Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
Please see this Media Advisory on Truck Underride Crash Test.
Lou Lombardo
Contact: Beth Weaver 301.814.4088
MEDIA ADVISORY
TRUCK UNDERRIDE ROUNDTABLE AND SIDE UNDERRIDE CRASH TEST
The Truck Safety Coalition will be co-sponsoring the Truck Underride Roundtable, a national forum on truck underride crashes on August 28 at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in Ruckersville, VA. Safety advocates, government and industry leaders will meet to discuss solutions to reduce truck underride deaths and injuries.
With nearly 4,000 fatalities and 100,000 injuries from truck crashes on our nation’s highways each year, the Truck Safety Coalition works with safety advocates and members of the trucking industry, and continues to urge lawmakers to adopt key truck safety mandates such as underride guards to prevent injuries and save lives.
WHO: Truck Safety Coalition
WHEN: August 28, 2017, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. (IIHS will conduct a crash test at 12 p.m.)
WHERE: 988 Dairy Road, Ruckersville, VA 22968
Truck crash victims and their families from NC and TN speaking at the conference are available for media interviews:
Laurie and Randall Higginbotham (Memphis, TN) Laurie will be participating in a panel discussion on side underride crashes. On November 18, 2014, their son Michael was killed when his car crashed into a truck blocking the roadway near I-240 in Memphis. The truck had made an illegal U-turn across all lanes of traffic and cut in front of his car. His car lodged under the side of the trailer and Michael was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was cited for his negligence and received a mere $50 fine.
Jennifer Tierney (Kernersville, NC) Jennifer Tierney will be giving a presentation on her decades of advocacy on truck underride and conspicuity. She is a Board Member for Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and a Member of the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee. Her father was killed in a 1983 truck crash in North Carolina on a dark rural road when he came upon a jackknifed truck without working lights, reflective tape or underride guards.
The Truck Safety Coalition, a partnership between Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH) and Parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT), is dedicated to reducing the number of deaths and injuries caused by truck-related crashes, providing compassionate support to truck crash survivors and families of truck crash victims, and educating the public policy-makers and media about truck safety issues.
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Beth Weaver
Weaver Communications
