Virginia to Remove Thousands of Highway Guardrails Amid Safety Concerns

The Virginia Department of Transportation plans to remove thousands of highway guardrails across the state amid concerns that the guardrails’ design could potentially impale cars and their occupants.

The announcement follows a decision last week in Texas that ordered the guardrail manufacturer, Trinity Industry, to pay at least $175 million for misleading regulators, The New York Times reports. VDOT also plans to seek reimbursement for the cost of removing Trinity Industry’s existing guardrails.

A whistleblower warned that the company changed the guardrails’ design without telling regulators for several years. Trinity stopped shipments of its ET-Plus guardrails last week following last week’s decision.

Virginia banned the use of Trinity Industry’s products after the company missed a deadline to submit plans for additional crash testing last Friday.

Virginia, which joined 13 other states that have banned additional purchases of the guardrails, would be the first state to remove the company’s products from state roadways.

The products in question, called rail heads, are found at the end of guardrails and are made to collapse upon impact. Trinity Industries’ rail heads are suspected of having a defect that could cause the guardrail to jam prior to collapsing, effectively turning guardrails into spears that could pierce through cars.

Image: Wikipedia