WUSA-TV Washington reports online that two mothers, Anna Leah and Mary Karth, are fighting to have new critical safety equipment added to highway tractor trailers, after both lost their daughters in underride crashes. According to the piece, “tractor trailers are required by law to have rear guards, a steel bar designed to prevent a car from sliding underneath a tractor trailer during a crash.” However, the equipment model in current use “has led to deadly tractor trailer underride collisions.” An underride guard, the article says, “is an energy-absorbing bar that should stop cars from sliding underneath a tractor trailer.” Both the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration agree that underride guards can “help chances of survival during an accident.”
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
