SAFE TRAVELS NC
ISSUE 24 | SEPTEMBER 2026
Use Your Melon
This month we’ve got a NASCAR driver, student drivers, mascot drivers and expert advice on how to strap down a load.
We’re also back to school, so our NCAST Teen Safe Driving Ambassador Program is again open for students who want to promote a safe driving message and potentially win a scholarship up to $1,000.
Speaking of school — yes, you need to stop for that school bus. If there’s any question, this 40-second video covers the basics.
The test results without an underride guard. NC State Highway Patrol Colonel Freddy L. Johnson Jr. speaks to U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross in the background.
The violence of a 40 mph crash is extraordinary.
The additional brutality of a 40 mph crash where a vehicle slides beneath the edge of a tractor trailer is sickening.
Last month AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety organized two crash tests at the NC State Highway Patrol’s driver training facility in Raleigh: One with a reinforced underride guard attached to the trailer, and one without.
Two small SUVs were pulled at 40 mph into the side of these trailers. With the underride guard, the crash was loud, but likely not deadly. The human shaped dummy in the driver’s seat stayed intact.
Without the guard, the windshield disintegrated and any space a driver and front seat passenger might have occupied simply disappeared, crushed. It cannot be fully described in a newsletter, but long-time News & Observer photojournalist Travis Long captured video that is best viewed with the sound on. We have a less professional version on our Instagram account.
Jonathan Morrison, who heads the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, attended the demonstration, which was part of a truck safety conference organized by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Institute for Transportation Safety and Research at N.C. State University.
The test results with an underride guard installed.
“We’re here to learn,” Morrison told The News & Observer, without taking a position on federal underride guard requirements that activists are hoping for.
U.S. Reps. Deborah Ross and Valerie Foushee, who support legislation that would require further study of the issue, attended as well.
AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety is named for Marianne Karth’s daughters who were killed in an underride crash in 2013. Since then Karth has pushed for new regulations.
“It wasn’t the crash that killed them,” Karth said of her daughters. “It was the truck that came into their survival space.”
WRAL News covered the crash tests as well and has previously reported on some of the expenses that requiring these guards would incur. The American Trucking Associations has said it would cost $35 billion to install guards on all existing trailers and told WRAL that the industry already invests $14 billion annually in safety training, technology, and other safety measures.
It was his first time on the track, but Ross Chastain smoked the hometown drivers.
I mean, he probably should have. He’s a NASCAR driver, and this was a go kart race.
Chastain, aka The Melon Man, aka NASCAR’s busiest driver, aka Official Backseat Driver of the NC Governor’s Highway Safety Program, visited the Raleigh area last month with a safe driving message. Speed belongs on the track (in this case Rush Hour Go Karting in Garner), wear your seatbelt (40% of people who die in crashes weren’t) and don’t look at your phone behind the wheel.
“We won the Coca Cola 600 last year at Charlotte and you think, ‘I ran 400 laps, I should be able to drive it with my eyes closed,’” Chastain said before climbing into a go cart. “I tried. Virtually I tried to drive it (on a simulator) and close my eyes and make a lap. I crashed. In my opinion looking at a cell phone is the same as being blindfolded.”
NASCAR driver Ross Chastain speaks to fans at Rush Hour Go Karting as NC Governor's Highway Safety Program Director Mark Ezzell and others look on. Image courtesy Katy Warner, NC DOT Communications.
Amen, Ross. Thanks for spreading the good word.
We put together a short video of Chastain’s karting prowess on our Instagram account. If you check the comments you’ll see: Not only did he win, and not only did he post the fastest lap time, but Chastain lapped his opponents, even though some of them were track regulars and this was his first time on this course.
My twins are 14-and-a-half, which means they’re old enough to start working toward a North Carolina driver’s license. They took a 30-hour classroom course this summer. Six hours instruction behind the wheel comes next so they can get their Limited Learner Permits when they turn 15.
I asked them to tell me…
Their Overall Takeaway
J: The main purpose is to reinforce the importance of good decision making. Time and time again they showed us statistics and examples of people making poor decisions.
S: Driving is an important skill that takes precision and caution to avoid life changing and life-threatening mistakes.
One Or Two Lessons They Would Share With Others
S: You need to be careful, but don’t get too caught up with the casualties and statistics they show you. Follow road rules and use your brain.
J: That driving is not only a privilege but a responsibility, and that you can never afford to get complacent because it only takes an instant of inattention to change your life and others forever.
Something They Would Change About The Classes
J: If I could change one thing I would do less computerwork and more interactive activities, because I think that’s necessary to be fully engaged. We spent a LOT of time looking at slides.
S: Instead of telling so many stories about crashes, I would have people discuss what could have been done differently.
This message is proudly brought to you by Safe Passage
Once again: Thank you to North Carolina lawmakers and to everyone who advocated for new wildlife crossing funding in the state budget.
Here’s the note Safe Passage and NCAST sent legislators, thanking them for their decision. THANK YOU!
Every year in the United States about 830 people are killed and almost 19,000 more are injured in crashes involving objects in the road.
Don’t be the problem. Secure your load. If you’re hauling something, tie it down right. Ask yourself: Would I feel safe driving behind this?
Take your cue from the North Carolina Farm Bureau’s Haulin’ Ag guide, which notes:
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Vehicles must be loaded to prevent any of the load from falling, blowing, dropping, sifting, leaking, or otherwise escaping.
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When hauling rock, gravel, stone, or similar substance, the load must be 6 inches below the top of the walls and covered with a tarp.
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Heavy equipment (>10,000 pounds) must be secured with a minimum of four tie downs as close to the front and rear of the equipment as possible.
Haul it safe or don’t haul it at all!
This message is proudly brought to you to by
Welcome back to football season to all those who celebrate.
The Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina, which helps bring you this newsletter, sponsors anti-distracted-driving campaigns with the athletic departments at NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University.
Their mascots taped public service announcements to remind everyone: Looking at your phone even for a few seconds behind the wheel is like driving the length of a football field with your eyes closed.
Take a look at these videos. Share your school’s. Help Save Lives.
GO HEELS!
GO PACK!
GO DUKE!
NCAST and IIANC support a hands-free law for North Carolina that would make it illegal to hold a phone in your hand while driving. Most states have done this, and at those links you’ll find a way to contact your state legislators and ask that they support it, too.
“Distracted driving changes people’s lives in an instant,” said Aubie Knight, IIANC’s chief executive officer. “It causes crashes, serious injuries and deaths that are completely preventable. No text, email or notification is worth taking your eyes off the road. Put the phone down and get there safely.”
Happy football season. Help North Carolina go hands free.
And, if you’re not a football fan, no worries. Everyone loves The Canes.
The NC Alliance for Safe Transportation has a series of Traffic Safety Summits this month in Asheville, Statesville, Wilmington and Raleigh.
Local elected officials and traffic safety planners will sit down to discuss problems, trends and potential solutions, and they’ll hear from researchers with the UNC Highway Safety Research Center and the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at NC State University.
Sen. Vickie Sawyer, who chairs the NC Senate Transportation Committee, will host these four events, which will include small-group discussions to identify the most important traffic safety issues North Carolina can address during the 2027 Session of the NC General Assembly.
“I’m looking forward to some robust discussions,” Sawyer said. “Then bringing the results back to my colleagues in the General Assembly.”
More information, including dates, agendas and sign-ups for local and state officials, as well as for traffic safety organizations and community leaders interested in traffic safety issues, are available on NCAST’s website.
In the News
New Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority chair on Charlotte Transit
- Charlotte Business Journal
North Carolina to get $2.3 billion in new federal railroad spending
- The News & Observer
NC Insurance Commisioner Mike Causey: Protect your car from theft or break-ins
- The Charlotte Weekly
If you’ve got a young child, or know someone who does, don’t forget: North Carolina has more than 3,600 certified technicians who will help make sure your car seat is properly installed, for free.
Look up their locations by county here, with BuckleupNC.
The UNC Highway Safety Research Center is conducting a brief survey on traffic safety and workplace policies and invites businesses and government organizations to participate.
The survey takes less than 10 minutes.
Your input will directly inform the development of a practical handbook to help organizations design and implement effective workplace traffic safety programs.
As a thank you, you can request a free copy of the completed handbook at the end of the survey.
One Last Thing…
A sobering trend line here from Our World in Data: Other high-income countries have done a much better job in recent decades of lowering road deaths and injuries.
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NCAST | Safe Travels NC
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