'They might have had a chance.' Widower pushing for truck safety devices

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Two days before she was killed, 19-year-old Sophie Rosenberg was all smiles in her brightly colored dress, face paint and hair full of confetti. An engineering student at Texas A&M, Sophie just attended the Austin City Limits Music Festival when her mom offered a ride back to College Station so she could make it to class the next morning.

"They left shortly after midnight," Jay Rosenberg recalled, six years later. "Gave them both hugs, told them I loved them."

Around 3:20 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2018, the driver of a semi-trailer truck "failed to yield" the right of way at a stop sign and "pulled out in front" of the minivan Leslie, 62, and Sophie were in, according to the crash report. They were within 25 miles of campus.

The driver, who was never charged with a crime, told authorities he saw their vehicle but believed he had enough time to make the wide turn.

"My wife went under the truck, which tore, of course, the top of the van and they didn't survive," he said. "She obviously didn't even see the truck because there were no skid marks."

What happened is called an "underride crash." It is estimated to kill 500 people a year, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

"He had blocked the entire road with his rig and there's a hill and it was dark and there's no lights there and the truck wasn't illuminated," Rosenberg said.

The crash happened so quickly that the airbags never went off.

"If the car hit any sort of guards like they have on the back of trucks -- they don't have those on the side -- that would cause the airbags to inflate," Rosenberg said.

"They might have had a chance," he added.

'Real world solution'

Safety advocates and engineers point to an aftermarket device, called a side underride guard, they believe could "absolutely" save lives. It attaches to the sides of a tractor-trailer with the goal of preventing a car from sliding underneath, like what happened with Leslie and Sophie.

"It's very hard to hear stories like that," said IIHS senior research engineer Matthew Brumbelow.

The IIHS has conducted crash-testing in its facility of side underride guards and found that "they would save lives if they were required," Brumbelow said. In two tests, the device prevented a car from going underneath the trailer. It's a proven "real world solution" to a "fairly common type of crash," he stressed.

So, if they can save lives, why aren't they required?

"That's a great question," he said. "For decades, different groups like us have been asking (the National Highway Transportation Administration) to require side underride guards and they have declined to do so after studying how much they think it would cost."

The U.S. Department of Transportation requires safety bars on the back of trucks, but not the sides. Brumbelow is part of the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection, established by Congress in 2021 and formed last year as part of an infrastructure law. The group is tasked with looking into underride guards for trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds.

In its June report, a majority recommended requiring side guards rated to stop a vehicle going 40 m.p.h.

NHTSA, which oversees highway safety, is now considering that recommendation for a possible new rule.

Balancing business, safety

The ongoing debate comes amid years-long industry opposition.

"The added weight, the structural integrity of the trailer," with a side guard in place were among the concerns American Trucking Association's president Chris Spear told members of Congress in 2019. "Is it [the safety of the truck] compromised? These are valid questions that, I think, need to be fleshed out."

In a statement, the ATA calls underride guards an excessive "unfunded mandate" that would cost the trucking industry $35 billion to install on all existing trucks and would divert money from other safety investments. In its statement to KXAN, the ATA said the trucking industry invests $14 billion a year on safety training and technology and supports solutions to reduce and prevent all crashes, including underride. It stressed equipment mandates "should be based on sound engineering while considering real-world operations and weighing unintended consequences."

The Texas Trucking Association declined to comment and referred questions to the ATA.

In a June report, NHTSA estimated the "net benefits" of side underride guards would be a negative amount between $844 million and $1 billion. It estimated the safety devices would save 17.2 lives and prevent 69 serious injuries a year.

Brumbelow, however, believes NHTSA is underestimating how many lives can be saved. He predicts the amount to be much higher: 200 lives saved a year, based on IIHS research.

"It is really frustrating that we have to put a dollar value on human life," he said.

This type of counter-measure, he stressed, can improve chances of survival.

"These are not high-tech kinds of devices. It's a pretty simple solution," he said. "That just makes it all the more sad and frustrating that we are where we are today."

NHTSA didn't address its analysis on the effectiveness and cost of side underride guards, which were based on available information. In a statement, a spokesperson called it "unacceptable" that more than 40,000 people die every year in traffic crashes. That is why the U.S. DOT launched a local, state and federal effort to "address this crisis." The agency pointed to efforts to "prevent and mitigate underride crashes" and deaths including improving data collection, conducting critical safety research, gathering advice from diverse stakeholders and proposing regulations, including automatic emergency braking systems.

In May, the agency published a final rule requiring automatic emergency braking on passenger cars and light trucks starting in 2029.

Fighting back tears, Rosenberg said it is still "almost impossible to accept" the fact that his wife of 35 years and youngest daughter are both gone. He wishes side-guards were required the day they were killed and would "absolutely" like to see that done today.

He plans to contact members of Congress and NHTSA to advocate for a safety change.

For him, it's a solution that can't afford to wait.

"Not only for my wife and daughter," Rosenberg said. "But for countless of other people."

Photojournalist Todd Bailey, Director of Investigations & Innovation Josh Hinkle, Investigative Producer Dalton Huey, Investigative Photojournalist Chris Nelson and Digital Director Kate Winkle contributed to this report.