Silver Angel of St. Petersburg, Florida, was driving west on I-12 north of Madisonville at about 3 p.m. when a Jeep Liberty in the other lane moved into the lane she was in, striking her car. The Jeep then careened off the interstate to the left and hit the cable barrier, while Silver’s vehicle swerved to the right and struck the 18-wheeler parked on the right side of the road.
Police said Angel, 37, was wearing her seatbelt and was pronounced dead at the scene. It is still unclear why the driver of the Jeep, who was unharmed, left their lane and struck Angel’s vehicle, police said. Florida woman dies after car collides with tractor trailer in St. Tammany Parish
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.
Silver Angel, 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: Secretary Pete, It’s Past Time To End Death By Underride!
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 could potentially be underride crashes. I am not a crash reconstructionist, and I do not have all the facts on these crashes; but underride should be investigated as a potential factor in truck crash injuries and deaths.
We are asking that people send us crash reports for collisions with trucks which they suspect involved underride. Send them to marianne@annaleahmary.com. We will submit these as complaints to USDOT. Read more here: Launching a Campaign To Flood NHTSA With Underride Complaint Reports.
