Father buys Super Bowl ad hoping to reach Trump about daughter’s death

A Tennessee dad has spent US$1,000 (AU$1,275) for a 30-second Super Bowl ad slot in West Palm Beach, Florida with the hopes of getting US President Donald Trump's attention about his daughter’s death following a car accident. He also intended to raise awareness about highway guardrails, noting that the POTUS had mentioned highway guardrail safety during a discussion about his administration’s infrastructure plan.

Steve Eimers had lost his daughter when she struck an X-LITE guardrail in 2016. The device was supposed to collapse on itself, but police said the rail acted as a spear and penetrated the driver's door.

His daughter, Hannah, was hit in the head and chest as the guardrail pushed her into the back seat of her car. That safety issue has changed Eimers’ family forever.

His family is not alone. Up to 13 deaths nationally had supposedly involved X-LITE guardrails. These include another Tennessee crash that killed a 69-year-old.

But despite the incidents of deaths, Eimers reportedly said federal regulators have been slow to act. During football’s biggest game, he decided to run a message hoping that the POTUS was watching from his Mar-a-Lago resort, CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports.

Eimers, who lost a teenage daughter, said it was worth taking a shot in case Trump was watching the Super Bowl. "Nothing prepares you to be the parent of a dead child, and to discover that, well one, the nature of this accident was horrific," he said.

He added it was one thing to lose a child in an innocent accident, but he pointed out that he and his wife lost Hannah to a defective product. Eimers said it is insulting to see the Federal Highway Administration this dismissive. It is unknown if Trump has seen the ad.

Safety is top priority

Lawsuits reportedly claim over 14,000 X-LITE's on US roads nationwide. The Federal Highway Administration maintained that safety is the number one priority. It also pointed to stricter safety criteria. Tennessee has started removing its guardrails since the death of Eimers’s daughter. Up to ten other states have said they will also get rid of the X-LITEs.

The "X-LITE has successfully passed crash and safety tests in accordance with federal standards," according to Lindsay Transportation Solutions. In a statement to CBS News, the company noted that no road safety equipment can prevent injury in every crash scenario.