Help please.Are these barriers fitted in the central reservation of a road, or are they on the side of the road? This is an important point.We are starting to get a collision barrier known as Bryson Rope installed on divided roads here in Australia and we are very concerned about the (lack of) safety for motorcyclists who might collide with these structures.
If we can present some statistice from overseas we will be in a better position with our state government (here in New South Wales at least) because the govt only holds power by one seat in parliament and is now listening to strong lobby groups of which the Riders and Motorists Party is one. We now have a strong liaison committee with bikers on it and a very good chance of getting our own rep into parliament at the next election.Good to hear that you are in such a strong position.
We are hoping to convince the government that they must remove these barriers or they will be liable to huge liability suit payouts due to criminal negligence in allowing such a dangerous structure to motorcyclists to be built. We already have an admission that motorcyclists were not thought of at all when the decision to use Bryson Rope was taken.This also was the case in the UK.
Your assistance in this matter would be invaluable.Hi there.
Best Regards,
MAG UK looked at this issue a couple of years ago when these barriers started to appear in the central reservations of British roads. We contacted all the parties involved and had meetings with the manufacturers of Bryson wire ropes.
A number of our members were concerned about serious injury from these devices. Having looked at the accident statistics in the UK we discovered that high speed collisions involving central reservation barriers were extremely rare and that the rider was likely to be seriously injured, or most probably dead no matter what type of barrier was fitted. It's just common sense really -- hit a hard metal immovable object at high speed and serious injury and/or death will follow. We felt that as far as central reservation fitment was concerned, there was insufficient evidence to launch a campaign against them -- in fact, their ability to stop heavy trafic from crossing into opposing lanes could be sited as slightly advantageous to motorcyclists. It is two years since they first started to appear and we are unaware of any changes to motorcycle casualty rates because of them -- as I said earlier, this type of accident is extremely rare anyway.
When we consider road *side* fitment our position changes. We are opposed to their fitment in these circumstances as their design does not allow for a smooth impact. We considered a number of roadside scenarios, such as rider with blown tyre trying to control bike and hits the side barriers at low speed while attempting to pull in and stop. In situations like this wire ropes are more likely to injure riders than other barriers. Once again though, existing Armco barriers still cause injury. We would prefer to see the wide central reservation with catchment trough and wide side of road run off areas that are favoured in the US. The nature of our roads makes this impossible though.
Wire ropes have one problem which will arise as they age. In order to work properly, the ropes need to be under fairly high tension. MAG UK is worried that an underfunded roads budget could mean that essential maintainance may be ignored leading to the ropes becoming slack and therefore worse than useless. Any government who uses them needs to be aware that although they are initially cheap to fit, much more maintainance is needed than with Armco barriers if they are to remain effective.
So to summarise;
MAG UK; Does not support or oppose the fitment of wire rope safety barriers on the central reservations of main roads. MAG UK Opposes their fitment at the side of roads. Calls for research into their effect on motorcycle injury rates to be undertaken.
If you are aware of different problems to those outlined above I would like to hear from you as our position on this is constantly under review. I do hope that the above will help you in establishing your position on wire ropes. Let me know what you think and how you get on.
Kind Regards
Craig A Carey-Clinch. MAG UK Research Officer. ====================================================================== MAG UK, PO Box 750, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 3BA, England craig@mag2.demon.co.uk or; bikers_mags@mmp2.demon.co.uk MAG Ireland, PO Box 4491, B.A.C 18, Eire Mail, David French; david_f@s3dub.ie MAG UK Home Page: http://dredd.meng.ucl.ac.uk/www/mag/mag.html MAG Irl Home Page: http://dredd.meng.ucl.ac.uk/www/mag/irl/magirl.htm ======================================================================