Monthly Archives: July 2021

In Memory of Joshua Clark (July 7, 2021)

The State Highway Patrol said Thursday that a truck was stopped in the right lane, waiting to merge when Joshua Clark, 21, of Scotland Neck, driving the Amazon van, ran into it.

Clark died at the scene. Amazon driver killed in crash that closed northbound I-85 in Durham County

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 —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Joshua Clark, 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.

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Josephine Sciarrino (July 3, 2021)

Josephine Sciarrino, 45, of Stamford, was driving on I-95 North Greenwich at 9:50 p.m. when she collided with another vehicle. 

Police said that Sciarrino’s car was pushed by a Mercedes into a tractor-trailer that was parked on the right shoulder of the highway just past Exit 2. Stamford woman dies in Greenwich 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 —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Josephine Sciarrino, 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.

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Chad Jervis (July 5, 2021)

Investigators determined that 39-year-old Chad E. Jervis of Ironton was headed west when he slammed his sedan into the back of a tractor-trailer stopped in the northernmost left-turn lane at the intersection of Kenny Road, according to a Columbus police traffic report. Southern Ohio man dead in crash with tractor-trailer on West Lane Avenue near Ohio State University

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 —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Chad Jervis, 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.

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Harold & Miranda Novitsky (July 3, 2021)

The investigation found that the tractor-trailer was in the driving lane when it was rear-ended by the pick-up truck near the Livingston County border.

The driver of the pick-up truck, Harold Novitsky, 58, and his daughter, Miranda Novitsky, 19, were killed during the collision, according to State Police. UNY Geneseo soccer player, father killed in Steuben County crash, GoFundMe established

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 —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Harold & Miranda Novitsky, 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.

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Tesmond Thomas, LaTanya Jones, Levi Thomas, & Judah Thomas (July 2, 2021)

A family of four was killed in a crash on US Highway 1 in Moore County after their car hydroplaned in the rain and hit an 18-wheeler head-on Friday afternoon. . .

Authorities identified the family of four as Tesmond Thomas, 28; LaTanya Jones, 26; Levi Thomas, 6; and Judah Thomas, 4 — all four were from Aberdeen. Family of 4 killed in crash involving tractor-trailer, car in Moore County

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 —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Tesmond Thomas, LaTanya Jones, Levi Thomas, and Judah Thomas – 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.

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Thomas Tschetter (July 1, 2021)

Thomas Lynn Tschetter, of Indian Island, South Carolina, died after his 2016 Honda SUV, which was stopped in the right eastbound lane, was hit from behind by a 2018 Freightliner operated by Jeffrey Dean Braun, Strickland said. SC man dies after tractor-trailer rig hits SUV on US 74 near Maxton

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 —frontside, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Thomas Tschetter, 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.

How You Can Help

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.

Unguarded: Death By Underride

Looking for an explanation of the truck underride problem and solutions? Look no further. Eric Hein, the father of side underride victim Riley Hein, has put together a detailed tool for learning more about underride and what can be done about it:

Unguarded: Death By Underride

Here are a few excerpts:

People die every day from side underride crashes

An “underride” is a collision between an automobile and a truck or semitrailer, and due to the height differential between the passenger vehicle and the frame of the semitrailer, the vehicle goes partially or completely under the side of the semitrailer. During a collision (see 
unguarded and guarded crash test here), the passenger vehicle impacts the side of the semitrailer with parts of the vehicle not designed to absorb crash forces, namely the windshield and those areas above the hood. This type of collision causes deaths and severe injuries – death by decapitation, crushing, or explosion commonly result. These catastrophic collisions would otherwise be survivable, but side underride guards on trucks and semitrailers are lacking.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fc51adce82dd47d188794ef19b2e6d17

Sadly, the recognized hazard of side underride collisions with towed trailers can be traced back to at least 1935 when Robinson patented an invention for a peripheral guard on a hitch-mounted trailer.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fc51adce82dd47d188794ef19b2e6d17

Industry Opposition Claims Are False

The technology is feasible and available. The trucking industry has lobbied against underride guards since 1971 and continues to inaccurately claim that side underride guards are infeasible. Contrary to industry, side underride guards ARE available – they are widely used in Europe, and have been tested and installed in the USA such as the AngelWing and Fortier in Canada.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fc51adce82dd47d188794ef19b2e6d17
Riley & Eric Hein

Underride Guards Are Aerodynamic and Save Fuel Cost. Wabash engineered a combination side impact guard and skirt that passed tests for a 90-degree centerline vehicle impact at 35 miles per hour, and uses a braided cable and is 40 to 50 percent lighter than other designs. With an aerodynamic skirt installed on the underride guard, about 704 gallons ($2,153 using $3.06/gallon) of diesel fuel would be saved annually (8,448 gallons or $25,836 over the 12-year life of a semitrailer) and would completely offset the guard’s cost.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fc51adce82dd47d188794ef19b2e6d17

Underride Guards Safeguard Truck Drivers. Side guards on semitrailers change the outcome of collisions to fender benders and reduce the risk of death for people in passenger vehicles, which shield truck drivers from the prospect of jail time or losing their jobs.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fc51adce82dd47d188794ef19b2e6d17