The fatal car collision occurred at around 3:20 p.m. local time on Tuesday when a 2014 Ford Fusion carrying Dixie and Schultz crossed the center line on Highway 89, according to an incident report from the California Highway Police obtained by PEOPLE.
A 2015 Freightliner truck traveling the opposite direction collided with the sedan head-on. Dixie and Schultz were pronounced dead at the scene, while the driver of the truck, a 45-year-old man from Nevada, suffered minor injuries. Calif. Community Honors Michael Lewis’ Daughter Dixie and Her Boyfriend Ross Schultz After Fatal Crash
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.
Dixie Lewis & Ross Schultz, 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.
