Underride crashes are frequently deadly, and safety advocates have spent years trying to figure out how to stop them. These kinds of accidents occur when smaller passenger vehicles impact the rear or sides of semi-trucks. This type of impact causes the trailer to shear off the top section of the smaller vehicle, causing catastrophic injuries to occupants. A recent underride crash highlights just how dangerous these truck crashes in Cobb County can be.
Underride Crash Kills Three in Georgia
In late April of 2025, WGXA News reported three fatalities after what seemed to be an underride crash in Georgia. Police say that the crash occurred at about 10:00 AM on Highway 441, and it involved a Ram pickup truck crashing into the back of a semi-truck. The pickup truck was reportedly traveling at a speed of 60 miles per hour when the impact occurred, causing devastating damage to the vehicle.
Reporters described the pickup truck as “obliterated” and “hardly recognizable.” Images from the scene show the front end of the pickup truck completely destroyed, and this highlights the devastating effects felt by the occupants. All three of these occupants were killed, while the driver of the tractor-trailer was completely uninjured.
Even when a relatively large vehicle such as a pickup truck slams into the back of a tractor-trailer, the results are completely catastrophic. The pickup truck may have slipped underneath the rear trailer in a classic “underriding” motion, potentially causing fatal head injuries for the occupants inside. That said, the force of the impact would have probably killed the victims, whether or not the pickup slipped underneath the trailer.
Critics Say Georgia Should be Tracking Underride Crashes More Closely
A recent report suggests that the State of Georgia is not tracking underride crashes effectively. This is despite an official request from the federal government to keep count of these accidents. A 2022 study found that only 12 underride crashes occurred in Georgia during 2022. However, this number seems inaccurate, especially given the fact that over 600 underride crashes occur each year in the United States.
Often, officers fail to specifically designate underride crashes when writing their reports. Instead, they use terms like “rear-end collision.” While this term might be accurate, it does not reflect the specific nature of underride crashes in Cobb County. Georgia has not complied with an official request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to use universal tracking codes when counting underride crashes.
Proper tracking could bring attention to this issue, possibly encouraging federal and state lawmakers to enforce more requirements for the trucking industry. A simple rear underride guard on a semi-truck can drastically reduce catastrophic injuries, but this requirement is not yet universal in the United States. Side impact guards can achieve the same safety improvements.
One can only hope that the trucking industry adopts more effective rear and side guards. However, representatives continue to complain about the cost of these improvements.