Underride Truck Accident Lawyers

Types Of Underride Collisions

There are three main types of underride truck accidents: rear, side, and offset collisions.

Rear Underride Collisions

A rear underride crash happens when a smaller vehicle strikes the back of a trailer. The vehicle is then forced partially or entirely under.

One common (and especially dangerous) situation is when a small, low-riding car hits the back of the truck. The nose of the car may even be low enough to fit under the truck without damage, but the roof and windows of the passenger compartment may be sheared off.

Trucks carrying loads that protrude from the back of the trailer are especially likely to be involved in rear underride collisions. So are those with weak or no impact guards.

Side Underride Collisions

These collisions happen when a smaller vehicle hits the side of a large truck. If the impact is significant enough, all or part of the smaller vehicle may be pushed under the trailer. These kinds of collisions can be caused by either the truck driver or the driver of the smaller car.

In some cases — like when making a wide turn or when driving through an intersection — a truck may be perpendicular or almost perpendicular to oncoming traffic. The passenger vehicle hits it head-on, and the front of the car (and sometimes the rest of the vehicle) is forced under the truck.

In other cases, the side of the smaller car may hit the side of the vehicle. This can happen if either vehicle changes lanes at high speeds.

In both rear and side underride collisions, vehicle damage and injuries are often made worse if the truck doesn’t stop right away. In some cases, the smaller vehicle becomes wedged under the truck and is then dragged a considerable distance.

Offset Underride Collisions

These collisions aren’t talked about as much as rear or side underride crashes, but they can be just as dangerous, and sometimes even more so. In an offset crash, a passenger vehicle hits a trailer on one of its back corners. That often leads to the metal corner of the trailer, underride guard, or both entering into the car’s passenger compartment.

Common Causes of Underride Truck Accidents

Like any other kind of car accident, underride accidents have a number of potential causes. These are some of them:

Not Having Underride Guards

Trucks are required by federal law to have rear underride guards installed. Unfortunately, not all trucking companies comply with the law.

When there is no guard installed, it becomes much easier for cars to be trapped and crushed beneath trailers. Many trucks also do not have side underride guards, but side guards are not required by federal law.

Having Outdated or Improper Guards

Less than scrupulous companies may try to cut corners by installing inferior underride guards. Even when legislation is passed to require stronger guards, the laws almost always only apply to new trucks and trailers, which means that many on the road are still relatively weak.

As awareness of underride crashes has grown, there has been more support at federal and state levels to require even stronger underride guards. Unfortunately, the trucking industry is a powerful one, and because stronger guards raise costs considerably, the industry as a whole tends to oppose this kind of regulation.

Defective Taillights and/or Reflective Tape

Poor visibility makes any kind of car crash more likely. If you can’t see a truck in front of you, you’re more likely to get involved in a crash. If a truck has defective brake lights or taillights, you may not be able to brake in time to avoid a crash.

Similarly, underride guards must have reflective tape installed. If that tape is worn out or non-existent, it becomes much harder to see a truck in front of you.

Trucker Errors

Responsible truck drivers know that commercial trucks pose a hazard to drivers of smaller vehicles. As a result, they use reflectors or road flares when they need to park on the shoulder of the road at night, use turn signals when needed, and are careful to follow the rules of the road.

Unfortunately, not all truckers are responsible. Some may swing too wide when making turns or fail to signal properly. Others may make a habit of braking so abruptly that they increase the risk of rear-end collisions.

Of course, truckers aren’t always responsible for underride accidents. Determining fault is not always completely clear. Even if you aren’t sure whether you were at fault for an underride truck accident or not, it’s still worth reaching out to a personal injury lawyer.

Your initial consultation is free. At this consultation, your lawyer can review your case and determine whether you were at fault or if you may have a case against the truck driver or trucking company.

Common Injuries in Underride Truck Accidents

If you’ve ever seen an underride truck accident — or worse, been involved in one — you understand the devastating injuries they can cause. These injuries can be made worse if the truck drags the car along the roadway before stopping.

Underride crashes often require tools like the “jaws of life” to extricate victims. This takes time, and with severe enough injuries, that extra time may mean the difference between life and death. These are some of the most common underride truck accident injuries we’ve seen:

Crush Injuries

In many cases, the passenger vehicles involved in underride truck accidents are crushed. This means that the driver and passengers in these vehicles may also suffer crush injuries. Crush injuries can cause serious organ damage, broken bones, and internal bleeding.

Spinal Cord Injuries

If a car is pushed far enough under a truck, its occupants are at risk for serious spinal cord injuries and even decapitation. Spinal cord injuries can cause quadriplegia — paralysis affecting all four limbs — or paraplegia  — paralysis affecting the legs.

If you have an incomplete spinal cord injury, you won’t suffer complete paralysis, but you could have lifelong problems with feeling and movement.

Injuries Requiring Amputation

Thanks to modern medicine, it’s possible to recover from even very severe injuries. Unfortunately, if a limb is damaged badly enough, there may not be a way to save it. Some accident victims will need to have one or more limbs amputated in order to save their lives.

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)

In a traumatic brain injury, your head has sustained enough trauma that brain cells in certain regions start to die. Some TBIs can be largely rehabilitated, and others can cause severe, lifelong problems with memory, cognition, and performing even basic tasks.

Each TBI is different, so if you have one, you will need a medical specialist to diagnose you and offer a treatment plan to help you start moving toward complete functioning.

Tips for Avoiding Underride Accidents

Some accidents are unavoidable. However, when you take special precautions on the road, you might be able to reduce your risk of getting involved in one of these incredibly dangerous accidents. Here are some of the precautions to take:

• Always avoid tailgating large trucks
• Do your best to stay out of a truck’s blind spots — if you can’t see the driver’s face in the truck’s mirror, they can’t see you
• Pay extra attention to turn signals
• Don’t speed — the faster you go, the less time you have to react to traffic changes
• Don’t text or otherwise distract yourself while driving, especially on high-speed roads

If you do happen to be involved in an underride collision despite your best efforts, seek medical attention immediately — and then call our underride truck accident lawyers.

Are Underride Guards Effective?

If you’ve ever driven behind a commercial truck, you’ve seen an underride guard. This is the metal rail with reflective strips that extends from the bottom of the trailer toward the road. The idea is for the guard to stop a car that hits the truck from going under the trailer.

Many people think that because a truck has underride guards, a car that hits it will always be stopped before going beneath the trailer. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. While underride guards can and do stop underride accidents, they can still fail.

Although the NHTSA recently released a rule requiring guards to be stronger, they often are not strong enough to stop high-speed crashes from becoming underride crashes. Because the updated rules will only apply to newly manufactured trailers, older, weaker underride guards are still on the road.

Similarly, there’s always a risk of existing damage or improper installation getting in the way of a guard’s intended purpose. Essentially, when it comes to rear impact guards, there may be some protection from underride crashes — but you shouldn’t take it as a given.

Currently, trucks in the United States are not required to have side underride guards. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has publicly stated that these guards could save many more lives than the NHTSA projects.

Experienced Underride Truck Accident Lawyers When You Need Them

If you have recently experienced the devastation that comes with an underride truck accident, you might not know what to do next. However, just one phone call might change your life for the better. If the attorneys at Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq take your case, you can be free to focus on your own healing as we navigate the legal system for you.

Our lawyers are committed to fierce advocacy for injured people, and it shows. We have recovered more than $1 billion for our clients, and we may be able to help you, too.

If you have lost a loved one or suffered serious injuries in an underride truck accident that was not your fault, contact us online or give us a call at 800-923-3456 right now. Initial consultations are free, and if we take your case, there’s no fee unless we win.