Truck underride accidents are among the most devastating traffic incidents on the road today, posing grave risks to passenger vehicle occupants. In these accidents, a smaller vehicle collides with a larger truck and becomes lodged underneath it, often leading to catastrophic injuries or fatalities.
How Does a Truck Underride Accident Occur?
Poor visibility, abrupt stops, or poor weather conditions that impair a driver's ability to slow down in time are often the causes of these accidents. Inadequate lighting and a lack of reflective markings on trucks can also contribute to these incidents, making it difficult for drivers to determine a truck's size and distance at night. In many cases, underride accidents occur because a truck is unsafely parked on the side of a road or highway, with the trailer extending into a lane of moving traffic.
These accidents also frequently happen when a truck driver makes an unsafe turn at an intersection and collides with a legally stopped vehicle, or the truck driver may have made an unsafe lane change directly into another vehicle. All trucks must have safety barriers on the rear. However, some may be old or damaged and not hold. The lack of underride guards designed to prevent such occurrences can increase the severity of these collisions.