It is not often that you get the opportunity to work with a great crew of people (Aaron Kiefer, Marcus Gainer, Quentin Beverly, Robert and James Gilmore, and Hyle Herwick) to accomplish something that is so meaningful, and life-saving. But I was truly blessed today to have that happen. 

The Carolina Trucking Academy, owned by Charlie and Donna Gray, has been one of the biggest supporters of our efforts on this journey we have been on for years in helping prevent death by underride. Today we were able to place an AngelWing side guard on one of the Academy’s trailers.

It was, once again, an engineering challenge as the trailer was shorter than the normal 53-foot trailers we normally work with. But Aaron Kiefer — as always — came up with the modifications which were required.

Marcus went to work on the Academy trailer — cutting the holes required in the cross members for fitting the support beams in place. Meanwhile, the rest of us started the process of removing the AngelWing from the underride research/storage trailer and preparing it for its new home on the Academy trailer. Each section of the guard was carefully removed, with every bolt, nut, and washer lined up in readiness for the installation.

With dedicated teamwork, we were able to complete the installation of the AngelWing side guard on the Academy’s trailer. So now this life-saving device will be on the highways and byways in and around North Carolina –demonstrating not only great driver training but also the commitment of Charlie and Donna to have the safest equipment on the road.

Jerry Karth