this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 60 points 9 months ago (3 children)

The current version of MGS was developed to withstand cars weighing a maximum of 5,000 pounds

Seems like yet another case of a flawed study or a flawed article based on a misunderstanding of the study.

Statements like the quote above make no sense as "withstanding a 5,000lb vehicle" makes no sense. A 5k lb vehicle traveling at 70MPH is carrying several orders of magnitude more energy than a 5k lb vehicle traveling at 5MPH. Likewise a direct, perpendicular hit will impart more energy than a glancing parallel blow, so what are they really rated for?

In any case, these guardrails are used in places where 100k lb semis are traveling at highway speeds, and there have never been any other doom and gloom articles written about that. I don't think we need to completely rebuild our highway system simply because heavier cars exist.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago

And they're not meant to stop cars but rather redirect them

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

It would be 5k lb at high speed. I would say higher than the speed limit just to be safe. There would also be specs for height, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Maybe heavier cars and vehicles should have a lower speed limit then.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

That could have an adverse effect. There are processes in place for this.

The transportation administration in your area determines speed limits using several factors. Before I moved, the city I was in adjusted speed limits for several roads over a year long period. They reduced crashes by raising the limit on a handful of roads. They needed less policing for enforcement and traffic flow improved. After the study was completed, it stayed. Another example is a road they lowered the speed limit on resulted in higher crashes. So they put it back to what it was originally. And interestingly, in a construction zone where they had to lower the speed limit for the crew, they found that the lower speed limit overall, even when the crew went home, resulted in reduced crashes. For that area they just decided to keep that limit after construction was complete.