed in a truck underride crash in my area of Memphis \u2013 your advocacy and sacrifice, along with the support of the Truck Safety Coalition and Advocates for Highway Safety have brought us all to this point. This legislation will save lives, it\u2019s the right thing to do, and that\u2019s bottom line.\u201d\u00a0\u201cOver 300 people are killed each year from truck underride collisions, and these collisions are often underreported, it is time to act. No mother or father should see their child\u2019s life cut short by an accident that could have been prevented with commonsense safety improvements. Fatalities from motor vehicle accidents in California increased 13% from 2015 to 2016, and this bill is an important step towards making our roads safer,\u201d said Representative DeSaulnier. \u201cI am proud to join Senator Gillibrand, Senator Rubio, and Congressman Cohen to introduce this legislation, and I am grateful for the perseverance of Marianne Karth and Lois Durso, who each lost children in truck underride collisions, for their work to make this bill possible.\u201d\u00a0\u201cI am the survivor of a terrible truck crash. I'm the mom of two daughters, AnnaLeah & Mary, who did not survive. The difference? Their part of the car went under the truck; mine did not,\u201d said Marianne Karth. \u201cWhen I learned that hundreds of people die each year from underride and that something could have been done to prevent their deaths, I became a mom on a mission to make truck crashes more survivable.\u201d\u00a0\"It is unacceptable to allow truck underride crashes to continue snuffing out the lives of our loved ones... year after year... decade after decade when it is absolutely preventable,\u201d said Lois Durso. \u201cWe must not turn a blind eye to the truck underride carnage. I am grateful for the leadership of Senator Gillibrand, Senator Rubio and Congressman Cohen \u2013 they have taken the necessary steps to save countless lives.\"\u00a0\u00a0\u201cUntil the day my dad was killed, I had never spent much time considering what would happen if a vehicle passed under a tractor-trailer. Now it\u2019s a daily struggle to stop my mind from imagining that horrific moment of impact and seeing the remains of the vehicle that held my Daddy,\u201d said Katie Strader. \u201cThere are thousands of families across the U.S. who have had their lives forever-changed because of an underride crash. Saving lives is not a partisan issue. Joint introduction by Senators Gillibrand and Rubio is evidence of this.\u00a0 Protecting our families on our roadways is not Republican or Democrat. It is an issue on which we all agree.\u201d\u00a0\u201cThe Stop Underrides Act is a long-overdue solution to a long-standing safety problem. Every year hundreds of people are needlessly killed or severely injured in truck underride crashes,\u201d said Jacqueline Gillan, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. \u201cThe National Transportation Safety Board has issued multiple recommendations for improved rear underride guards and for side and front underride protection systems. It is now time for action.\u201d\u00a0\u201cMotor vehicle crashes continue to be a leading cause of death in the U.S., and too many involve large trucks,\" said Deborah A.P. Hersman, President and CEO of the National Safety Council. \"Every single one of these deaths is preventable. We applaud Sen. Gillibrand and her colleagues for their leadership in this area, and look forward to supporting all efforts to make our roads safer.\"\u00a0\u201cThe issue of truck underride crashes has persisted for too long. As an organization that works with families who lost loved ones and with survivors of truck underride crashes, we fully support the Stop Underrides Act,\u201d said John Lannen, Executive Director of the Truck Safety Coalition. \u201cWe commend Senator Gillibrand, Senator Rubio, and Representative Cohen for sponsoring legislation that will strengthen rear underride guards, mandate side underride guards, and require proper maintenance of these life-saving guards. We are hopeful that other Members of Congress will join them in this bipartisan effort to reduce the unnecessary deaths and injuries that occur as a result of truck underride collisions.\u201d\u00a0Rubio and Gillibrand\u2019s legislation would require underride guards on the sides and front of a truck and update the outdated standards for underride guards on the back of trucks. It would also ensure that the annual inspection for all large trucks includes underride guards as part of the inspection and would require the Department of Transportation to review underride standards every five years to evaluate the need for changes in response to advancements in technology.\u00a0The Stop Underrides Act of 2017 is endorsed by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the National Safety Council.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.rubio.senate.gov//public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=48A97C09-7D4B-45D7-B2EE-AA4BF9395816"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9429899509996176, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}