WASHINGTON — Some guardrails on area roads are built with a potentially dangerous design that could allow them to impale crashing vehicles.
The questionable design involves a square piece of metal equipment used to cap off guardrail endpoints.
Virginia is among 13 states that have banned the use of the questionable end caps, and is the first declaring intentions to replace them, The New York Times reports.
Maryland officials tell The Washington Post they’re figuring out now how many of the questionably designed end caps there are on state guardrails before deciding what to do.
The end piece of a guardrail should partially absorb the impact of crashing vehicles while helping deflect metal railing away from a vehicle’s interior compartment.
Guardrails
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The search is on to find and replace at least some of the questionable guardrail end caps. (WTOP/Kristi King)
The ET-Plus rail head design was changed in 2005 by manufacturer Trinity Industries without informing federal regulators.
The Federal Highway Administration now is demanding Trinity Industries conduct new crash safety testing on the modified design.
States intending to identify and potentially replace the equipment have some leg work to do.
They could be anywhere. Contractors working region-wide have installed square guardrail end caps at numbers of locations. There’s no documentation of whether the end caps are those with the modified questionable design.
Distinguishing the difference between square guardrail end caps deemed safe and those yet to be rated requires a visual examination.
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