Roads and highways should be designed and constructed in a way that guarantees a safe, efficient, convenient and effective transportation of both people and materials. Unfortunately, very often drivers get involved in major car accidents due to fatigue, driving error, alcohol consumption, excessive speed or because of the bad road conditions. Car crash accidents most often happen when the driver losses the control over the vehicle. Such car crash accidents can lead to serious injuries and even death. Therefore, appropriate road safety barrier systems are needed on the roads for increased safety and driver protection.
A road safety barrier is usually installed on places where there are high risks of direct vehicle impacts, vehicles crossing the median and on places where there is a risk of rolling off the road. In fact, the impact of hitting a road safety barrier is significantly less dangerous and can cause less vehicle damages than crashing into another vehicle or hitting other road obstacles like poles or road signs. However, not only road signs and bad drivers represent a threat for other drivers on the road. Bad weather and road condition can put vehicles in jeopardy. Therefore, before installing road safety barriers, all factors need to be carefully considered in order to increase road safety.
One main benefit of the safety road barriers is the reduction of car accidents. Road safety barrier systems increase the safety on the roads for all drivers and also reduce the costs of car crashes. These costs can include property damage costs, fatality costs and driver’s injury costs. There is another way to reduce these costs, and it is by providing drivers with a wider roadside recovery area. Safety road barriers may not be able to reduce the number of car crashes on the road, but can definitely reduce the severity of the impact.
Safety road barriers are usually installed where hazardous objects or other dangerous conditions exist on the roads, or where there is a huge risk of vehicles crossing the median and crashing into each other. Today, there are many different types of road safety barriers used in different situations to provide different protection level. The three most commonly used types of safety road barriers are:
- flexible
- rigid
- semi-rigid road safety barriers
Road safety barrier systems are continually being improved and are always designed according to the latest traffic standards.
