Safety barriers ‘lifesaving solution’ for avoiding severe impact in collisions

TDT | Manama                 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Reported by Julia Cassano

Accidents occur all over the world, but experts say that preventative measures can be put in place to avoid severe impact in a collision, possibly saving the lives of passengers. Safety barriers are used to stop ‘out of control’ vehicles from leaving the road, hitting roadside hazards, and crossing into the path of on-coming vehicles.

Essentially, they are designed to redirect the vehicle and have a lower severity than the roadside hazard they protect. The issue with this is that when a car loses control and crashes into these barriers, the amount of damage to the car is severe, meaning that passengers will experience extreme impact.

When speaking to experts, The Daily Tribune learned that other barriers or railings can be put in place to prevent the extreme damage that occurs when a collision occurs. James Moore, Founding Director of the USC Transportation Engineering Programme at the University of Southern California, shared with The Daily Tribune that much can be accomplished by designing barriers in a way to reduce damage and guide vehicles to stop.

"Blunt-end guardrails are very dangerous. To change this, governments can propose solutions to bury the ends of the guard rails so the impact of a car crashing into them would not be as extreme," he said.

He noted that placing sealed, water-filled containers in front of vehicles can provide a mechanism for absorbing some of the energy of the crash. "In doing this, it means that the vehicle will not be absorbing all of that impact.

Instead, it lessens the impact, which can make the crash less extreme, protecting the passengers inside the vehicle." Moore said. "Also, light and utility poles can be designed in a way that if a car were to collide into one, the pole would break away on impact rather than abruptly stop a vehicle on impact.”

Public Perception

"Car accidents are a serious issue in Bahrain," Salman, a Bahraini citizen, told The Daily Tribune. "Preventive measures need to be taken more seriously to ensure safer conditions on the road," he added. Alec, a Bahrain resident, said: "I remember a couple months ago seeing a bad crash; the car was flipped over.

The car had collided into the barrier, and you can still see the damage on the railing. If new measures were to be put in place to reduce the impact if a crash happens, this would make me feel a lot safer when driving on the roads here."

Car accidents are bound to happen. But if governments can place safer barriers and guard railings, collision impacts would lessen, making driving conditions and road safety better secured.