Cable Highway Barriers

What are your thoughts?

Here in Chilliwack BC along the Trans Canada Highway which runs right through Chilliwack, they have erected a center median barrier made of cables, along a short stretch of this highway. They are known to reduce fatalities and lessen injuries to those, who for whatever reason, leave the road to the left. These barriers re-direct the vehicle back into its own lane as opposed to going across the on coming traffic.

But I can't help but think that if a bike rider ended up leaving the road, this barrier would pose a severe hazard if his/her body was to come into contact with these cables. I don't doubt for one minute that they are very successful for cages but am not sure about motorcycles. Now they are about to extend this along another stretch of this highway. I am sure they are much more inexpensive than the concrete no post barriers but I don't believe they are any more effective. I also know they are widely used on the I5 in Washington State.

For those of you who do not know what a no post barrier is, and yes many don't. they are those three to four foot concrete walls you see on the side of the highway. The are called "No Post" because they are connected to each other with an eye and hook system on the ends of the sections that you do not see. They are not permanently anchored to the ground and remain in place primarily through their weight and the fact they are connected to another barrier. The whole chain of barriers do have some give that will reflect a vehicle back into its lane if struck?

So before I get on my soap box and speak for motor cyclist as a whole, what do you think.

Do you believe that these cables pose a higher risk of injury or death to motor cyclist that would be lessened should concrete no post barriers be used instead?

 

I've seen the cable barriers, we have a few around here as well. I've also asked myself the same questions. It appears to me that they pose a severe hazard to motorcycles. I think that in some cases I'd rather just go off the road and take my chances

 

Agreed 150%. I would thiknk that to hit those cables at highway speed, and higher like most of us do, that they would cut into the flesh pretty good, even wearing proper gear.

How about some of you EMT people and LEO's? What are your experiences? This trial section went up in my area well after I retired so I have no personal experiences here. If you were to PM me with experiences, I could use this as ammunition against this type of barrier.

 

I did a google for cable barriers and found this:

Cable Barriers are Worthless - Free Auto Safety Information from Alexander Hawes, LLP

USATODAY.com - Lives saved as highways get cable

Unfortunately motorcycles are a real minority here and I have to wonder if they would change their mind. :unsure: All I know is that I would NOT want to be "protected" by a cable guardrail.

 

Hello Randy. I would think these types of barriers would be very destructive to a motorcyclist. I have seen these on several highways around here. Even if you were not traveling at high speeds, regular highway speeds in the rain or other slick conditions could make it much easier for a motorcyclist to get into these barriers. As you stated, even with protective gear, one cable to the neck could be disaster! Good luck with your efforts and I'll ask around for opinions from some of my more experiencedd motorcycle buds...

 

That's true however the ratio is changing very quickly. Given gas prices and the oil companies' self-proclaimed "Shortage" of the past couple of weeks they are driving more and more people to two wheels. I see far more bikes on the road this year than in previous years so our presence is getting larger all the time.

Another thing to consider, something I just thought of, is that in most cases we'd never even hit one. By the time we got to one we would probably already be on the ground and with luck slide right under.

 

Cable Barriers

Hi Randy

We have a lot of publicity going on at the moment here in N.Z. about these barriers as the transport authorities are putting them up everywhere.We had an incident nearly a year ago where a motorcyclist hit one and was literally cut in half.
We believe that the cheaper cost is the only reason that these things are going up and that there are more cages than bikes."A few less one percenters.Who cares?":bs:

 

This is a great piece of ammunition for this cause. Do you recall closer to the date and if it was written up in a local paper. I could try to pull the article off the internet if I had a more definate time and place to look.

Thank you very much.

 

And almost as bad are the cheese-grater fences they put on top of the concrete dividers. They do great to catch cars, but I would not like to slide along one at highway speeds.

 

Cheesecutter Wire Barriers

O.K. I've done some research.The incident I referred to in my earlier thread happened in June near Auckland,three motorcylists were racing one another in the early hours of the morning one lost control at about 160 km/h and hit a wire barrier which sliced him in half at the waist.There was a huge outcry amongst riders here in N.Z. about including protest rides but nothing has been done and still they persist in installing these things everywhere.

 

Well I don't think that would be a good example to justify my objection to the barriers. I can just hear the rebuttle. You are trying to fight for the removal of a safety varrier becasue someone on a motorcycle died when they hit the barrier racing and doing 2 times the speed limit. I don't think I would get much sympathy. But I do appreciate your efforts. It does show me that I am not alone in trying to prevent this type of barrier from being used

 

I agree that the circumstances in which this guy died dont give our case to having these barriers removed much credibility but there has been one or two cases where car drivers have been known to push riders into these things.Very often the roads that they are on are quite narrow,probably the reason why they are put down the middle of the road,but frankly when riding past them I feel very nervious about the implications of hitting one would be.

 

I don't know if this would help but I found another source while killing some time at work:
Local News | Concrete barriers to replace some cables on I-5 near Marysville | Seattle Times Newspaper

According to this source the cable barrier did not prevent a bus from crossing the lane plus there are some reports of cars going under the cable and it kills the driver. Plus I doubt how effective they would be against an 18-wheeler.

I would recommend in your free time to do a google for the terms "concrete cable barrier" and I'm sure you'll find some studies on the differences between those.

 

Agreed. These circumstances are a good example for discussion in this forum, but like I said, it would work against our cause to lobby to get these removed or prevent their installation.

Thank you Rhino.

 

I remember those things all over the country in upstate PA when I was growing up. But I havn't seen any of them in years. They were replaced with solid guard rails.

BZ

 

They have some of them up in Louisville, KY. Every time I seem them I cringe as I start thinking

This thought crossed my mind the very first time I saw them. I haven't seen any in western Ky yet, but with budget cuts for our highway system I'm sure they are coming. And while the best case scenario would be

I would bet in a percentage of the cases the rider would still be tumbling by the time they got to them. Either way they look like a death trap. Skeery!

Vs

 

I use to work as a road trauma analyst and I can tell you that the wire barriers are not a cheaper option than traditional barriers. They cost a fair bit more and need to be repaired after every collision regardless of the severity. The reason they are putting them in everywhere is that they are substantially better at preventing serious injuries and fatalities than traditional barriers. The idea is that they keep the vehicle on the road (thereby avoiding trees, power poles, signs etc) and absorb some of the impact. The cables themselves also act to distribute the energy in a collision so that the barrier doesn't fail at the point of impact. YouTube - Cable barrier crash test

Unfortunately for motorcyclists we don't represent a big enough % of the total fleet to warrant not installing them. There are some in the road safety arena that would like to ban motorcycles altogether or at the very least not record them in official statistics... a sort of "they are on their own" attitude due to what they see as the unnecessary risk involved in riding a motorcycle.

 

Enough said,