TSI Urges FHWA to Take Immediate Action Regarding ET-Plus Guardrails
The Safety Institute recently filed comments in response to the Federal Highway Administration’s request for data and information regarding Trinity Industries ET-Plus guardrail end terminal. The ET-Plus guardrails have been a hot topic due to the fact that they are linked to several deaths and injuries.
The Safety Institute is a nonprofit organization which promotes injury prevention and product safety. TSA compiled an index of 39 incidents in which a vehicle struck an end terminal and often resulted in severe injury or death. Even though the FHWA requested that states provide information on the number of ET-Plus end terminals and accidents involving those guardrails, many states are unable to perform in-service performance evaluations (ISPEs) due to the lack of funding or resources. States may also fear being held responsible for correcting the safety issues that may arise from the evaluations. This needs to be considered as FHWA analyzes the data.
Although the FHWA has limited authority, there are things that the agency can do to maximize the tools it currently has. The Safety Institute urged the FHWA to take a more active role in monitoring the hardware after crash testing. The FHWA should also be following up with the states after the products have been put in use for some time. The Safety Institute suggested in its comments that a federal monitoring system be put in place to help states track information as well as log crashes and details of how the hardware was impacted.
To read all of the comments from The Safety Institute you can view the PDF here.
Source: The Safety Institute