Helping to Keep Big Rigs Out of Big Accidents

One of the most deadly types of truck crashes is “underride” accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1997 issued a safety standard requiring new truck trailers and semitrailers to be equipped with a rear guard to prevent a vehicle from riding under the cab.

The safety agency estimates that rear underride protection guards will prevent as many as 15 of the 50 to 60 fatalities each year caused by the rear end of a trailer protruding into the passenger compartment of a vehicle that runs into it.

The underride danger is also significant when trucks are parked. The Underride Network, a truck safety organization, is urging truck drivers to heed these tips:

* Trucks should never be parked on high-speed roadways unless disabled.

* Triangles should always be placed when trucks are parking or stopping on or near roadways both day and night.

* Parking lights should be on whenever a truck is parked at night.

* Trailers should never be parked facing oncoming traffic.

* Trucks should not be parked near corners or other obstructions to a motorist’s view.

Here are some Internet resources to learn more about truck safety:

* No-Zone: Comprehensive explanation of a trucker’s blind spots, with information about how to organize safety demonstrations

https://www .nozone.org

* American Trucking Associations: Overview of trucking with latest industry news

https://www .trucking.org

* Federal Highway Administration: Links to legislative information and the agency’s programs

https://www .fhwa.dot.gov

* National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Comprehensive safety information on all vehicles

https://www .nhtsa.dot.gov

* Office of Motor Carriers: Information on federal commercial-vehicle regulations with a searchable Safety and Fitness Electronic Records database on trucking companies’ performance records

https://www .fhwa.dot.gov/omc /omchome.html

* California Trucking Assn.: Contains information about the California trucking industry and state safety initiatives

https://www .caltrux.org

* Underride Network.

https://www .underridenetwork.org/Indexpage.html

* Parents Against Tired Truckers: Information about truck-driver fatigue and how it relates to accidents

https://www .patt.org