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Are cable crossover barriers killing motorcyclists?
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Interstate cable barrier stopping crossover accident
Cable crossover barriers are being installed in Kentucky along I-65 between the 109 mile marker near Lebanon Junction and the 116 mile marker just south of Shepherdsville. In addition to cables being installed along I-65 in Bullitt County, barriers are also being installed along the interstate in Hart and Barren Counties. The remaining section of the Gene Snyder Freeway west of I-65 to the Greenbelt Highway is also scheduled to get the cable barriers.
Motorcyclists have expressed concern for their safety over the barriers, but Kevin Bailey, Transportation Engineering Supervisor with the Kentucky Department of Transportation, says they needn't worry too much. "The motorcycle will impact the cable and the motorcyclist will actually tumble over top of the system due to the height. But if they were to hit the cable, the amount of impact area, due to the fact the cables are so small, there's less area to hit unless it were a concrete barrier wall or a double beam guardrail."
I’m not so sure. Whether a rider collides with a cable barrier or a concrete barrier, the chances of injury or death are high.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration website has an interesting paper from some research in Germany. The German Federal Highway Research Institute studied various roadside barriers and the effect each had on the motorcycle rider.
Simulations of the wire rope barrier collisions showed that regardless of angle or speed it is unlikely that the motorcyclist will clear the barrier very cleanly. In many cases the motorcyclist’s extremities became caught between the wires. This results in the rider being subjected to high decelerations and possible high injury risk secondary impacts into the road.
In all the simulated wire rope barrier collisions, the wires guided the motorcycle into the posts leading to heavy contact with the post. The motorcycle and the rider were subjected to large decelerations because of this snagging effect and hence elevating the injury risk for the rider.
While the simulations in this report are preliminary, they show that the risk of injury to a motorcyclist colliding with either a wire rope or a concrete barrier will be high. The findings also suggest that while the current design of flexible barriers has safety advantages over concrete barriers for passenger vehicles, the opposite may be true for motorcyclists. Most of all, it has highlighted the need for further research into the area of motorcycle collisions with various crash barriers.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration website also notes researchers in the United Kingdom found little difference between crashes into cable median barriers and other barrier types. According to the data, most riders are separated from their motorcycles soon after leaving the pavement and are sliding on the ground by the time they reached the barrier. The data also did not show that cable barriers cause extraordinary injuries.
After all the studies, the bottom line is crossover barriers do what they were designed to do: stop vehicles from crossing the median. If I had to choose what type of an accident to have, I would have to say I would rather take my chances with the barriers than with an oncoming semi-tractor trailer.
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