Roadside Safety

So...here is something that you may find interesting.

Many of the roads around my area are partly closed because the highways agency and the local council are installing some new roadside guardrails . This prompted me to think about these guardrails and find out if they are actually a good enough safety device for our roads and highways.

As always, I did a search and found some stats on guardrails which drew me to conclude that they are in fact the most cost effective way of saving lives on the road. Guardrails are there to protect drivers from natural and man made hazard such as ditches and trees, sign posts and utility poles etc, but also as an effective safety barrier between lanes on the busy highways.

Skimming over some photos of cars that had been impaled on these rails, I found out all sorts of interesting details about guardrails from manufacturers websites. One company in particular has an interesting history. Mid-Park inc is a manufacturer of all manner of roadside safety rails and was started up in a barn in West Hardin County, Kentucky back in 1971. Given that they have been in business for more than 35 years, I tend to believe that these guys know what they are talking about.

Anyway, Mid-Park have a really impressive website, and if you take a look you can see how complex it actually is to produce such a standard (and if I may say, ugly) looking piece of roadside safety equipment that we all just take for granted.

So the next time you are out and about in your car, take note of these roadside guardrails and remember that they do have a purpose, and one day they could save your life.