Thread: Vic Hume HWY,, a dangerous road

Hi,
Long gone are the days when it was a country road, though there are parts that still can be seen from the highway.
Long gone are the days of slow lumbering lorries that even a Morrie could zip past.

Now where did I put my Zimmer frame?

Cheers

Originally Posted by austastar

Hi,
Long gone are the days when it was a country road, though there are parts that still can be seen from the highway.
Long gone are the days of slow lumbering lorries that even a Morrie could zip past.

Now where did I put my Zimmer frame?

Cheers

And the congregation of trucks waiting for mid-night, at the border, every Sunday.

While I not condoning how close those barriers are to the side of the road - that's just silly and bloody dangerous, as a bit on insight the company I work for does amongst a lot of other things - roadside crash barriers. I've done some training on all types and although the wire rope barriers aren't a product we do, I have seen the data on them and quite a few crash tests as well as real life video of then 'in action'

The wire barriers are designed to do 2 things, not just stop a vehicle crossing into another lane or hitting a tree, but also stop the vehicle from rebounding back onto the road they have just left and be collected by another vehicle.

These barriers do this very well compared to pretty much anything else on the market, and although there are certainly instances of them being compromised that happens with all barrier systems - they are generally only tested to 110KPH with impact angles of up to 30 degrees - this caters for over 99% of all impacts to any barrier, but there will always be a situation where something untoward happens - like an over corrected swerve that then hits them head on, a multi vehicle collision that launches a vehicle higher than the barriers designed impact levels, etc. I have seen footage of a loaded B double running into one at 100KPH when the driver nodded off - the barrier kept the truck on the right side of it - and off the road for several hundred metres while the truck stopped.

They do work and are proven in reducing fatal accidents on freeways both here and overseas.

Are they perfect? - No. Are they placed in the correct location to allow a broken down vehicle to safely pull over? - No, but that's not the barriers fault, that's just the dip**** Engineers unfortunately. Putting them back another meter wouldn't compromise their ability to perform their job.

As a motorcyclist I wouldn't want to crash into one no, but the instances of this happening particularly on dual carriageways would be quite small I would imagine.

Originally Posted by Homestar

The wire barriers are designed to do 2 things, not just stop a vehicle crossing into another lane or hitting a tree, but also stop the vehicle from rebounding back onto the road they have just left and be collected by another vehicle.

ding ding ding

i saw a great vod last week of the barrier in action. sets see if i can find it again

was easy to find