Deborah Ross joins Raleigh mom’s highway safety crusade with new truck bill
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Deborah Ross is a primary sponsor of Stop Underrides Act 2.0.
- Bill directs NHTSA to finish side-guard rulemaking and adds a GAO study.
- GOP support uncertain; bill avoids retrofits and requires fuel-saving side guards.
Marianne Karth has spent years trying to persuade Congress to require that trucks be equipped with guards that would prevent the kind of crash that killed her two daughters more than a decade ago.
The latest version of the bill was introduced this week, and Karth’s representative in Congress, Deborah Ross of Raleigh, is a primary sponsor.
The Stop Underrides Act 2.0 aims to prevent the hood or trunk of cars from sliding under the side of a large truck in an accident. In underride crashes, the car’s first point of contact is the windows of the passenger compartment, giving people inside almost no protection.
Congress addressed the most common type of underride crashes in 2021 when it required manufacturers to equip trucks and trailers with rear guards strong enough to prevent a car going 35 mph from sliding underneath. Congress also directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to study measures to prevent cars from going under the sides of trucks and trailers and, “if warranted, develop performance standards for side underride guards.”
The new bill would direct NHTSA to finish the job and require side underride guards. The bill has several other provisions, including one requiring the U.S. Government Accountability Office to study the impact of the rear underride requirement and suggest improvements.
The bill’s chances in a Republican-controlled Congress are uncertain at best. All five primary sponsors — two senators and three House members — are Democrats, led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Gillibrand introduced the first underrides bill in 2017 after a milk truck jackknifed across Interstate 81 north of Syracuse and two cars went under the trailer, killing all four people in the cars.
Republican Marco Rubio, who sponsored earlier versions of the bill when he represented Florida in the Senate, is now Secretary of State. Karth says retired North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr also expressed support for underride legislation when he was in the Senate.
Karth notes the bill differs from previous versions in ways that should make it easier for Republicans to support. It would not require that existing trucks be retrofitted with side underride guards, something the trucking industry opposed. And it stipulates that side guards be designed so that they improve a truck’s fuel efficiency, making up for the added weight.
In addition to the weight, trucking groups also have objected to the cost of the guards themselves. They cite an NHTSA cost-benefit analysis published in 2023 that concluded the costs of equipping and operating trucks with side underride guards was “six to eight times the corresponding safety benefits” of lives saved and injuries prevented.
Ben Greenberg, president and CEO of the N.C. Trucking Association, says the industry invests billions in training and equipment to prevent crashes.
“While we appreciate the intent behind underride guard legislation, federal safety experts at NHTSA have found significant engineering challenges and determined that the costs, about $1 billion per year, would outweigh proven safety benefits,” Greenberg wrote in an email. “We remain committed to working with policymakers, safety advocates, and families to advance data‑driven solutions that genuinely improve roadway safety.”
Karth says the NHTSA cost-benefit study was flawed because it under-estimated the number of lives the guards would save by a factor of 10, according to research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Bill in memory of ‘thousands of victims of underride crashes’
Karth crusades for underride guards in memory of her daughters, AnnaLeah and Mary, who are among dozens of underride crash victims named in the bill. In 2013, Karth was driving on Interstate 20 in Georgia with her son in the front seat of their Ford Crown Victoria and her daughters in the back when they were hit from behind by a tractor-trailer truck.
The force of the collision spun the car around so that it slid backwards under the back of another truck’s trailer, which smashed through the rear window into the back seat. AnnaLeah died instantly, just shy of her 18th birthday. Mary, 13, died a few days later.
Karth has spoken widely about her family’s experience and the design changes she thinks will save lives. She and her husband, Jerry, went to a town hall meeting that Ross held in Knightdale last summer.
“I took the mic and told our story and asked for her support on underride legislation and keeping NHTSA accountable,” Karth wrote in an email. “She appeared to be moved and had her staff follow up.”
The bill cites an NHTSA advisory committee’s finding that 31,500 people have been killed in underride crashes since the agency was created in 1970. In a statement, Ross called underride guards a simple way to prevent those deaths.
”I have heard directly from families in my district about the lives this improvement could save,” Ross wrote. “I’m proud to introduce legislation that will prevent vehicle fatalities and make our roads safer for drivers in North Carolina and across the country.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 12:30 PM.
