On June 29th 1967, when Mariska was only 3 years old, her mom was killed in an automobile crash, when her car hit a Semi-trailer from the behind. Jayne died instantly due to her horrific injuries. However, to minimize the loss of life in siimilar crashes, the court ruled that an underride guard (a strong bar made of steel tubing) on all tractor-trailers; though slow, the trucking industry adopted this change. Today, this is known as ICC guards and Mansfield guard/Mansfield Bar. I want to quickly address a speculation that people keep spreading around, Jayne was NOT' decapitated'... it was her wig that was found on the side of the road!
Jayne wasn’t just a dumb blonde that everyone made her out to be. She was in fact highly intelligent, she had a shrewd business acumen, and she knew exactly how to build a public personality. She learned to play the violin at age 7 and enjoyed standing in the driveway performing concerts for anyone who would listen. As a child she took voice, dance, piano, and violin lessons. She loved to perform and wanted to be a Hollywood star like Shirley Temple. When she became famous she may have fit the "dumb blonde" bill perfectly in terms of image, but in reality she was extremely intelligent. She boasted an impressive I.Q. of 163 and could speak five languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.