Cable barriers

[Farmwithjunk]

FarmW/Junk, common sense ain't so common these days, but I believe you got some. I like the way you think.

According to my wife, I aughtta have a lot of it still. (She doesn't think I use what I was given at birth )

My dad told me I better use what common sense I had, 'cause I didn't have too much UNCOMMON sense. Now whatta you suppose he meant by that?

At any rate, THANKS!

 

[BTDT]

I haven't been on a street bike in years, but I can see the concern with the cable barriers. I used to race motocross, and dabbled in flat track racing, but with the flat track, I never liked the thought of hitting a fence if you fell or got forced to the outside.

 

[Colin Giersberg]

Regardless of the type of barrier in place, all of them require maintenace when hit, some more so than others. I work for the Alabama Dept. of Transportation, and while I have no claimed experience in these designs, they all work best when the vehicle hitting the barrier impacts it at the angle that it was designed to be hit at. There is some latitude, but some impact angles result in very bad accidents, and there is no barrier that I know of that can minimize the severity of all accidents.

Recently, a local small community fire chief lost his leg in an accident while riding a motorcycle. He was forced off of the road by a fellow cyclist by accident, and he hit a fence post (T-type metal) supporting a barbed wire fence. The post severed his leg, not the wire.

So, if you throw caution to the wind, don't be surprised by what happens to you.

Regards, Colin

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I haven't been on a street bike in years, but I can see the concern with the cable barriers. I used to race motocross, and dabbled in flat track racing, but with the flat track, I never liked the thought of hitting a fence if you fell or got forced to the outside.

I rode enduros and hare scrambles mostly. In later years of my "carreer" I rode a few Grand National Cross Country Series events. But my passion was those enduroes.

The one that was always my favorite was held in Princeton Kentucky. It was the "Daniel Boone Enduro". Every year there was this one section where we ran down a steep off camber hill, on a 3' wide trail, next to a barbed wire fence. By the time we got to it, you would always be running late. It was a chance to let 'er rip. Just don't look at that fence. If you did, it would draw you in like a magnet.

Us enduro riders were a little tougher than all those moto-crossers Y'all never ran a 5 hour moto!

 

[whodat90]

He was forced off of the road by a fellow cyclist by accident...

So, if you throw caution to the wind, don't be surprised by what happens to you.

Regards, Colin

Where did he throw caution to the wind?

 

[shane]

I just came in after driving through Murfreesboro traffic. I could not help but think of this thread. I just wittnessed a young man laying in the middle of the road who had been clipped by a young woman. He was rocking back and forth holding his knees, obviously in extreem pain. His bike was laying beside right beside him so the young woman who hit him must of not been going that fast.

Goes to show you can get hurt anywhere anytime. Life is risky business.

 

[JRobyn]

I'm very glad to hear that the cable barriers work that well!! They LOOK like they would work like a guitar string or a rubber band and fling anything that hit them back into traffic, or cut through anything sliding along them!

- Jay

 

[N80]

Where did he throw caution to the wind?

When he got on the motorcycle!

I'm just kidding...sort of. I've ridden dirt bikes recreationally and I've mountain biked a lot. But riding a motorcycle or a bike with cars just always seemed too risky for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that motorcycles are not a legitimate form of transportation. I have nothing against them or anyone who rides them. But the reality of the physics that exists on the American highway system is such that the motorcycle is simply underweight and underprotected.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

When he got on the motorcycle!

I'm just kidding...sort of. I've ridden dirt bikes recreationally and I've mountain biked a lot. But riding a motorcycle or a bike with cars just always seemed too risky for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that motorcycles are not a legitimate form of transportation. I have nothing against them or anyone who rides them. But the reality of the physics that exists on the American highway system is such that the motorcycle is simply underweight and underprotected.

I've been an advocate of "individual responsibility" for as long as I've known what that means. Some people have this sense of entitlement, believing they should be able to do whatever they wish, but when something goes terribly wrong, someone else should have stepped up and "saved them". There's a certain percentage of motorcyclists who seem to feel this way, just as there is with any group, culture, society, race, creed, gender, or political interest. (Not singling ANYONE out. Speaking in broad general terms here)

I ride a bike. I hold NO ONE else responsible for the outcome, other than an individual who exersizes negligence or disregard for the law that causes harm to me, should I be involved in an accident. It's not the Federal or State Governments responsibility to prevent me from harm beyond enforcing laws that protect EVERYONE.

I'd expect every REASONABLE effort be taken to create a safe path for me to ride, but it would seem UNREASONABLE to expect millions to be spent to protect so small of a portion of the motoring public.

Now for the controversial part that flies in the face of some of what I've already said....

As a long-time rider, I support laws REQUIRING helmets. I support laws requiring rider training. I support laws requiring bikes to "fit in" with the mainstream. (ie noise limits) It's up to the riders to create and maintain a good public image. We have to realize we ARE "different". We have to make consessions. We have to realize that riding IS dangerous, and that won't ever change.

 

[whodat90]

Yet again, I agree completely with FWJ. The biggest problem is that here in the US motorcycles are toys. In other countries they're transportation. I'm the odd guy out; I commute on my motorcycle.

 

[CharlieTR]

Recently the TXDOT installed many mile of the cable barrier system on the hwy's I travel every day. This hwy is between Dallas and Commerce (a small college town). I figure there must have been so many complants about the number of young people killed by cross-overs. Now that they have completed the install, it has not lasted a year and the highway is going with the perminent concrete barrier. It think it must be due to maintenance/repairs. It is really easy to see the impact the cable barriers have made. There is not one full mile that was not hit and in need of repair, and that's out of 40 plus mile of cable barrier. They do seem to fix it fast, but it sure must cost them. I think it is the great thing they could have done!

 

[JESSE1]

I travel I-20 every day. The TXDOT just finished installing concrete barriers along the route I travel. There have been many fatal cross-over wrecks over the years. Just last week during a heavy rainstorm I saw a westbound car hydroplane and spin toward the median as I was (eastbound) coming toward it. It hit the concrete barrier just as I was passing it. If not for the barrier it would have hit me. Thumbs up for the concrete!
I have also seen the cable barriers after a car has hit them. They evidently work but the contractors seem slow about getting them back up. I wouldn't want to be the ones stretching that cable!

 

[Ryan03]

WE have a maintanence agreement with the Ohio dept. of trans. to maintain 20 or so miles of cable barrier on state route 2 in Lake county, I thought I remember hearing the cable barrier was about 1500.00 a section to replace {post to post}, that is including manpower. Stretching the cable goes pretty easy most of the time, usualy our guys use a 721 Case loader to pull on the cable to tension it, and also to straighten, pull , and pound post, 300 feet can be replaced with 4 experienced men in 3hrs. The only time that it is tediouse is in early winter and spring when the median is too wet to get the loader in, and our guys have to use a post pounder and a gas powered winch to tension the cable. When we get a heavy lake effect snowfall, this barrier has stopped as many as a dozen crossovers in a two hour period!!!. When you think of how many lives it has probably saved in the 12 or so years it has been up, The damage to vehicles and the cost to repair realy seem pretty meager. We also have a 5 mile section of concrete divider instead of cable on the same route, while it is very effective most of the time, one problem we experience with it is in a big snowfall, [ 3 in + an hour] that last for several hours, the snow will build up against the wall as we plow and has been known to propel a vehicle over the wall upside down into oncoming freeway traffic, this does not happen very often, but it does happen. Never seen that happen with the cable barrier

 

[Skyco]

Avid motorcyclist here too, 2004 Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom. As a biker I don't like cable barriers, but then again I rarely ride on freeways... as a car driver I love them. I'm simply amazed since SC installed them how many torn up spots I see, I had no idea so many people went into the medians...
I drive between Columbia SC and Augusta GA frequently, I cannot make that trip, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week without seeng a new spot someone hit

 

[1bush2hog]

I'm in favor of median barriers whether they be constructed of cable, concrete, or steel.

A month or so ago I was traveling south on my way back to Atlanta on my motorcycle. I was passing several semi's when topped a hill and saw a huge dust cloud between the N & S bound lanes, only to then focus on a northbound ford pickup that was crossing the median headed straight towards the opposing traffic (me). Lucky for me the driver turned the truck back in the other direction, crossed back over the center of the median, and jumped both lanes of the interstate before finally t-boning a the bank and stopping. There were many lucky people that day, as no other cars were involved.

Had a median barrier been in place, it would have definitely deflected the truck.

I wonder what the design specs are on those barriers - Can they stop a 90,000lb rig traveling at 70MPH?

 

[3RRL]

I remember seeing a video of a truck hitting a barrier like that. I don't remember what speed he was traveling but I think it was 55mph. It stopped the truck dead. I mean right now! I think it was here on TBN ... not sure?

 

[schmism]

YouTube - Truck crash
do you classify that as a failer of the truck, or the barrier passing

or this one
YouTube - Truck crash

 

[3RRL]

Yeah, it was the first link I saw.

 

[LBrown59]

I'm one of those "don't believe it 'till I see it" types. What I saw Friday was most convincing. What is a fairly common type of accident and generally a multiple fatality accident was reduced to a wasted car and a shook up driver because of a relatively inexpensive saftey device.

Seems like a no brainer to me. More cables, less funerals.

Funerals are pretty expensive too.