Full Time RVer

As we rumble along the highway of life, there are plenty of deep, universal questions to be answered. But having recently rumbled some 2,800 miles in a matter of a few days, we have more down-to-earth questions: Will cable barriers stop an RV from careening through the median and crashing into oncoming traffic? For that matter, will cable barriers really stop an errant auto from careening across that same median and smacking into your RV?

It’s a big deal in Washington State, where the Department of Transportation installed miles of the stuff along various highways, including the much traveled Interstate 5. Some years back, after the installation near Marysville, a series of tragic and fatal accidents made it seem that the “rubber band” barriers (as some call them) just weren’t particularly effective. A couple of settled lawsuits later, and some independent studies revealed that those rubber band barriers do work–provided they’re installed correctly. In the case of the Marysville tragedies, it seems installation wasn’t up to snuff.

But according to statistics, those wiry barriers to actually seem to save lives: Real world figures indicate that when vehicles hit the cable barriers, they stay on their own side of the median over 82% of the time. “Sure,” you say, “but those concrete Jersey barriers have got to do better than that!” Those concrete curbs keep traffic out of the other side of the median just 38% of the time. That’s a pretty significant “capture rate,” and adding to the seeming superiority of the cable barriers–they don’t usually allow the striking vehicle to “bounce back” into traffic, thus avoiding a secondary collision with some other unfortunate motorist.

It’s also true that no kind of barrier will be effective against every kind of accident, every time. Three friends of ours nearly lost their lives and were permanently disabled when a hotdogging car blew over the top of a Jersey barrier in Washington a couple of years ago. Would a cable barrier have prevented that carnage? It’s not something we can say for certain. We’re just glad they’re alive and doing the best they can with recovery.

As the photo shows, cable barriers can also prove good for stimulating the economy: Rather than sailing on into oncoming traffic, this motorhome was “captured” by the cable barrier, and provided many hours of work for an RV body repairman. Just between us, I think I’d rather hang up the rig like this, than smack into an oncoming semi truck.

photo courtesy of Washington State Dept of Transportation on flickr.com

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.