[chaitanyakrish]

Avoiding Truck Underride Crashes

Introduction:

Note : This article is written to give car drivers an idea of what they can do instead of blaming the trucks for not having a proper underride bar.

All the bad driving videos are taken from Instagram,X,Youtube and credits are for the respective owners for taking extra risk to let us know, how not to drive !!

All the videos where the ideal scenarios are demonstrated are from my dashcam.

What is an underride ?

An underride crash happens when passenger cars slide under the trucks due to their height difference under the following conditions :

1. Underride bar is not as per standards
2. There is no underride bar at all
3. The speed of the car is very high even for a built to standard underride bar to withstand the impact.

Underride crashes can happen at the side of the truck and rear of the truck as well and even on the front as well.
It’s very essential for trucks to have built to standard underride bars but its a distant dream. Until its fitted to all trucks as per standards, let’s assume none of them have it.

Why is an underride crash dangerous ?

Underride crashes can cause severe injuries and often fatalities as during the impact would be directly at the windshield with an poorly built underride bar or non-existent underride and completely bypassing the crumple zones,airbags etc.




Source : Youcar

A pillars of car are not built to withstand such a large force like a crumple zone and passengers in front would directly hit the truck causing severe upper body injuries and most often fatal.

Observe the crash dummies below.

https://youtu.be/BgbJoFOVywQ?si=wNmXtAXyvK0bskvv

Video Source : IIHS


Types of underride crashes

Side underride and rear underride are the major types of underride crashes.

Rear underride :

A full overlap underride



Partial overlap underride



Narrow overlap underride



Side Underride :



Source : IIHS

How to avoid a side underride Crash ?


A side underride crash can happen near intersections, so be watchful of turning trucks and maintain sufficient distance.


Front Underride :
Front Underride crashes are possible in a head-on crash with trucks on single carriageway roads. Not all trucks have front underride guards as per standards and its a deadly form of crash as due to relative velocity, the speeds would add up increasing the momentum.



All these crashes show front underride with minimal chances of survival











How to avoid head-on underride ?

Plan overtakes carefully on single carriageway/undivided roads. If in doubt, do not attempt. There are no rewards for excessive risk taking on roads.
Follow the below golden rule of overtaking on single carriageway roads.




Source : Roadkraft

Can an SUV has a better chance of survival in an underride crash ?

Not always as the underride crash is arising out of the height difference between passenger cars and trucks, it is very difficult to find standardized truck sizes in India.






Can the car drivers do anything to prevent having an underride crash ?

Yes, they can. Let’s study the strategies we can adopt to minimize this fatal risk.
Before going for details, let’s see why do underride crashes happen.

Why do underride crashes happen?

There are many reasons for underride crashes and its mostly due to mistakes by smaller vehicles as truck drivers mostly unaware of their presence.

Most common reasons are :

1. Car drivers fail to notice trucks either due to speed or of low visibility conditions like night,rain,fog etc and couldn’t take an evasive action on time.
2. Car drivers tailgate trucks at high speed looking for an overtaking opportunity.
3. Cars got stuck in clusters of vehicles and do not have an exit route.
4. Cars using road shoulder for overtake and suddenly finds a parked truck.

Even the lowest priced car in India is capable of moving faster than the average truck in India. This disproportionate capacity puts smaller vehicles at risk as even though both the vehicles are at speed, trucks has huge momentum due to their mass and they have the clear advantage.

Does speed of car matter ?

A high speed underride is more risky however as per tests by ADAC, its unsafe even at low speeds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5hm8NElmuk

Causes for underride crashes :

Lets study the situations one by one. We will see the driving habits which puts us in these risky situations where the risks are high with a low reward.

Full Overlap Underride :

A full overlap underride is possible when a high speed car hits the back of truck either when it is parked on the road shoulder or when the truck is moving slowly on any lane.

Why did the car driver failed to notice the truck ?

1. Car is at Speed
2. Truck is on a curve and not visible until the driver had visibility
3. Distracted Driving
4. Poor Visibility due to fog,rain,night etc.
5. Overtaking using road shoulder

All the above can occur together as well, for example a distracted driver could be at a high speed, tries an overtake using road shoulder and failed to spot a parked truck on a curve at night !!

To hit a moving truck and cause an underride, the truck might be moving slowly on any lane on an upward incline or on a level road and a high speed car didn’t react early and hits the back of the truck and underride it.
Again, the reason for not reacting early could be any of those above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t2PF2HDyvY

Source : Twitter

How to avoid getting into an full overlap underride ?

1. Avoid Driving on the hard shoulder



2. Drive as per visibility. We should be able to stop within the road we can see and that should be our speed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXO7sxY04Ys

3. Expect slow moving trucks on upward incline roads and change lanes early and don’t wait for the last moment. Note, your high speed car can cruise on the upward incline at 60–80 kmph but at the same time, a fully loaded truck could be at crawling 10kmph speed on the same incline. Observe the wheels of this truck and how slow they’re moving on the incline. This sets up for a high risk scenario for an underride.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbXesDA4m6g

4. Apply the same rules for curves on highways as applicable on mountain roads. The farthest point we can see on a curve is called a limit point. We should drive at speed that allows us to stop within the road we can see. Don’t enter curves fast only to find a surprise at the other end of the curve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQwANYGn1JE

Partial Overlap underride is also possible in above scenarios where the driver tries to take an evasive action but unable to do so due to speed and hits the corner of the underride guard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwnMKHS7lQc

Partial Overlap Underride :

A partial overlap underride is possible when high speed cars tailgate trucks to perform a close overtake. This is a very high risk and low reward move and it requires utmost co-ordination from all the vehicles involved which is very much unlikely. We cannot expect other drivers to keep us alive on the road.
The bad driving examples are taken from Instagram :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0R3kqjszXw

This is an Unsafe Overtaking with Tailgating and is an example of a high risk low reward overtake. This type of overtaking trucks closely puts us in a dangerous position and there’s always a possibility of an underride but may not happen everyday due to randomness in life.

The above driving scenario is possible when multiple slow moving vehicles occupy all the available lanes in parallel while they’re overtaking each other.
This forms a cluster of slow moving vehicles behind the trucks and forces the fast moving cars to weave across and go ahead.

But, its not required to weave across and increase the risk. Always look at the big picture and take steps to reduce risk.

Here’s an example from my dashcam where I had faced such a scenario and handled it without taking risks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ORISLIqWc

A few more bad examples of unsafe overtakes with a high risk of an underride crash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWNYeS7ZZHc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqFdYfF5gJU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bflpxnOJga8

https://youtube.com/watch?v=19yqcC2RQF0?feature=share

The below video is from my dashcam and we can see a Nexon desperately tailgating truck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iye7hVN0kVU

This type of risky overtakes increases the chances of having an underride crash.

What’s the safe way of overtaking trucks and overtaking cluster of trucks?

1. Keep a safe following distance always as trucks have huge blindspots and truck driver may not be able to see us,if we tailgate them.
2. Change Lanes well in advance if we spot a truck on our lane and it also helps the truck driver to spot us in his mirrors.
3. As we overtake the trucks, look at the wheels. If they’re coming closer to lane markings, then truck may change lanes or distracted. Use your horn or flashing lights to alert the truck driver.
4. If he’s not changing lanes, he will correct himself and we can proceed ahead without risk.
5. Do not overdrive headlights at night,fog and rain. Increase following distance at night,fog and rain. Overdriving headlights means,driving faster where the area illuminated by headlights is less than the stopping distance at that speed. We cannot drive into darkness.

Some low risk overtaking videos from my dashcam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqDBqbLfb7U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrFeas93sbg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANcggcu50H8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cFn_TciiM0

A few videos from my dashcam where the trucks change lanes without indicators and wheel position helped to understand their intent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6V9stnCQN8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KBr9-HkUks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBVhMqieg4w

Finally, the underride crashes are preventable.

The mantra is :

• Do not enter clusters and let the trucks align themselves and give way

• Safe Following Distance

• Always look at the wheels and how close they’re to lane markings

• Change Lanes Early for overtaking trucks

• Do not overdrive headlights

• Avoid Tailgating Trucks

• Increase following distance at night,fog and rain.

Note : In addition to above scenarios, there is a remote possibility of an underride at areas where traffic had come to a standstill due to a bottleneck like road repairs, crash wreckage, toll gates etc.
This is where a high speed truck who was unable to stop and crashes into cars in front, for example at Thoppur ,Tamilnadu etc
When we are in stopped traffic on highways, always look at the mirrors for any high speed truck coming like a maniac.
Better to move to left lane early as we have a road shoulder to take en evasive action.
Don’t stop so close to vehicles in front as it may not allow us to swerve left or right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cArAK5MGLso

#DriveSmart
#DriveSafe

[KarthikK]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[HIGHWAY_PATROL]

Very well written.

It frustrates me a lot when I see a truck driving in the front and it doesn't have it's brake lights in working condition.

[FueledbyFury]

Hope most of us are traumatised by Final Destination saga for helping us to keeping safe distances on roads in the case of heavy vehicles/trucks.

[saket77]

Well written. Appreciate the thread.

However, I cannot stand some of the Instagram clips of rash driving appended in the opening post. These drivers make roads unsafe for others around them.
Wish their antics were recorded on CCTV by the authorities and slapped with heavy fines with their DLs confiscated.

On the other hand, we aren't simply doing enough to inculcate safer driving practices at any level.

[ALTIMAed]

From 2005 to 2016, having worked at the Middle East, where one would find camels jay walking on the highways. This thread reminds me of the kind of accidents I have seen when a car / SUV hits a camel. Imagine hitting a camel while it is crossing the road. Its legs are weak, the entire mass (body) comes into the vehicle through the windshield rendering the front occupants a nearly zero chance of survival. The airbags too would not operate as the airbag sensors would not have detected the legs of the camel.

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by HIGHWAY_PATROL

It frustrates me a lot when I see a truck driving in the front and it doesn't have it's brake lights in working condition.

True. During the day, by keeping safe distance,by observing wheels and by changing lanes early, we need not depend much on brake lights. If they're working, its good.
But most often, they're covered with dust.

At night, do not overdrive headlights.

In this clip, I had used some other signs to understand that the truck was slowing down.
Brake lights of this truck are not working and whenever the truck brakes, its number plate was swinging.

https://youtu.be/mUbAWu77lfk

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Avoiding Truck Underride Crashes

Thanks for a very well-researched and well-written article. Truck drivers are probably the most disrespected drivers on our roads, and most of us driving LMVs and 2-wheelers do not understand how difficult their job is. They don't generally own these vehicles, and whatever unsafe vehicle is handed to them, they drive. Underride crashes are a part of their lives, and in most cases they are not directly responsible for the damage, injuries and deaths caused by smaller vehicles underriding their rather high chassis, whether from the front, back or sides.

Do realize that a truck driver has bigger blind spots than any other vehicle, and in most cases, they are not even aware of the presence of a smaller vehicle trying to squeeze past them, leading to these collisions. In addition, the truck has extremely poor vehicle dynamics, being unable to swerve or brake in an instant, to avoid a crash.

The underride bars installed on Indian trucks are a legal requirement, but there are no written down specifications regarding how strong, big or low they should be, for the different varieties of goods carriers running on our roads. In that scenario, can we expect these makeshift contraptions to hold up to an impact by a 2-tonne metal box moving at 50-100 kmph, or even more?

As to those trucks that do not have running lights or brake lights, there is no system to stop and warn / penalize them anywhere in the country. I have sometimes counted trucks on long highway trips, and by my estimate, at least 70% of trucks have at least one blown tail light or brake light, and 30% or more have no tail lights and/or no brake light at all. This becomes a serious issue when following a truck in the notorious North Indian winter fog at night, even while maintaining a crash avoidance space of 4–5 seconds. However, trucks, with their high seats and low-level headlights, make for excellent sweeper vehicles on highways - but the absence of lights greatly increases the risk of underrides.

Another trait that truck drivers have, is to switch off their running lights whenever and wherever they park (even in fog or rain). In many cases, that parking spot is on the emergency lane / hard shoulder to the left of any highway. They get lectured about keeping to the left lane at all times (which they cannot), but no one tells them that keeping their running lights on for a few hours when parked on a dark highway will NOT drain the battery to the point where the truck won't start!

In this situation, keeping a very large distance from moving trucks, and maintaining a 5+ second static CAS at all times while driving, is the only way not to end up under a truck, whether it has underride protection bars or not.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

How to avoid getting into an full overlap underride ?

Good list! Effective, and simple to implement.

Had put together a related thread in 2013 - here (Under-Run Bars on Trucks : Why they are important for you!)


Under-ride bar built to correct specifications vs. one not built to spec

[Gotcha]

Can Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) can help prevent such crashes?

"Current systems reduce rear-end crashes with medium or heavy trucks by 38 % and motorcycles by 41%, compared with a 53 % reduction with passenger vehicles, but if the technology improved and was more widely implemented, an additional 5,500 crashes a year with trucks and 500 crashes with motorcyclists could be prevented."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamo...h=483af7331280

[true_sedan]

Excellent thread albeit a sad portrayal of accidents that are 99% fatal even at low speeds. Here is my two cents on this:
- Never tailgate a 10+ ton behemoth.
- Maintain a healthy distance of 40 metres until you can clearly see a lane opening up for an overtake.
- Observe the tyres of the lorry. They are the first indicators of a big vehicle changing lanes.
- Always assume the brake lights of a truck are broken.
- Be extra careful of barricades on the road. They prompt truck drivers to take corrective action and you don't want to be stuck beside a truck when it does.

I follow all the above to the T and this is what happens when expectations meet reality:
- I leave a healthy gap of 40 metres from a truck, patiently waiting for a lane to overtake. Suddenly, I'm swarmed by a cluster of cars filling the 40 metres in no time.
- This cluster swarms the 10 ton lorry like bees searching for pollen. They swerve everywhere like a circus swing, honking and flashing.

It defies logic as to why some car drivers choose to tailgate instead of driving safe.

[antz.bin]

The best way to avoid getting into truck under-runs according to me is to minimise risks inherently. By avoiding driving in the dark, rain or fog unless absolutely necessary, the riskiest parts are eliminated. You can't avoid something you can't see and you cannot see parked truck with mud all over its reflectors in the night but you can in the day.

Also, I think driving on high beam has been demonized so much that some people actually drive too much on low beam. This is what leads to situation of "Overdriving your headlight". Also many people (including me) hardly drive on highways in the night so may not know the correct and polite way to use the high beam. The beam that helps them look far ahead and helps avoid such truck under-run situations. If you carefully make sure to not blind oncoming traffic with your high beams, there is no harm in using it when making swift progress at night. If you can see far enough, the possibility of overdriving headlights is reduced.

The most appreciated feature of most ADAS suites is actually the High Beam Assist and should be standard on all cars in the interest of safety. Radar based AEB can help but sometimes, the safest way to get out of the way. Something that you can't do if you (or the ADAS camera) can't see.

[PreludeSH]

I stay as far from trucks as much as possible, also generally away from group of vehicles on highways. This also helps to see oncoming traffic on 2 way roads and gives ample time to respond.

I dont know why trucks are built the way they are. If Buses can be built with enough protection all around, why not trucks ? They are not meant for off-road to have high front and back openings and have gaps all around.

[Gaur]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

but there are no written down specifications regarding how strong, big or low they should be

Not correct, there are very specific requirements for Front, Side and Rear under-run devices covering the above points you have mentioned.

Infact these Indian requirements very closely resemble ECE requirements for under ride protection.

There is no way the rear underride device can avoid the under-riding of even a 1000kg car being driven at 64kmph, it will just give away.

Best way to avoid underride is to "Keep Safe Distance" as written on the rear of most of India trucks

[Small Bot]

Excellent article, and I'm glad I spent the last 30 minutes reading everything and going through each and every video. Thanks a lot, brother. I see you being active on the decades-long Accidents in India thread, and appreciate your views.

On the topic of trucks, I have seen some extremely gruesome crashes happen right in front of me. I once saw a truck (horribly overloaded with hay) topple over while navigating a curve and narrowly miss smashing a car, so I'm almost paranoid about overtaking large vehicles, but doubly so on curves. Unless I'm thoroughly comfortable about the overtake, I never attempt it. Whenever I see a truck barreling down at me in the rearview mirrors, I Vamos! to the side immediately.

Another of my fears is driving on the side of a truck. I'm sure my car does not appear on the tiny mirrors, and there is no way that the truck driver is going to spot me beside him unless he sticks his neck out of his window. So I keep staring at the wheels nervously, and then honk for my life if they move too close to me. Whenever traffic ahead of me moves, I ensure to just get out of the way.

But I did not have that much knowledge about underrides until I read your article. I'll share this with some friends and colleagues who do a lot of highway driving.