A couple married 50 years died Monday on Interstate 55 when a tractor-trailer rear-ended a vehicle then plowed through a cable barrier and went into oncoming traffic in Jefferson County, the Missouri Highway Patrol said.
Police identified the two who died as Leonard Wayne Byrd, 72, and Rebecca Joyce Byrd, 66, of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. They were in an SUV that was hit head-on by the tractor-trailer. Couple married 50 years killed in I-55 head-on crash near Pevely
Because the bottom of a truck is higher than the bumper of passenger vehicles, when there is a collision the smaller vehicle easily slides under the truck and the first point of impact is the windshield. Seatbelts, airbags, and car crumple zones do not function as intended in underride crashes — front, side, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.
See Underride Crash Memorials posted here and at #STOPunderrides Tweets. To add photos or more information on this story or to add other underride crashes to be remembered, send an email to underridemap@gmail.com. Please use this Interactive Underride Crash Map Crash Location Input Form to provide us with accurate information . (Note: the map is currently not online; but we would keep the information for future updating and to aid in underride advocacy efforts.)
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Note: In order to raise awareness and preserve the memories of underride victims — precious ones gone too soon — I have been writing memorial posts on what appear to me to be underride crashes. I am not a crash reconstructionist, and I do not have all the facts on these crashes; but underride should be investigated as a potential factor in truck crash injuries and deaths.
