Will this new rolling gaurdrail save millions of lives?
Could this new guardrail design be the answer to safer highway crash protection?
Utilizing a series of spinning cylinders in place of the typical steel armco barrier, this highway barrier promises to absorb much of the inertia of the crash without sending the metal barrier itself splintering into the car, which often causes more damage than necessary, not to mention being more dangerous to the passengers.
Instead, testing shows this new design effectively bounces the car back into the roadway for a safer deceleration compared to the traditional guardrails, which often collapse, sending the vehicle into the median. Plus, the rolling cylinders slow the vehicle by absorbing the energy, theoretically keeping the car from bouncing all the way back into traffic. Obviously these rails will have to undergo extensive testing before they will be put into place alongside the highways near you, but the design seems to be a possible life saver that we may be seeing in the future.