Car-Proof Field Fence Posts

[chamjoe]

Okay, the name kind of says it. I have a relatively simple field fence and I keep having an issue of (presumably) drunk morons not noticing that the road ends and crashing through my corner posts. It's been the same spot and I really thought that 8-9" round treated corners would be sufficient to at least disable the car so I can have their insurance pay for the repairs. In this last instance the post sheared right at ground level.

Used power poles don't seem to be an option in my area so what else can I use? I am really tempted to try and make my own bollards but I'm thinking those might only work in between the corners as opposed to holding the fence load because I'm not sure how to brace them together. The fence is right up against the right of way so as I understand it putting up a barrier myself would open up myself to liability and the County isn't interested on putting up one of their own.

All thoughts are appreciated I'd like to fix this in the next day or so. Thanks

 

[orezok]

A couple of large boulders would do the trick.

 

[mjarrels]

No such thing. Young kids in a 1982 caddy doing 70 MPH in a 15 MPH zone will take out 8 4 X 4 post at ground level along with all the fence boards between them. Ask me how I know. Not once but twice. I no long stand by my mailbox while scanning the mail. Yep, this is a short, maybe half mile long back road. GPS sends traffic thru to cut corners. I hate GPS.

mark

 

[Tig]

Liability for injuries is a concern, be careful in what you do. You don't want to cause consequences that make a broken fence post seem trivial.
What about some medium sized boulders set into the ground a bit. 18" -24" not big enough to abruptly stop the car and cause injuries, but big enough to get under the car and hang it up and give you a chance to meet you new visitors. A concrete pyramid the same height might also work.
Better signage from the county might also help.

 

[rasimmo]

Maybe some 6" or 8" pipe set as deep as you can get and filled with concrete. That should at least dasable the car when it gets hit. May even hold up if it is braced well enough. Or you could build a ramp so they jump over the fence. That would be interesting to watch.:thumbsup:

 

[Domush]

Have you considered moving up a notch and making the posts out of steel? At least steel doesn't break and will stop them enough to get their license data. At is counter-intuitive but the weaker the post the better (to a point), because then they will ride up onto the post and get stuck, where a beefy steel post will just demolish the car, likely kill them, and you get sued and still have to fix the post.

Use something like a 5" diameter 3/16-1/4" thick steel post, fill it with rough cement or just loose gravel (which will sheer easily so the post can bend when hit) and call it good. It'll be the perfect car capture method. Be sure to share photos of all of the cars you capture with them.

 

[turnkey4099]

#1 RR ties will do the job. They may break off (dubious) but will definitely disable the car. Benefit is they will look like just a normal well-built fence corner and shouldn't raise any suspicion about liability.

Harry K

 

[Dr Dave]

Get some railroad ties, they make good corner posts. Put 3 upright in L shap, and angle 2 from top of corner, down to bottom of other 2 uprights. Use some large spikes and lag bolts.:thumbsup:

New neighbor down the road, is building a complete fence, out of ties. Last weak end, he hand dug and set about 30 post, dividing his lot from the farmers feild.:shocked: If I had a PHD I would have stopped to help.

He bought a double wide and 5 acres for $78K, has not even moved in yet, he must have some buffalo?

Dave

 

[s219]

Quicksand pit.

 

[chamjoe]

Thanks for the suggestions. Steel posts don't seem to be very common around here but I'll check. I'll look into RR ties as that might work well. I'm not trying to hurt anyone and I don't think the county will do anything but it might make sense to document that effort.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Large reflector strips might help also, especially when it comes to your liability if some moron gets hurt.

As an aside, I took a gentleman into custody one time who had driven into a guardrail barrier at the end of a dead-end street. He was shocked that an officer could walk up to his vehicle while he was driving. He was unaware that his vehicle was not moving, and the transmission was smoking heavily from trying to push the guardrail barrier.

 

[murphy1244]

How about a big catchers mit..

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Why not just build a break-away fence out of, say T posts that you can repair in a couple of hours? Something in the order of a simple, easily replaceable gate? I realize that you need something strong for corner posts, and without seeing the configuration, it's hard to visualize, but "corner" posts don't necessarily have to be in the corner, you might have to install two instead of one, but you could put them where a car would miss the "corner", or anchor posts, and just take out the T posts. Just a thought. And the consensus is right on; now that you know folks drive through your fence there, to put up a barrier that would get someone killed or injured could cost you dearly, maybe cost you your farm and land you in jail.

 

[Mousefield]

You may also want to consider putting some type of reflector on the posts. Not sure if this is happening at night but could help, especially if someone got hurt with your new "stop'em" :stopsign: effort.

 

[2549]

Jersey barriers.

*edit*. They meet your needs. They are impenetrable. They will keep animals in and cars out. They are designed to minimize damage to vehicles in head on and side collisions, lowering your liability. You can spruce up the aesthetics with some shrubbery.

 

[RobertBrown]

Why not just build a break-away fence out of, say T posts that you can repair in a couple of hours? Something in the order of a simple, easily replaceable gate? I realize that you need something strong for corner posts, and without seeing the configuration, it's hard to visualize, but "corner" posts don't necessarily have to be in the corner, you might have to install two instead of one, but you could put them where a car would miss the "corner", or anchor posts, and just take out the T posts. Just a thought. And the consensus is right on; now that you know folks drive through your fence there, to put up a barrier that would get someone killed or injured could cost you dearly, maybe cost you your farm and land you in jail.

Just what I was thinking, breakaway fence. This 16-20 feet of fence could be quickly and cheaply replaced while at the same time mitigating damage to the rest of the fence line should the "accident" occur again.
You could compliment this breakaway fence with a pile of dirt (the cheapest and easiest to obtain building material I know of) in between it and the end of the road.
Dirt pile optional, as this may present exposure to liability depending on the height.
I'm assuming your fence is in place to keep things in rather than out so you might consider a fence that will only fall in when hit from the outside of your property. You might be able to design a fence that could be simply stood back up and re-secured or held in place after the collision. This would minimize down time.

 

[chamjoe]

There are already three large reflective signs put up by the county so it isn't exactly a secret that the road stops going straight. Any idea on the ballpark pricing for 5" sch 40 steel pipe? There is a guy selling on CL for $8//ft but I have no idea how to estimate the value.

T-posts aren't an option as this is a corner that can't (not) be a corner due to property lines.

Let me be clear, I'm not trying to make a booby trap just build a fence that will keep animals in and vehicles.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I was working down south a few years ago and there was a farmer that had a fence in a hairpin curve on a country road. He had a set some tires truack and tractor both buried with just the tops of the arches sticking above the ground about a foot. He had a made a huge square like that. I saw the farmer out one day and asked what that was for. He told me when the cars ran through the fence and left a few times. His insurance wouldnt let him put a solid fence up. While we were there a car went through the fence while We were there. The car couldnt get back over the tires to leave. He caught 2 cars during the 3 months we were on that job.

 

[dmccarty]

My first thought was a berm that would stop/slow down the cars.

A section of road I constantly drive is mostly straight with a few turns here and there. I have seen many accidents, some that looked very serious, where people simply drove straight when the road curved. Two of the accidents are a stretch of road with a bunch of houses. The two accidents hit trees in front of the same house. A young man just drove his Mustang into a local lake. He was driving on a road that is curvy and would be fun to drive at high speed however the road ends at an intersection. If you do not turn left or right there is only a guard rail and a lake. He went went through the guardrail into the lake and died. The car was pulled out of the lake in pieces. The question being asked was it suicide or was he driving to fast and could not stop in time? I am going to drive through the intersection this week and see if their are skid marks.

You won't be able to stop ALL the cars from hitting your fence so you need to reasonably protect the fence. Either a berm or just make the section of fence that will be taken out easy and fast to repair. We just did a quick trip and I noticed where a couple of people were using RR ties for fence posts. Four or five T posts were used between RR ties. It looked pretty decent and I would think it was a strong fence. Would the county or state put up a guard rail at the end of the road?

Following the state guidelines for putting up a guardrail would be a good idea. Maybe the state has design guidelines for berms as well. I do think liability should be given strong consideration.

Later,
Dan

 

[RobertBrown]

That price is not too bad but I would expect new or almost new pipe for 8$ a foot (we figure 7.04 for 4" and 12.26$ for 6", we don't use 5" anymore, it's considered an odd size in my industry).
Without knowing what state your in, or what your options are as far as pipe goes...that might be your best option, if your sold on pipe ballards.

I don't think that you can build a fence that will withstand a car weighing several thousand pounds crashing into it, even if you pour substantial concrete foundations. It's just going to be more expensive to fix and take longer to do so.