More reason to hate cable barriers (first 2013 Viper casualty)

[Mallard]

http://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-first-2013-srt-viper-to-crash-on-a-public-r-472880453

 

The description of the accident scene is gruesome. I never liked these barriers because they're like a cheese grader for bikers, but they don't work that well for cars either. I'm hoping I don't know who this was, since I used to work with a lot of the SRT guys.

[BrendanB]

Extremely unfortunate news reading that earlier when it was just the viper wrecked, and now seeing that it was fatal. I don't get why they don't just keep guardrails though? Cables have historically had the history of severing limbs and other body parts with enough force against them, and this accident definitely shows how bad they can be with a massive collision.

[TTQ B4U]

"They say he stopped on the ramp for several moments, then quickly accelerated onto the freeway."

 

Based on what the statements including the above note, sounds like he was traveling pretty fast. My take is that it's more driver error than barrier issues. IMO, you'd have to hauling ass upon impact to have it cut through the car like that.

[10phone2]

the metal guard rails are just as bad. I had a buddy get a leg cut off after landing on one during a bike crash.

[Spidey2721]

"They say he stopped on the ramp for several moments, then quickly accelerated onto the freeway."

 

Based on what the statements including the above note, sounds like he was traveling pretty fast. My take is that it's more driver error than barrier issues. IMO, you'd have to hauling ass upon impact to have it cut through the car like that.

 

 

he didnt have to be "traveling pretty fast." how many times do you have to get on it to merge to highway traffic from a stop on short on ramps? sounds more of a lost control couldnt handle the car. even so thats what they are there for.

[TTQ B4U]

he didnt have to be "traveling pretty fast." how many times do you have to get on it to merge to highway traffic from a stop on short on ramps? sounds more of a lost control couldnt handle the car. even so thats what they are there for.

 

Th article makes it pretty clear that he stopped for unknown reasons. IMO based on what's been shared he was likely having fun and lost control. Show me accidents where a guard rail wires cut completely through three pillars on a roof of a car that's been shown to be traveling at normal speeds. Not likely.

[Mallard]

I will say that if it was an engineer he could have been stopping for any number of reasons. Cars with M plates are driven in order to find issues, so it doesn't necessarily mean he was out joining. He could have been starting or stopping any number of data recorders, looking at something that had just happened, taken a phone call, etc. Also, the Viper is a very low car and the windshield is hardly structural. A cable will cut through that fairly easily without going extreme speeds. Not making excuses for the guy, but giving him the benefit of the doubt until more is released.

[greg1647545532]

Also, it's my understanding that the point of center barriers like that is to stop vehicles from heading into oncoming traffic. The driver in this case didn't fare well, but the cables did succeed in stopping the car.

[Gergwheel1647545492]

Also, it's my understanding that the point of center barriers like that is to stop vehicles from heading into oncoming traffic. The driver in this case didn't fare well, but the cables did succeed in stopping the car.

 

+1, at least he didn't hurt anyone else in the wreck, and that is what those barriers are for

[Littleguy]

We should all be careful driving powerful cars in the rain.

[DKilbourne]

We should all be careful driving powerful cars in the rain.

 

No need to drive any car like that in the rain. If you have to, learn to respect the vehicle way before something like this happens. Sad to read.

[Mallard]

I found out who it was and, while I didn't know him personally, he did have quite a bit of driving experience. From the sounds of it, he has been driving a lot of Vipers, so it's not a case of someone that just happened to get ahold of one for the first time. It is a good thing that no one else was hurt, but it didn't have to end like this either.

[Mallard]

No need to drive any car like that in the rain. If you have to, learn to respect the vehicle way before something like this happens. Sad to read.

Development cars are driven in all conditions. That's what M-plates (Manufacturer license plates) are for. They're not customer vehicles that only get brought out on a sunny day.

[BigOxley]

i heard of plenty of standard barriers spearing cars and killing occupants.

 

R.I.P and +1 for no one else getting hurt.

[DKilbourne]

Development cars are driven in all conditions. That's what M-plates (Manufacturer license plates) are for. They're not customer vehicles that only get brought out on a sunny day.

 

That makes sense. Still need to be careful. No job is worth losing your life over and it just shows that no matter the experience level, it can happen to anyone

[Tractor]

I've seen several cars cut up pretty bad by the ones near dublin and more recently the new ones north of columbus on 71.

[paktinat]

they don't work that well for cars either.

 

Its a shame someone passed away but it seems the barrier did exactly what it was engineered to do; prevent an out of control vehicle from going left of center and endangering innocent drivers.

 

From what I have read cable barriers have a lower fatality rate when compared to rigid barriers because they absorb some of the collision energy in the cable tension. They also have the advantage of being ridiculously cheaper then rigid barriers.

 

I can't find any material stating that cable barriers are any more or less fatal for motocycles. One study in europe came to the conclusion that cable barriers had no increased fatality rate, mainly because if a motorcycle is out of shape enough to hit a barrier they are likely to die regardless of the barrier design.