What is an Underride Accident?

Any accident which involves a passenger vehicle and a tractor trailer is likely to result in a great deal of injury and damage. It may even result in one or more fatalities. One common way that accidents between passenger vehicles and tractor trailers occur is when the front of a passenger vehicle goes underneath a tractor trailer, either from the rear or from the side. When this happens, the crash is called an underride accident.

Underride accidents are physically possible because there is a difference in height between the trailers of tractor trailer units and the front ends of passenger vehicles. The front bumper of most passenger vehicles is located between thirty and thirty five inches above the ground. The trailer of a tractor trailer is approximately forty five inches above the ground.

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) requires semi-trailers to have rear bumpers which are located no more than twenty two inches above the ground. While this is a step in the right direction, the bumpers do not prevent vehicles from going underneath the trailers from the side. In some collisions, the bumper is pushed forward by the impact of the passenger vehicle, and an underride accident still occurs.

The DOT regulations set forth standards for the dimensions and strength of the bumpers that it requires tractor trailers to be equipped with. Bumpers which meet the minimum requirements of the DOT regulations have been shown to be minimally effective in preventing underride accidents. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and other groups have asked the DOT to amend their underride protection rules to require larger, stronger bumpers. For this reason, some manufacturers are already selling trailers that have bumpers which are larger and stronger than what the DOT requires. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has conducted crash tests on the improved underride guard bumpers and has found many of them to be much more effective at preventing underride accidents, except in certain situations where the passenger vehicle overlaps with only a small portion of the rear of the trailer.

While some trailers on the road are equipped with the newer, more effective underride guards, many trailers have guards which comply with the current DOT standards. Unfortunately, there are also quite a few tractor trailers which have bumpers that do even meet the DOT standards. The bumpers may be damaged, poorly maintained, or in some cases, completely missing. This means that although regulations exist to reduce the likelihood of underride accidents, the actual risk of having an underride accident is still high.

Because of the way in which the vehicles collide in an underride accident, the top of the passenger vehicle is often sheared off by the impact of the crash. When this happens, seat belts and airbags are unable to prevent the occupants of the vehicle from sustaining severe or life-threatening injuries to their heads and necks. It is therefore not surprising that there are many fatalities which occur in underride accidents.

If you or someone that you love has been injured or killed in an underride accident or another type of collision with a tractor trailer, it is important that you get help from an attorney who has experience in handling trucking accident cases. The knowledgeable Tennessee truck accident attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC are here to assist you. When you speak to us about the details of your case, we will answer your questions, explain your options and help you decide how to proceed. To learn more, call us at (888) 470-9143 to schedule a time to discuss your case. At Bailey & Greer, PLLC, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.