Lately they have been installing a new "guard rail" system that will supposedly prevent
cars from crossing the median.
Cable Barrier
The project has been going on since the end of winter and
My first thoughts about this system is portrayed in this video:
I wouldn't want to hit it on a motorcycle let alone a low car.
I wonder how long it will be before the lawsuits of wrongful death and the removal of the system??
A cheese cutter for motorcycle riders, bet it is cheaper than Armco or Jersey barriers.
ReplyDeleteIt might be a solution in areas where snow removal from the roadway becomes a problem.
They do fail sometimes but more often work. Consider a motorcycle rider with an out of control car a half second away - and the car is stopped by the barrier. In that case it works for the motorcycle rider. Just don't ride into the barrier yourself. I have seen these things keep accidents on one side of the road. Could have been much worse.
ReplyDeleteGlass is half full.
The engineers have used the hypothesis that 99.9% of the vehicle contacts will be at a shallow angle and at a speed that will allow the cable structure to withstand the stress and disapate the kinetic energy sufficently to keep the vehicle's forward motion sliding along the barrier, thus preventing it from repelling off and into traffic lanes.
ReplyDeleteHi Toejam, I can understand that thought process and I definitely found a lot of videos that show the testing with the car sliding along the cable. It all looks good on paper :). One crash at a high angle and a decapitation and the lawyers will swarm.
DeleteDidn't work in Martinsburg a few years ago on I-81. The state put up concrete along the highway after 2 semi's kissed and a few others died along the same stretch. They're a budget decision, nothing more. The concrete is 'cheaper' in the long run, in both cost and lives.
ReplyDelete