[Overpaid Slacker]

There was an interesting program on one of the History Channel/Discovery/A&E type networks in the last month or so about traffic barrier technology. Evidently, the Texas Dept. of Highways (or whatever their official name is) is a world-leader in highway safety devices and re-engineered the guard rail terminations to prevent just this kind of thing from happening. They look like large square bumpers at the ends of the rail, so if you hit it, the rail peels away from the car rather than impaling it. It looks very clunky and low-tech, I guess more often than not the simple solution will be the best. The type of damage depicted above evidently happens "all the time" w/o the right guard rail terminations.

They had some really gruesome footage of the severe damage these safety devices (and stuff like roadside signs and improperly designed mailboxes) can cause.

JP