The numbers of states banning a particular type of guardrail has now grown to ten. In the event of a vehicular collision, the guardrail and its "redesigned" end terminal are supposed to slide along, cushioning the impact of the vehicle; instead, the ends are sometimes malfunctioning, effectively driving a spear into the vehicle itself. (I first wrote about this issue about ten days ago - original post, here.)
The issue is that redesigns are supposed to be tested and approved by the Federal Highway Administration before installation.... and they weren't. A Texas jury found that Trinity Industries, the guardrail manufacturer, had defrauded the government, and awarded $175 million (which, under federal law, will be tripled to $525 million; complete New York Times article on the jury findings, by Danielle Ivory and Aaron M. Kessler, here).
Ivory and Kessler reported on Tuesday (full story, here) that the Federal Highway Administration had finally ordered more testing on the guardrail design. Meanwhile, "At least 14 lawsuits blame the guardrails for five deaths and more injuries." The Trinity "ET-Plus" units have been installed in virtually every state.
Ivory reported today that there are now ten states that have banned the ET-Plus: Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia.
I'd like to see my state added to that list. And could we hurry up on the testing please?
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