SH2 median barriers

[JohnBoy]

A Middlemore hospital trauma specialist has called for a median barrier to be installed on SH 2 at Maramarua after the lastest fatal, a bike v truck.
He's obviously not a biker because he missed the irony of wanting cheesecutters installed to save our lives.

i work for a civil construction firm and everyone i have spoken to have rubbished them as being pointless and eventually too expensive.

also according to the design manual when constructing them you have to allow for a 2 meter deflection zone, meaning that the barrier will deflect 2m into the other lane before holding a vehicle.
have a look at one the next time you pass one and see if feel comfortable even in a cage!!

[Lou Girardin]

i work for a civil construction firm and everyone i have spoken to have rubbished them as being pointless and eventually too expensive.

also according to the design manual when constructing them you have to allow for a 2 meter deflection zone, meaning that the barrier will deflect 2m into the other lane before holding a vehicle.
have a look at one the next time you pass one and see if feel comfortable even in a cage!!

True, but it appears that the Pukerua bay one has prevented at least one head-on. I still loath them though.

[scumdog]

Has anyone seen any stats (collected by a respected body of number crunchers) with motorcyclist survival rate against those things?

I'll let you know when I hear of a motorcyclist hitting one......

[JohnBoy]

Has anyone seen any stats (collected by a respected body of number crunchers) with motorcyclist survival rate against those things?

probably not any... too hard for them to fudge the numbers to justify them!

[XP@]

i work for a civil construction firm and everyone i have spoken to have rubbished them as being pointless and eventually too expensive.

also according to the design manual when constructing them you have to allow for a 2 meter deflection zone, meaning that the barrier will deflect 2m into the other lane before holding a vehicle.
have a look at one the next time you pass one and see if feel comfortable even in a cage!!

Interesting, there appears to be a lot of areas where the clear zone is a lot less than 2m. The clear zone on the side of the road is designed to enable the road user to attempt recovery of the vehicle. Therefore it could be argued the smaller the clear zone the greater the number of accidents. Therefore IF the barrier is closer to the road than the recommended distance it could actuallt cause more accidents than it prevents.

Dealing with nearside barriers, section 4.20 gives the minimum of about 2.5meters.
http://www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/c..._feb_02/05.htm

In NZ there is an interesting document here
http://www.transit.govt.nz/technical...48_pdfFile.pdf

9 m is considered a minimum clear zone recovery area for high speed roads, where high speed is
defined as ≥ 70 km/h.

section 6.4 (i)

Flexible or semi-rigid barriers are usually suitable for relatively wide, flat
medians, provided the design deflection distance is less than one-half the
median width. Crashworthy transition sections must be installed to stiffen this
type of barrier locally if fixed objects are located within the design deflection
distance of the barrier. Narrow medians on heavily travelled roads usually
require a rigid barrier having little or no deflection when hit.

From what I have read, we should not be seeing these barriers without a fair clear zone.

We should also be seeing a MASSIVE ACC ad campaign to teach people how to stay on their own side of the road and go round corners. Every biker knows (or should) about delayed apexing... oooh can feel a rant coming on... better stop quick! (should also get some work done)

[Sniper]

Sounds like yet another money saving sceem (sp?) by LTSA to try and save money while not saving lives.

God damn cheese cutters, I have seen them do some really nasty damage

[Lou Girardin]

Even armco is a worry. I went to a m/cycle v barrier on the Dominion Rd fly-over. Several pieces of flesh were smeared over three or four uprights.
Not a good look.

[RDJ]

Cheese cutter going up on SH1 between Longswamp and Huntly...the only bikes I've seen on that stretch are Harleys,so no worries eh?

Guess we have to tolerate the intolerant.

[sunhuntin]

the downhill stretch just prior to turakina [on the wanganui side] has been hit, im guessing a car. the wire is still there, but about 10 of those posts have been snapped. they actually look a lot like those reflectors...the posts arent that strong at all. theres a string of cones there now. lol.

personally, i treat the wires as just another hazard. i know cars are dangerous, and wet roads, white paint and manhole covers. i ride those to keep myself safe, and dont push my limits...same with the cheese cutters...it looks like itd leave a lot of human debris, so i ride in a way thatll keep that from happening.
what i do hate is the lack of run off area where the wire is...no chance to try and cut down your speed. i also hate that it doesnt have any reflective bits on it...that makes it doubly dangerous.

[The Pastor]

It will take more than one death for anyone to change it though.

[Swoop]

too hard for them to fudge the numbers...

Yeah - right...

We are talking about public servants and bureaucrats here....
MASTERS of the fudge.

[Hitcher]

Turakina is hardly SH 2.

[sunhuntin]

no its not, but the barrier is the same as what would be used.

[cowboyz]

Aint these cheese cutters just the incentive for M/cyclists to stay on the correct side of the road though?

Half of them....

[eliot-ness]

The third one is good

Click on the third one, then click on the highlighted 2/10. This is exactly what I advocated a couple of months ago. Shrubbery. As stated, the first tests were done in 1966 New tests have shown the method to work well with deceleration equal to heavy braking at lower speeds and more than adequate to stop a human body, ie. a sliding biker, with little physical damage. Unlikely it will ever happen here though, the cost is too high. Seems like all we can do is slow down and leave the overtaking 'til the road is clear. Works for me