Today I Learned that it is called a Mansfield Bar, aka Underride Guard. Wanna know why?

In June 1967, actress/model/Playmate Jayne Mansfield was riding down a Louisiana highway with her lover, her driver, and her three children to a show in Mississippi.

A ways ahead of her, a truck was spraying insecticide on the sides of the highway. Another truck had slowed down to half its speed before attempting to pass the spraying truck because of the cloud of chemical dust it was creating. Abundance of caution and all that.

Mansfield’s car did not slow down. Her car ended up ramming the back of the big rig and driving up underneath the back of it. No, contrary to popular belief, no one was decapitated but all three adults were killed.

The bar was created to prevent any future incidents where a smaller vehicle could end up running up and underneath a truck bed like what happened to Mansfield. It was named in her memory.

But in addition to learning about the name and history of that bar, I also learned that Mansfield’s three children all survived the crash. This included her then three-year-old daughter, Mariska.

I had no idea Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order: SVU is the daughter of Jayne Mansfield. Mind blown.