RURAL GUARDRAILS |
Appropriate steel barrier solutions
are paramount to making countryside
roads safer for vehicles
Words | Tobias Schneider, Saferoad, Germany
Above: Narrow,
twisty and twoway
178 Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2020
country roads
create many danger
spots, but effective
steel barriers can
protect motorists
from serious harm
The spotlight on today’s traffic
focuses on the main highways
because they carry the most
passengers and especially the
most freight traffic. They are vital for
any economy and are guaranteed to
have a presence in the media when
serious accidents occur.
By contrast, rural roads do not
get the same attention, either in
the national press or – much more
importantly – in national or local
government budgets for road
maintenance and road safety
equipment. This is an issue given
that these roads tend to feature
two-way traffic, tight curves and
narrow lanes, which naturally
create a higher risk of accidents.
Simultaneously, the so-called
containment levels of vehicle
restraint systems (VRS) on rural
roads is generally lower than it
is on highways. This is because
passenger cars are, within most
national guidelines, the most
common vehicles in the countryside,
whereas on highways it is buses and
heavy goods vehicles.
This means the general presence
of VRS on country roads is often
lower due to a combination of
budgetary reasons, the lower
containment level and the more
dangerous road characteristics.
As a result of these factors, the
accident and injury risks for vehicle
occupants are statistically much
higher on country roads than on
highways or other one-way roads.
Safety developments
As in many technical business
sectors, there has been remarkable
progress in the development of
safety barriers, not just for modern
highways but also for the different
obstacles on rural roads. The
challenge is to bring this equipment
to country roads, because this
process usually needs time for
approval and marketing.
Trees are the most common
danger on the roadside for vehicle
occupants in case of an accident in
the temperate latitudes, as in most
parts of Europe and North America.
Mind the gap
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