Thread: Tennessee bills teen to replace guardrail that killed her

Now it's certainly sad to see a young person lose their life and the government did say this was a mistake so with that out of the way let's get to what really is wrong with this way of thinking.

Here is the article with the point of this thread highlighted.

LENOIR CITY, Tenn.*— The state of Tennessee has billed a dead teen nearly $3,000 to replace the guardrail that killed her in a car crash in November.

Her flabbergasted father said that he not only would not pay but also*contends that the model of guardrail that struck his daughter was poorly designed and dangerous.

Around 5:44 a.m. ET Nov. 1, Hannah Eimers, 17, was driving her father's 2000 Volvo S80 on Interstate 75 northbound*near Niota, Tenn., when the car*left the road, traveled into the median and hit*the end of a guardrail*with the driver's side door, according to a*Tennessee Highway Patrol crash report.

Instead of deflecting the car or buckling to absorb the impact, the guardrail end impaled the vehicle, striking the teen in the head and chest and*pushing*her into the back seat, according to the report. She*died instantly.

Four months later, Steven Eimers of Lenoir City*received a $2,970 bill from the Tennessee Department of Transportation, dated Feb. 24 and addressed to Hannah*for*the cost of labor and materials to install 25 feet of guardrail at the scene of the crash.

"I’m shocked, the audacity," he said.*"What bothers me is that they’re playing Russian roulette with people's lives. They know these devices do not perform at high speeds and in situations like my daughter’s accident, but they leave them in place."

OK, first of all the guard rail did not strike her, she struck it. Blaming the guard rail for this is just idiotic and I understand the grieving parent but use some common sense here.

Second of all they are not playing Russian roulette, these rails are not meant to be hit by a person in an automobile. If I run my car into a brick wall I should not be blaming the wall for not being better designed to protect me from a head on collision with it.

That is just stupid.

Now you run your car into the pointy part of a guard rail then yes, it's probably going to impale the driver.

This mentality of blaming anyone and everything for a horrible tragedy is ridiculous.

Tennessee bills teen to replace guardrail that killed her

The purpose of the guard rail is to absorb an impact. This guard rail failed to do that. If they are using the same style of rail, they might want to first look at if there is any design flaw.

Originally Posted by Spookycolt

Now it's certainly sad to see a young person lose their life and the government did say this was a mistake so with that out of the way let's get to what really is wrong with this way of thinking.

Here is the article with the point of this thread highlighted.



OK, first of all the guard rail did not strike her, she struck it. Blaming the guard rail for this is just idiotic and I understand the grieving parent but use some common sense here.

Second of all they are not playing Russian roulette, these rails are not meant to be hit by a person in an automobile. If I run my car into a brick wall I should not be blaming the wall for not being better designed to protect me from a head on collision with it.

That is just stupid.

Now you run your car into the pointy part of a guard rail then yes, it's probably going to impale the driver.

This mentality of blaming anyone and everything for a horrible tragedy is ridiculous.

Tennessee bills teen to replace guardrail that killed her

I would agree to pay the $3,000 if and only if the person(s) responsible for Charging me for the guard rail would personally receive the payment from me.

Then I'd go to jail..

Originally Posted by Spookycolt

Now it's certainly sad to see a young person lose their life and the government did say this was a mistake so with that out of the way let's get to what really is wrong with this way of thinking.

Here is the article with the point of this thread highlighted.



OK, first of all the guard rail did not strike her, she struck it. Blaming the guard rail for this is just idiotic and I understand the grieving parent but use some common sense here.

Second of all they are not playing Russian roulette, these rails are not meant to be hit by a person in an automobile. If I run my car into a brick wall I should not be blaming the wall for not being better designed to protect me from a head on collision with it.

That is just stupid.

Now you run your car into the pointy part of a guard rail then yes, it's probably going to impale the driver.

This mentality of blaming anyone and everything for a horrible tragedy is ridiculous.

Tennessee bills teen to replace guardrail that killed her

Key word G U A R Drail!!!!!!!!!!

No, nothing will protect every life in every situation, but one week before this poor girl was killed, the state removed this guardrail end, from its approved products list.

It's a tragedy, for sure and added to by a mistake in the billing. If the state is lucky, the father will leave it at that and not pursue an investigation into whether a different rail end or how it was installed, could have meant a different outcome for his daughter. The idea of any end of a GUARDrail is NOT to impale vehicles that hit it, but to crush and absorb as much of the impact as possible.

http://kdvr.com/2016/11/16/guardrail...-expectations/

http://www.barriersystemsinc.com/xlite-end-terminal

http://www.crashforensics.com/papers.cfm?PaperID=53

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...tleblower.html

http://epg.modot.org/index.php?title=606.1_Guardrail

What's wrong with YOU, is the question.

Originally Posted by Spookycolt

Now it's certainly sad to see a young person lose their life and the government did say this was a mistake so with that out of the way let's get to what really is wrong with this way of thinking.

Here is the article with the point of this thread highlighted.



OK, first of all the guard rail did not strike her, she struck it. Blaming the guard rail for this is just idiotic and I understand the grieving parent but use some common sense here.

Second of all they are not playing Russian roulette, these rails are not meant to be hit by a person in an automobile. If I run my car into a brick wall I should not be blaming the wall for not being better designed to protect me from a head on collision with it.

That is just stupid.

Now you run your car into the pointy part of a guard rail then yes, it's probably going to impale the driver.

This mentality of blaming anyone and everything for a horrible tragedy is ridiculous.

Tennessee bills teen to replace guardrail that killed her

Interesting and sad to say the least. Around here, the normal process is that the damage done to state property (the guardrail) is billed to the insurance company of the at-fault driver. The first thing that jumps out at me, after acknowledging that this is a tragedy, is was this an uninsured motorist?

Second, the father's complaint that the guardrail didn't "deflect" her car is not a failure of the guardrail. While it should absorb the impact, one of the last things you want guardrail to do is deflect a car and send it back out into the road where it can then cause more vehicles to be involved.

Finally, the end of the guardrail can be a danger and there are a number of modifications that can be made to it to improve its safety including mounting crash attenuators in front of the exposed end and building berms and then burying the guardrail end in a small landscaped hillside, plus other options. The right choice depends a lot on budget and geography. Modern crash attenuators are very expensive and sometimes have to be completely replaced after each strike. The building of a roadside berm in some locations can protect the motorist from the guardrail end but serve as a ramp that if hit right could launch the vehicle into the air.

Guardrail is placed along roads in a good faith effort to protect those driving on them. All bets are off and bad things can happen anytime a car leaves the road. This was tragic but more information and understanding is needed. Only so much can be done to protect every guardrail end on every road and the alternative would be to remove all guardrail. Also, while this was an insensitive way to handle it, it's somewhat of an automated process and I can't fault the state for attempting to recoup the cost of third party damage to its property. Like I said, this is usually billed straight to the insurance company so something appears to be going on there as well.

Originally Posted by Spookycolt

Now it's certainly sad to see a young person lose their life and the government did say this was a mistake so with that out of the way let's get to what really is wrong with this way of thinking.

Here is the article with the point of this thread highlighted.



OK, first of all the guard rail did not strike her, she struck it. Blaming the guard rail for this is just idiotic and I understand the grieving parent but use some common sense here.

Second of all they are not playing Russian roulette, these rails are not meant to be hit by a person in an automobile. If I run my car into a brick wall I should not be blaming the wall for not being better designed to protect me from a head on collision with it.

That is just stupid.

Now you run your car into the pointy part of a guard rail then yes, it's probably going to impale the driver.

This mentality of blaming anyone and everything for a horrible tragedy is ridiculous.

Tennessee bills teen to replace guardrail that killed her

It's probably a strategic move on the part of the state, because a defective design/wrongful death case on a middle class teen can be worth millions in compensatory damages alone. Much more, if the jury awards punitive damages.

Has Tennessee had a rash of these kinds of deaths, so the state might fear a backlash verdict?

Even if the parents of this teen have not yet sued the state, it's reasonable to expect they will. Obviously, they have consulted a highway design expert already and chances are, their lawyer found that person.

It makes for very odd news, though. You'd think politicians would have more care as to how the public will view this action.

Originally Posted by KnotaFrayed

Key word G U A R Drail!!!!!!!!!!

No, nothing will protect every life in every situation, but one week before this poor girl was killed, the state removed this guardrail end, from its approved products list.

It's a tragedy, for sure and added to by a mistake in the billing. If the state is lucky, the father will leave it at that and not pursue an investigation into whether a different rail end or how it was installed, could have meant a different outcome for his daughter. The idea of any end of a GUARDrail is NOT to impale vehicles that hit it, but to crush and absorb as much of the impact as possible.

Guardrail end caps fail to meet safety expectations | FOX31 Denver

End Terminals | Road Safety | Barrier Systems

After All These Years Blunt-End Guardrails are Still Spearing Cars on U.S. Roads

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...tleblower.html

606.1 Guardrail - Engineering Policy Guide

What's wrong with YOU, is the question.

No need to be so snotty in replying; Spooky asked about a curious news item.

Which it is.

If this had been a state owned park and she fell to her death off a cliff, that would be different. (IMO.) Charging the family to recover her body, say, would most likely be contrary to public policy, offend the equal protection clause and be barred 12 other ways.

This fact pattern is different because the state has a duty to people in transportation that is somewhat higher than in other matters and, of course, the guard rail was defective designed/maintained. They are on the hook, and damages such cases can be ENORMOUS.

Years ago, there was a patch of interstate in the MidAtlantic/Mountain states that habitually saw chain reaction crashes. There was a microclimate that combined smoke from nearby factories and fog that particular dip in the landscape caused, to create an almost-instant zero visibility, which (it was argued) the highway designers should have anticipated (certainly after the first few times this happened.)



Still happens, I guess. (I don't know why Florida would have had either smoke or fog, tbh. But I couldn't find video of the 1990-era crashes.)