Who:
Irving M. Mangel, 76, was killed on Monday, 4/21/14, at around 6 AM in Boca Raton, FL, on Clint Moore Road. He drove a 2014 Hyundai Equus and crashed into the side of a 1999 Freightliner tractor trailer driven by Johnny Ray Arden, 69. Arden was uninjured while Mangel died at the scene.

How:
Per police reports, the trailer was eastbound and trying to make a U-turn. Mangel was westbound and collided. He impacted the side of the trailer and died at the scene.

Why:
This was, sadly, another example of a passenger vehicle-large truck fatality due to a rear underride. The Equus (essentially a larger Sonata) impacted with enough force (likely in excess of 55 mph) to lead to that level of cabin intrusion (which would be classified as catastrophic, as the intrusion extended past the B frame of the vehicle). Catastrophic levels of intrusion are virtually unsurvivable. Despite the impressive safety features of the 2014 Equus, there was virtually no chance of survival. The reasons for the crash are not known at this time, but they almost certainly were due to driver inattention, whether due to cell phone use, radio use, sleepiness, or alcohol / medical impairment.

It is essential to repeat that this crash was preventable, but that virtually no passenger vehicle exists that would have protected him at the speeds at which he likely crashed, as the significant marker of trailer underride crashes is that the part that results in death–the trailer itself–is above the crash-absorbing structures of virtually every vehicle on the road.

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