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Call Us Today (732) 249-0444
July 2, 2026 
If you or a loved one was hurt in a crash involving a large commercial truck, a carriage underride accident lawyer can help you understand your rights, identify who is responsible, and pursue the compensation you deserve.
Here is what you need to know right away:
These crashes are among the most deadly on the road. The Government Accountability Office estimates an average of 219 truck accident fatalities per year are tied to underride incidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has estimated that more than 5,000 passengers are injured annually in rear collisions with trucks — and roughly 423 lose their lives each year.
If you are dealing with mounting medical bills, lost income, and the emotional toll of a serious injury caused by someone else’s negligence, you are not alone — and you have legal options.
I’m Frank Lazzaro, one of the roughly 2% of attorneys certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney, with a track record of multi-million-dollar recoveries for injured clients — including victims of serious truck and carriage underride accidents. I’ll walk you through everything you need to know to protect your rights and move forward with confidence.
To understand why these crashes are so uniquely devastating, you have to look at simple physics and vehicle design. The typical commercial semi-trailer rides high off the ground-usually with a trailer height of about 48 inches from the road surface. By contrast, the bumper of an average passenger car sits much lower, usually between 16 and 22 inches.
When a passenger car collides with the back or side of an 18-wheeler, this bumper mismatch means the car’s front-end safety features-like crumple zones, bumper guards, and engine blocks-never make contact with the truck. Instead, the car slides directly underneath the trailer.
This is known as passenger compartment intrusion (PCI). The bottom edge of the trailer acts like a giant blade, shearing off the vehicle’s roof, crushing the canopy, and striking occupants directly at windshield or head level.
There are two primary types of these collisions:
According to a landmark 2011 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), 260 of the 2,241 passenger vehicle occupants killed in large truck crashes died when the fronts of their vehicles struck the rears of trucks. When safety features are bypassed entirely, even low-speed collisions can quickly turn fatal.
If you or a family member has been affected by such a collision, consulting a New Brunswick Truck Accident Lawyer is the first step toward understanding your legal options.
To prevent cars from sliding under trailers, federal regulations require most commercial semi-trucks to be equipped with rear underride guards (often called “Mansfield bars”). These metal barriers extend downward from the trailer frame to catch a colliding vehicle’s bumper.
However, many of these guards fail in real-world crashes. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) mandates strict safety and maintenance regulations for these devices, yet compliance remains a major issue. During a five-day enforcement event conducted by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), inspectors found that over a quarter-28%-of all trailer inspection violations involved the rear underguard. These violations included cracked, bent, rusted, or entirely missing guards.
Furthermore, federal standards have historically been criticized by safety advocates as inadequate. While rear guards have been legally required since 1998 (with minor regulatory updates), side guards are still not federally mandated in the United States, despite evidence showing they could prevent hundreds of deaths annually.
When we investigate these accidents in 2026, we look closely at whether the truck met current safety standards, whether the underguard was poorly maintained, or if an equipment failure directly contributed to the severity of your injuries.
Because these crashes bypass the standard safety protections of your vehicle, the physical toll on occupants is almost always catastrophic. At our firm, we frequently help clients who have suffered life-altering harm. Some of the most common injuries include:
When injuries are this severe, the medical bills, rehabilitation costs, and long-term care needs can easily reach millions of dollars. Seeking guidance from a New Brunswick Catastrophic Injury Lawyer is vital to securing the financial resources required to cover lifetime care.
Unlike a standard fender-bender between two passenger cars, a carriage underride crash is highly complex and often involves multi-party liability. Multiple entities may share financial responsibility for your injuries, and a skilled carriage underride accident lawyer must investigate every angle to identify all at-fault parties.
| Liable Party | Negligent Action / Contribution to Crash |
|---|---|
| Truck Driver | Distracted driving, speeding, fatigue, tailgating, or failing to use hazard lights during a roadside stop. |
| Motor Carrier (Trucking Company) | Negligent hiring, forcing drivers to violate hours-of-service rules, or failing to inspect fleet trailers. |
| Trailer / Guard Manufacturer | Defective design of the underride guard, using substandard metals, or failing to meet IIHS crash standards. |
| Maintenance Contractors | Failing to repair rusted, cracked, or structurally weakened underguards during routine service. |
| Cargo Loaders | Overloading the trailer, which can alter the truck’s center of gravity, braking distance, and trailer height. |
If you are dealing with a complex multi-party claim, working with experienced New Jersey semi-truck accident lawyers ensures that no stone is left unturned.
Trucking companies have rapid-response teams of lawyers and insurance adjusters who arrive at crash scenes almost immediately to protect their bottom line. To level the playing field, we must act quickly to gather and preserve critical evidence.
To establish trucking company negligence, we look at several key pieces of evidence:
If you were injured in New Brunswick, Milltown, or Perth Amboy, having a local New Brunswick Car Accident Lawyer on your side ensures that this evidence is legally secured before the trucking company has a chance to destroy or alter it.
In some cases, the truck driver may not be the only one at fault. If a passenger vehicle strikes a truck at a moderate speed and the underride guard snaps, buckles, or fails to prevent the car from sliding underneath, the trailer manufacturer may be held liable under product liability laws.
Organizations like the IIHS test these guards through their “TOUGHGUARD” program. Their research shows that many older or poorly designed guards easily shear off at the attachment points during offset crashes (where only a portion of the car’s front strikes the guard). If a manufacturer designed a guard they knew was structurally inadequate when safer, alternative designs were readily available, we can pursue punitive damages to hold them accountable for prioritizing profits over human lives.
When you are recovering from a catastrophic truck crash, the financial pressure can feel just as crushing as the accident itself. Our team works tirelessly to build a comprehensive claim that accounts for every dollar you have lost and will lose in the future.
We help victims and their families pursue both economic and non-economic damages:
You should never try to negotiate with a commercial insurance company on your own. Commercial truck policies often carry limits of $1 million to $5 million or more. Because the stakes are so high, insurance companies will use aggressive tactics to minimize their payouts. They may try to blame you for the crash, claim your injuries were pre-existing, or offer a quick, lowball settlement before you fully understand the extent of your medical needs.
An experienced lawyer protects you by:
Time is of the essence. In New Jersey, the statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death claims is generally two years from the date of the accident or the date of death. If you miss this filing deadline, you lose your right to seek compensation forever.
Additionally, New Jersey follows a modified comparative negligence rule. This means you can still recover compensation as long as you are 50% or less at fault for the accident. However, your financial recovery will be reduced by your percentage of fault. For example, if a jury finds you were 10% responsible because you were traveling slightly over the speed limit, and your total damages are $1 million, your final award will be reduced to $900,000. Trucking companies will try to exploit this rule to shift the blame to you, which is why having strong legal representation is so critical.
The moments following an underride crash are chaotic, but the actions you take can protect both your health and your legal rights.
If you are physically able, try to follow these steps:
A rear underride crash occurs when a passenger vehicle strikes the back of a semi-trailer. These are often caused by sudden truck stops, broken taillights, or missing reflective tape. A side underride crash occurs when a car strikes the side of a trailer. These frequently happen at night or in low-visibility conditions when a truck is making a U-turn, backing into a driveway, or changing lanes, trapping the passenger vehicle beneath the side of the rig.
Yes. Under New Jersey’s modified comparative negligence law, you can recover damages as long as your share of the blame is 50% or less. Your final compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found to be 51% or more at fault, you will be barred from recovering any compensation.
At Lutz, Shafranski, Gorman, Mahoney & Lazzaro, P.A., we handle all personal injury and truck accident cases on a contingency fee basis. This means there are absolutely no upfront costs or hourly fees. We only get paid if we successfully secure a settlement or jury verdict on your behalf. Your initial consultation is always 100% free and confidential.
A carriage underride accident is a life-shattering event, but you do not have to face the aftermath alone. At Lutz, Shafranski, Gorman, Mahoney & Lazzaro, P.A., we provide compassionate, relentless, and comprehensive advocacy for serious injury victims across New Jersey, including New Brunswick, Milltown, and Perth Amboy.
We understand the complex federal trucking regulations, the physics of underride guard failures, and the aggressive tactics used by commercial insurance companies. We are prepared to stand up to the biggest trucking corporations to secure the maximum compensation you need for your medical bills, lost earnings, and pain and suffering.
If you or a loved one has been injured, let our family help yours. Contact a New Brunswick Truck Accident Lawyer at our firm today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation. Let us handle the legal burden so you can focus on healing.