Underride guards are metal bars fashioned together in a u-shape hanging from the back of trailers hauled by big rigs. They are designed to prevent vehicles from sliding underneath trailers during truck crashes. Such crashes occur when a car is following too closely or when a trucker is not paying attention to changing road conditions ahead and surprisingly slams on the brakes.

 

Without underride guards, certain accidents can become fatal truck crashes, when the other vehicle’s top gets sheared off by the trailer. However, the number of people killed in truck underride crashes – trailers with weak or missing underride guards – are likely underreported as such data is not uniformly captured.

Discover more from Magari Poa

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.