Trucking companies can largely prevent underride tragedies

There are certain types of collisions that are more common with semi-trucks than with four-wheeled vehicles. Semi-trucks are more likely to roll over in times of extremely high winds, when making a turn or when going around a curve. They can also cause jackknife incidents if the trailer starts moving in a different direction than the cab or tractor pulling it.

Those crashes can be very dramatic and have the potential to involve multiple other vehicles. However, a jackknife incident is often far less severe than an underride collision. Underride collisions occur when a smaller vehicle strikes a semi-truck and ends up forced underneath it by the vehicle’s momentum.

Underride crashes often lead to the destruction of smaller vehicles and severe or fatal injuries to their occupants. The most frustrating thing about underride collisions is that transportation companies can often prevent the vast majority of them.

Special devices can prevent underride crashes

Anyone who has followed a semi-truck in traffic knows that they usually have underride guards installed on the rear of a trailer. Those guards are mandatory under federal law. The metal guard helps prevent a smaller vehicle from ending up under the truck in a rear-end crash.

Sometimes, trucking companies specifically buy the cheapest option available rather than the best and strongest guards, which may mean that they don’t work as well as they could. Government requirements fall a bit short of mandating the best options available.

Current requirements do not force transportation companies to install side underride guards. Semi-trucks that make international trips may have side underride guards because Canada requires them. These flexible sheets of metal hang down between the axles of the trailer can prevent smaller vehicles from ending up underneath the trailer in a crash.

Without those guards, smaller vehicles and their occupants are at extreme risk. An underride collision can cause devastating and deadly injuries and can easily leave the smaller vehicle inoperable. Given the research into underride collisions and the best guards available, it is sometimes possible to claim that a trucking company was negligent because it failed to install proper underride guards.

Reviewing the details of a recent semi-truck collision with the assistance of a skilled legal team can help people determine what options they have for compensation. Negotiating a large insurance claim or pursuing a lawsuit can both potentially be viable options following a crash caused by a semi-truck.