. . . an illegal left-hand turn and then park his semi-truck with trailer in a business driveway while perpendicularly blocking two lanes of Las Positas Road on the night of Dec. 21 were criminally negligent and made him at fault for the deadly collision.
Rahul Brar, 18; Shej Kumar, 16; and Ian Ericksen, 16 — all Livermore residents — were killed after the Mercedes-Benz they were riding in crashed into the passenger side of the trailer. Trucker charged with manslaughter for crash that killed three Livermore teens
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.
Rahul Brar, Shej Kumar, & Ian Ericksen, Precious Ones Gone Too Soon
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.)
Support improving Underride Protection on trailers: Contact your legislators with this User-Friendly TAKE ACTION online tool.
Please sign this petition: Congress, Act Now To End Deadly Truck Underrides.
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 I think that underride should be investigated as a potential factor in truck crash injuries and deaths.
