Large commercial trucks lumber through New Jersey communities and congest the state’s highways. While New Jersey residents and others rely on the goods and services trafficked through the state by commercial carriers, the large size and immense weight of commercial trucks and trailers pose a significant safety hazard to those in smaller vehicles. Underride accidents are one of the deadliest types of commercial truck accidents, yet Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations don’t yet require all trucks on the road to have side-impact underride guards that would prevent tragedies from occurring.
What Is an Underride Accident?
Large commercial trucks and the trailers they pull are substantially larger and ride higher off the ground than the common cars they share the roadways with. In a collision between a commercial truck and a smaller passenger car, the car sometimes slides under the trailer in the gap between tires and becomes wedged beneath, crushing or cutting off the top portion of the vehicle. The damage to the top of a car in an underride accident, as well as to the driver and passengers inside the vehicle is often catastrophic or deadly.
How Dangerous Are Underride Collisions?
Underride guards help to prevent deadly underride accidents, but current FMCSA regulations for underride guards only require the installation of guards on the back of the truck and not along the sides. An underride guard prevents drivers from underride accidents in a rear-end collision with a truck but does not prevent them during angle collisions in intersections or when a truck jackknife accident causes a truck and trailer to suddenly block multiple traffic lanes.
hundreds of people die in underride collisions every year—400 people in 2021 alone— and others suffer serious or catastrophic injuries.
What Common Injuries Can Occur In an Underride Accident?
Sadly, injuries in underride accidents are nearly always grave, catastrophic, or deadly due to the destruction of the top of the vehicle as it wedges under the trailer or side of the truck. Common underride accident injuries include the following:
- Traumatic brain injuries or decapitation
- Neck fractures and other neck injuries
- Facial and dental trauma
- Thoracic and abdominal injuries
- Broken clavicle
- Broken ribs
- Spinal cord injuries
- Traumatic amputations
- Lacerations
- Soft-tissue injuries
If a loved one suffered fatal injuries in a truck underride accident, close family members can recover compensation in a Cherry Hill wrongful death claim.
Damages in Truck Underride Accidents
Truck underride accidents cause severe trauma to the head and upper body of accident victims, causing catastrophic injuries with damages that extend far beyond the limits of many insurance policies. Damages often include the following:
- Property damage to a vehicle
- Medical expenses
- Future medical expenses for ongoing care, physical therapy, prosthetics, home health aid, and other medical expenses
- Diminished future earning capacity due to disability
- Pain and suffering
- Diminished quality of life
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Traumatic limb loss
- Disfigurement
- PTSD
- Wrongful death compensation to family members
How Can a Truck Accident Attorney Help?
The consequences of a truck underride accident are extensive, but insurance companies often protect their profits at the injury victim’s expense. No one should have to navigate a claim this serious against a powerful trucking company and its insurer without experienced, aggressive legal representation. Call our truck accident lawyers in Cherry Hill for the legal counsel your underride truck accident case in New Jersey deserves.