The woman who died was identified by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office as Samantha Maxine Skaggs, 21, of Alberta, Canada. She died at the scene. . .
They determined there had been two separate crashes in the westbound lanes of the highway, the first of which involved a passenger car and a truck-tractor that was pulling a semi-trailer, police said.
Bailey’s car swerved into the tractor-trailer and made contact, and the truck driver tried to take evasive action, police said. That caused the truck to jackknife across the road, police said, leaving it exposed to oncoming traffic.
Another passenger car, driven by Skaggs, then struck the trailer. Woman killed in I-20 crash involving truck-tractor, semi-trailer, Arlington police say
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.
Samantha Skaggs, Precious One 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.
