When vehicle manufacturers advertise their latest models, bragging about safety features and the performance of the vehicle on standard federal safety tests is a common sales tactic. You may feel more inclined to purchase a specific kind of vehicle if you know that that vehicle performs better in front, side or rear crash situations than similarly priced and sized vehicles.
While modern vehicles do feature designs that better mitigate the risk of the modern road, their safety features almost universally focus on passenger vehicle collisions, as opposed to commercial vehicle collisions. The lack of design for commercial vehicles is one reason why underride commercial truck crashes are so catastrophic.
Underride collisions typically bypass safety systems
In the event of a crash, your seatbelt is going to stop the momentum of the collision from forcing you out of the vehicle. Your airbag will prevent you and other passengers from striking the inside of the vehicle in a manner that could cause you severe injury. These safety features work together to reduce fatalities and the severity of injuries suffered by people in car crashes.
Unfortunately, neither safety restraints nor airbags are effective in the most severe kind of commercial truck crashes. In an underride collision, a passenger vehicle winds up underneath part of the commercial truck. The process of passing under the truck may result in the top of the vehicle getting cut off of the base or total crushing of exterior portions of the vehicle and parts of the cabin where passengers are.
Currently, there are no safety features in standard passenger vehicles that serve to eliminate or offset the risk involved in an underride crash.
Trucking crashes often mean life-altering consequences
You only need some momentary glance at an image of an underride crash to understand how such a collision could easily claim the lives of the people in the passenger vehicle. When people survive such crashes, they are often left with severe injuries, such as spinal cord injuries, brain injuries or amputated limbs.
Those who have lost a loved one or suffered a life-altering injury in a trucking crash have rights. Working with proven, dedicated attorneys, like the specialists at the Wyatt Law Firm, could increase your chances of a good outcome. You can call us at 210-340-5550 or have us contact you by filling out a confidential form on our website.