Rear underride guards have been required in the U.S. on tractor-trailers and semis for a number of years. Their main purpose is to protect passenger vehicles behind a truck from going underneath it in a collision –- with likely fatal results.
These guards are also sometimes referred to as “Mansfield bars.” That’s because actress Jayne Mansfield and two others sitting in the front seat of her car were killed in a collision in 1967 in just that way. The truck that was in front of them slowed, and the driver of Mansfield’s car didn’t notice in time because of the fog of insecticide caused by another truck further ahead.
The crash was covered in a recent documentary by Mansfield’s daughter, Mariska Hargitay, who was in the back seat with her two young brothers. The children survived with relatively minor injuries.
While “Mansfield bars” started appearing on trucks not long after, they didn’t become mandatory until years later. Efforts to mandate side underride guards have met with less success.
Underride guards themselves can cause serious injuries
These underride guards extend far enough down to prevent most vehicles from going underneath the trailer portion of a truck, with the gruesome and fatal consequences that occurred in the Mansfield crash, they can cause other serious injuries in a crash.
If the occupant of a vehicle following the truck was thrown from their vehicle and hit it, for example, they could suffer catastrophic injuries. If a vehicle struck the underride guard in a rear-end collision, those in the front seat could suffer severe head and other injuries.
The risk of serious injury increases if the guards aren’t properly installed or aren’t placed in the proper position to prevent a lower-profile vehicle from going underneath the truck.
While most commercial trucks are generally safer than they were decades ago, the risk of catastrophic injury to those in smaller vehicles that are involved in collisions with them is still very much there. Determining who is at fault (the truck driver, manufacturer, cargo loader or others) can be a challenge.
There’s a lot of “passing the buck” to avoid a costly claim. That’s why it’s crucial for victims of these crashes or surviving loved ones to have experienced legal guidance to protect their right to fair compensation.