NS halts installation of guardrail safety device
Posted Mar 5, 2015 10:23:44 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A safety device installed in guardrails all across North America is being looked at after the company that makes it, changed its design.
One Ontario lawyer said that redesign makes it more dangerous.
The U.S.-made Trinity ET Plus — the end part on a guardrail that’s supposed to absorb impact during an accident — hasn’t been installed in Nova Scotia since last Fall.
According to provincial transportation spokesperson, Brian Taylor, once the U.S. highway authorities ordered new crash testing of the device in that country, Nova Scotia’s held off on approving it.
“We’ve frozen the use of the system, pending the results of their recertification, which is the process they’re going through right now down in the States.”
Taylor said Nova Scotia receives updates on that process, but can’t say when exactly the verdict will come.
“A lot of the legal questions are around changes they made to their system without going through the recertification process,” he said. “And because that came to light, they’re now in the process of recertifying with the Federal Highway Association.”
Stratford, Ont., has launched a proposed $500-million lawsuit against Trinity, the U.S. company that makes it.
According to that suit, with the ET Plus, the guardrail “becomes a rigid spear that impales the vehicle and its occupants, often severing limbs.”
Taylor said Nova Scotia started installing the ET Plus in guardrails over 10 years ago.
