CHARLOTTE — Thousands of tractor-trailers travel on North Carolina roads every day, but the question is are they as safe as could be?
In the last two weeks, there have been three fatal crashes involving tractor-trailers in the Charlotte area.
Channel 9′s Glenn Counts delved into a safety tool that is on board many of these vehicles and why one group says it isn’t enough.
“These crashes are incredibly violent because you slam into the rear or the side of the truck. And the only thing that’s between your head and that truck is your windshield,” Jennifer Tierney with the Safety Coalition told Counts.
Tierney explained that “under-ride” is what happens a car collides with an 18-wheeler and becomes submerged under the trailer, basically decapitating the cabin.
“These crashes just keep happening and there is a stop to them there is a way to stop them,” Tierney said.
The Safety Coalition said it has been fighting for stronger rear guards for years. Part of the new infrastructure bill calls for an upgrade to these rear guards, but the coalition doesn’t believe that goes far enough.
“So the coalition has filed a petition to say why would you only go halfway, why not go all the way,” Tierney said.
Tierney told Channel 9 that this battle was personal for her because she lost her father in a trucking accident in 1983.
“He lived approximately 20 minutes and then died of massive massive head injuries,” Tierney told Counts.
Tierney said the trucking industry has fought the Safety Coalition every step of the way.
She said she sees it as a battle between the almighty dollar and human life.
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