Monthly Archives: November 2023

In Memory of Brenda Valdez (November 29, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

The victim has been identified as 51-year-old Brenda Valdez.

Through police’s initial investigation, it appears a truck was pulling a trailer stopped at a red light in the 3400 block of Clovis Highway when an SUV driven by Valdez struck the back of the trailer. Lubbock Police identify victim in Wednesday’s fatal crash in north Lubbock

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.

Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride

Brenda Valdez, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Gary Blevins (November 27, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

When first responders arrived, they found the driver of the GMC truck, Gary Blevins, dead in his vehicle. . .

The preliminary investigation found that the semi-truck was making a U-turn from southbound U.S. 27 to travel north and the GMC pickup was traveling north in the outside lane when it collided with the semi-truck’s trailer. PCSO: Sebring man dies after truck collides with semi on U.S. 27 near Lake Wales

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.

Gary Blevins, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Marcus Bolar (November 25, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

A man was killed after his car crashed into the back of a semi-truck in Zion Saturday morning. . .

The driver inside the car, identified as 51-year-old Marcus Bolar of Waukegan by the Lake County Coroner’s Office, was pronounced dead at the scene. 1 killed after car crashes into rear of semi-truck in Lake County; Victim ID’d

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.

Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride

Marcus Bolar, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.

Unsung Underride Prevention Heroes

Safety Advocacy, Truck Safety, , , , ,

Yesterday, Jerry and I received a phone call from Aaron Kiefer, who shared with us the tragic news of the unexpected death that morning of Paul Hutson. Paul, after learning about the underride hazard, devoted many hours of his life to bringing about engineering solutions. First as an engineering student intern in 2015, and later as a volunteer after hours while working as a full-time engineer, Paul was an invaluable resource to Aaron Kiefer in his development work on prototypes for the RIG Retrofit (crash test seen below) and SafetySkirt.

Paul selflessly offered his engineering talent and skills to the mission of AnnaLeah & Mary for Truck Safety and TEAM Underride. He helped behind the scenes and on numerous crash test sites, including the Underride Crash Test Event in D.C. in 2019. He came to an Underride Roundtable, and he participated as an expert at one of our Underride Briefings for legislative staff on The Hill.

Why did Paul do this? We can no longer ask him this question, but I can only imagine that — like so many others — he understood the violence and severity of the underride problem and he loved to solve problems. This is how he described himself on LinkedIn:

  • Principal Engineer – Structural Analysis, Northrop Grumman · Full-time Working as a structural analysis engineer on Northrop Grumman’s Propulsion Systems team. My work focuses on the five-segment rocket boosters used on NASA’s Artemis, and the ground based strategic deterrent Sentinel.
  • Mechanical Engineer, Collision Safety Consulting, PLLC · Part-time Designed and analyzed a semi-trailer safety device that protects passenger vehicles during collision with a semi-trailer, preventing both side and rear underrides from occurring. My work included product design, drafting, analysis (FEA), and full-scale crash testing the system.

Just last week, an Australian engineer died. George Rechnitzer, whom Jerry and I had met early on in our mission to make truck crashes more survivable, contributed greatly to understanding and solving the underride problem. Of course, numerous other engineers have likewise passed away before seeing their contributions to underride research fully implemented to benefit road users. That includes Mark Roush from Vanguard Trailers, who held a side underride guard patent and who worked on Vanguard’s TOUGHGuard design. It also includes Rod Ehrlich, who among other accomplishments worked on a side underride guard design while an engineer at Wabash Trailers.

My Underride Hero Hall of Fame is full of well-known as well as unsung heroes, who have made important contributions to solving the underride problem:

Imagine what we could accomplish if the hard work of these engineers, who are no longer with us, were to be acknowledged and embraced by key members of the trucking industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Advisory Committee on Underride Protection. Together, how many lives could we save? Let’s take the baton and finish the race.

In Memory of Augusto & Allyssa Aguilar (November 21, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

“Augusto Santos Aguilar, 69, of Tampa, Florida, was driving a 2021 Mazda sedan, northbound on Route 13. For an undetermined reason, Aguilar crossed over into the southbound lane and struck a 2021 Freightliner head-on, . . .

The rear seat passenger, 17-year-old Allyssa Marie Aguilar, of Tampa, Florida, daughter of the deceased driver, died upon impact.” Father and daughter killed in Virginia 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.

Augusto & Allyssa Aguilar, Precious Ones Gone Too Soon

Major truck manufacturers have Front Underride Protection designs which can work on American trucks.

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Megan Grooms (November 19, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

According to THP, a Peterbilt CMV that was involved in a crash earlier was stopped in the far-right lane waiting for police and EMS to arrive. 

That’s when a Hyundai Elantra — driven by 29-year-old Megan Grooms — crashed into the back of the parked semi. Woman dies after crashing into parked vehicle on I-40 in Wilson 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 —front, side, and rear — leaving passenger vehicle occupants vulnerable to life-threatening injuries.

Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride

Megan Grooms, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Rylee Greene (November 17, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

. . . Wisconsin state troopers got calls about a 2020 Ford Fusion heading west in the eastbound lanes . . .

The Fusion then crashed into a semi-truck by milepost 16 near Baldwin. . .

The driver of the Fusion, Rylee Greene, 26, from Hammond, Wisconsin, was killed in the crash. Authorities identify woman killed in Wisconsin wrong-way crash with semi-truck on Friday

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.

Major truck manufacturers have Front Underride Protection designs which can work on American trucks.

Rylee Greene, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Yomar Berrios (November 16, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

The crash was reported at 5:45 p.m. on I-84 West in the area of Exit 56, where 18-year-old Yomar Berrios of East Hartford suffered injuries “not compatible with life” during a three-vehicle crash, according to Connecticut State Police. . .

According to state police, the Honda was heading west in the center of five lanes behind a box truck and a tractor-trailer when the Honda driver “for an unknown reason” struck the rear of a box truck. The Honda then veered across the left center lane and entered the left lane before veering back over multiple lanes where it struck the rear of a tractor-trailer, state police said. CT teen killed in crash on I-84 involving box truck, tractor-trailer

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.

Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride

Yomar Berrios, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Carolyn Legg (November 11, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

Authorities said a 2011 Honda Accord travelling southbound, driven by Carolyn Legg, 35, of Muncie, Indiana crashed into a semi-truck travelling northbound, driven by Jay Ballinger, 54, of New Paris, Ohio. Woman killed in collision with semi-truck on US 35

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.

Major truck manufacturers have Front Underride Protection designs which can work on American trucks.

Carolyn Legg, Precious One Gone Too Soon

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.

In Memory of Treddis Russell (November 11, 2023)

Underride Crash Map, , , ,

The crash claimed the life of 36-year-old Treddis Russell, of Covington. . .

At the same time, a 2020 Kenworth 18-wheeler was also eastbound on Interstate 12 directly in front of the Toyota. The Kenworth was traveling at a reduced speed due to traffic congestion. For reasons still under investigation, the Toyota impacted the rear of the Kenworth’s trailer.

Despite being properly restrained, Russell sustained fatal injuries as a result of the crash and was pronounced deceased on the scene. Covington man killed in St. Tammany Parish crash with a semi-trailer

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.

Treddis Russell, Precious One Gone Too Soon

Retrofit Solutions for Rear Impact Guards to Prevent Deadly Underride

https://www.trailerguards.com/toughguard-retrofit

AMERICA’S DANGEROUS TRUCKS (PBS/Frontline Underride Documentary)

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.)

How You Can Help

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.