Dear Public Affairs, Thank you very much for your attention. Motorcyle riders pay more to use the roads. When the maths is worked out in the long run to ban the use of wire rope barriers would be practical. Europe are pulling them out because of the safety issues. People are human and do make mistakes in endorsing items that may not be beneficial long term When the issues are not corrected thats when there are unnecessary issue. The facts speak for themselves and by not using these barriers then this would save enormous amounts of money and resources. Yours Faithfully Cynthia Washington From: Subject: RE: Query regarding the use of Wire Rope Barriers on our roads. [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]Dear Cynthia Thank you for your email. We have forwarded your query to the relevant area of the Department for a response. Kind regards Subject: Fw: Query regarding the use of Wire Rope Barriers on our roads. Dear Public Affairs, If it is cheaper to use alternative protection barriers than Wire Rope Barriers then why is it not considered?Cynthia Washington For your information Cynthia Washington ----- Forwarded Message ----- Sent: Tuesday, 27 August 2013 12:18 PM Subject: Fw: Query regarding the use of Wire Rope Barriers on our roads. In my spare time ----- Forwarded Message ----- Subject: Fw: Query regarding the use of Wire Rope Barriers on our roads. I see if they actually read what I write. Regards Cynthia ----- Forwarded Message ----- Sent: Tuesday, 27 August 2013 12:14 PM Subject: Re: Query regarding the use of Wire Rope Barriers on our roads. Dear Noel Dwyer, thank you for your reply. Some people call the barriers Wide or wire as part of description. The Wide Rope Barriers were proven in Europe to be unsafe so they are actually pulling them out. If you were to ask motorcycle riders themselves then they would also advise you that there is far safer alternatives than the cheap Wire, (Wide) rope barriers that I am sure if you applied the laws of Likelihood of fatal injury when you hit one compared to alternative barriers then surely a safer barrier must be considered. Discussion is Wide, WIRE Rope barriers are not repairable and cost more to repair. Cynthia Washington Accident facts 1. Motorcyclists tend to hit barriers like concrete at shallow angles because they leave the road atshallow angles.2. Concrete has no projections so motorcyclists slide along the barrier.3. 85% of vehicles recover within 9m of a 100km zone (no barriers required).4. 37% of riders go over the top of barriers: Items behind barriers kill riders!5. Exposed posts kill riders!WRB:l Is easily damagedl Is less effective/ineffective until repairedl Is often extensively damaged (large sections unserviceable)l Can create a hazard until repairedl Can spend long periods of time between repairs (7-30+ days)l Has very high maintenance costs (whole of life cost effectiveness is very poor)l Can fling a rider over the barrier… and into oncoming traffic or some other hazardl Is safer for motorcyclists the further it is placed from the roadl Becomes more expensive to maintain the closer you place it to the roadl Sometimes needs to be duplicated on both sides of a median (doubling the cost)l Acts like a solid barrier to riders (because riders are much lighter than cars)l Stops riders suddenly when they hit the posts (rapid deceleration)l The exposed posts are the major hazard to ridersl The cabling has never been tested with ridersl Is NOT designed to stop trucks or large vehicles Wire Rope BarriersAustralia – 20th April 2010: Wire Rope Barrier (WRB) illustratesmuch of what is wrong with our roadsides. Roadside hazards areinvolved in ~40% of all accidents (with all vehicles).Up to 30% of all motorcycle, fatalities involve a post, pole or tree.Around 2.4-2.6% of Australian motorcycle, fatalities involve a barrier(up to 16% overseas). This figure increases further for casualties.In such accidents, the exposed posts constitute most of the hazard.Exposed posts concentrate impact forces and lead to increased soft tissue injuries, fractures, amputationsand deaths. ALL barriers stop most cross over accidents!!! …but WRB has the greatest number of exposedposts of any barrier.Ergo WRB has the greatest potential to kill ridersPostsThere are many examples of reduced surface area and sharp edges causing injuries and fatalities.Telephone poles, signs and trees all figure prominently in injuries and fatalities. In German research on theconsequences of impacts with posts, cadavers were propelled into metal posts. Amputations and fracturesresulted.Researchers provided measurements of the impact forces generated (making comparison easier). Animpact with a series of WRB posts would generate similar forces and similar injuries. It would be more thansufficient to kill someone. Even a slow impact with a post is enough to kill a rider!MUARC (Monash University Accident Research Centre) testing has compared WRB to obsolete Jerseyconcrete barrier. Vic Roads says it has not used Jersey for over 20 years because it rolls cars NB. Injuriesare much more serious when a car rolls. WRB rolled cars during testing too!This original report has never been released to the public only MUARC researchers have access to it (issomething being hidden?). F-profile concrete barrier is currently in use and has about half the rollover rateof the Jersey profile. Does this make F-profile safer than WRB? Newer concrete barrier types (Texasprofile) have an even lower rollover rate than F-profile. Why weren’t they tested?These same reports also failed to identify that overseas the rate of barrier fatalities for motorcyclists ismuch higher (up to 16%). This demonstrates that as exposure increases fatality rates will too ie. Moreunsafe barriers means more deaths!Cross-OversCross-over accidents (into on-coming traffic) are of greatestconcern. Almost any barrier in the median would prevent mostcrossover accidents. WRB claims to stop 100% of cross-overs.This is untrue.Hitting WRB posts often catapults a rider over the barrier into oncomingtraffic NB. 37% of riders go over the top of barriers!This catapult action does not happen with a smooth faced barrier.Larger vehicles are also not stopped by WRB. By comparison the simple concrete barrier stops even largeMotorcycle MindsThe most important part of the motorcycle isthe widget between the rider's ears!Motorcycle Minds – NavigateMotorcycle Minds – Blog LinksMotorcycle Minds - LinksAmerican Motorcyclist AssociationAustralian Motorcycle CouncilBikers Rights Organisation of New ZealandFederation of European Motorcyclists’AssociationsMotorcycle Riders FoundationMotorcyclists Confederation of CanadaRight To Ride N.IrelandPost ArchivesSitemapBlog LinksHell For LeatherMotorcycle AddictHorizons UnlimitedBack Roads RiderHelmet Hairtrucks. In 2006 24th July in Yatala Queensland a truck went through WRB on a freeway killing one andinjuring 8.Comparable HazardsImpacts with trees and other objects are common roadside accident scenarios. Motorcyclists have beenrequesting the removal of trees and other objects from medians for years (RIP Helen Hawthorn)! This simpleand cheap intervention would save many lives. Barriers with exposed posts contribute to the problem.RolloversRoadside accidents commonly include rollovers. Rollovers significantly increase the risk of injury or death.Installing WRB required a fair bit of landscaping so that cars did not roll before they hit the barriers! Thelandscaping alone may have been sufficient in many cases NB. 85% of all vehicles travelling at 100Km/hrrecover in a 9m clear zone (no barriers required).CostsTypical installation and repair costs for simple installations:Installation Cost/metre Typical Repair Costs/metreConcrete $150+ Negligible (80yr+ lifespan)Steel W-beam $120+ $80 to $150Wire ropes $130+ $25These are Vic Roads figures NB. Independent contractors quoted an even lower $150/m for a complexconcrete barrier installation with footings and drainage. Less if you wanted lots of it.Thus, installation costs for all barrier types are similar. However afteronly one impact, maintenance costs make WRB more expensive thanconcrete.Over the years, WRB will be many times more expensive thanalternatives because it requires more maintenance: Placing it closer tothe road results in it being damaged more frequently.Also larger sections are damaged when hit. These costs are at oddswith claims that WRB is cheap.Accident facts1. Motorcyclists tend to hit barriers like concrete at shallow angles because they leave the road atshallow angles.2. Concrete has no projections so motorcyclists slide along the barrier.3. 85% of vehicles recover within 9m of a 100km zone (no barriers required).4. 37% of riders go over the top of barriers: Items behind barriers kill riders!5. Exposed posts kill riders!WRB:l Is easily damagedl Is less effective/ineffective until repairedl Is often extensively damaged (large sections unserviceable)l Can create a hazard until repairedl Can spend long periods of time between repairs (7-30+ days)l Has very high maintenance costs (whole of life cost effectiveness is very poor)l Can fling a rider over the barrier… and into oncoming traffic or some other hazardl Is safer for motorcyclists the further it is placed from the roadl Becomes more expensive to maintain the closer you place it to the roadl Sometimes needs to be duplicated on both sides of a median (doubling the cost)l Acts like a solid barrier to riders (because riders are much lighter than cars)l Stops riders suddenly when they hit the posts (rapid deceleration)l The exposed posts are the major hazard to ridersl The cabling has never been tested with ridersl Is NOT designed to stop trucks or large vehiclesConcrete barriers:l Have little or no maintenance costsl Are functional effectively 100% of the time1 Comment Post a commentNico PerkMay 6 2010We are very happy with the decision of our transport minister in 2005 to ban cablebarriers in the Netherlands.We did not need a lot of research to explain why these “killer cables” never should beused in our infrastructure.Fortunately our government showed common sense and the cable barrier in theNetherlands became part of history.It still is at least remarkable that authorities in other countries simply deny thel Have similar installation costs to WRBl Are the most forgiving barrier for motorcyclists (of the 3 listed)l Reduce light glare at nightl Prevent more cross-over accidents than WRBl Are safer at shallow impact angles (
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 04:12:19 +0000
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