The Dangers of Ramped Ends on Motorways

I've often wondered what would happen if I hit one of these Road Engineers call them ramped ends, it's the traditional way of dealing with the end of a crash barrier ramping the barrier down into the ground and finishing off the end with a sloping lump of concrete they've been used since the 19 70s but I've always suspected these ramped ends could act as launch pads catapulting your car into the other carriageway or anything in its path in a sort of imitation of a Hollywood Blockbuster stunt.

With 33,000 crash barrier terminals on dual carriageways and motorways including ramped barriers at most Motorway Junctions that's a lot of spectacular accidents waiting to happen but are the consequences of say misjudging a Mot way exit and accidentally hitting one of these barriers as horrific as you might imagine. Well we've joined Highway Engineers mck McDonald and balur Bey who are going to do an experiment to find out.

We've got a reconstruction of a typical Motorway Junction complete with the signpost there are two crash barriers which meet at a point the idea is they stop you hitting the signpost if something goes wrong and we've got one of our famous remote control C cars that will drive towards the barrier at 70 mph to simulate what could happen should your attention wander while exiting the junction will the ramp ends cushion the blow gently lifting the car or will the result be much much more Hollywood.

The remote control team got into position to perform the test oh and they missed they didn't hit the ramped end they hit the side of the barrier but it was reassuring to see how it repelled the 70 mph car with ease The Superficial damage was repaired and the car lined up for a second attempt a direct hit and it was as spectacular as my worst fears.

So it looks like the cars hit the concrete and then the barrier but rather than protecting you against the sign what the barrier's done is actually just flip the car straight up into the sign and on hitting the ground the car's thrown over violently making this a particularly unpleasant way to crash. The consequences would be even worse with a bridge parit rather than a sign behind the barrier according to a survey in warshire every Motorway Junction with ramped ends can expect an injury or death from a crash like this every 5 years or so and that up round the road Network and you get hundreds of deaths or injuries a year.

But because the locations are all spread out they don't get classed as accident black spots and it's hard to justify changing the barrier design thankfully new barriers currently being installed are safer. This may look severe but you can hit it at 70 mph with a much reduced chance of injury and without the car flying into the air where the barrier has to protect a broader object like a toll booth these crash cushions are now being used.

The highways agency are also improving the design of structures the crash barriers there to protect energy absorbing posts like the ones we've already featured on fifth gear are much less damaging to hit with friendly rude Furniture like this you don't need the barrier in the first place I'd certainly rather drive into one of these than fly into this.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI've often wondered what would happen if I hit one of these Road Engineers call them ramped ends it's the traditional way of dealing with the end of a crash barrier ramping the barrier down into the ground and finishing off the end with a sloping lump of concrete they've been used since the 19 70s but I've always suspected these ramped ends could act as launch pads catapulting your car into the other carriageway or anything in its path in a sort of imitation of a Hollywood Blockbuster stunt and with 33,000 crash barrier terminals on Dual carriageways and motorways including ramped barriers at most Motorway Junctions that's a lot of spectacular accidents waiting to happen but are the consequences of say misjudging a Mot way exit and accidentally hitting one of these barriers as horrific as you might imagine well we've joined Highway Engineers mck McDonald and balur Bey who are going to do an experiment to find out we've got a reconstruction of a typical Motorway Junction complete with the signpost there are two crash barriers which meet at a point the idea is they stop you hitting the signpost if something goes wrong and we've got one of our famous remote control C cars that will drive towards the barrier at 70 mph to simulate what could happen should your attention wander while exiting the junction will the ramp ends cushion the blow gently lifting the car or will the result be much much more Hollywood the remote control team got into position to perform the test oh and they missed they didn't hit the ramped end they hit the side of the barrier but it was reassuring to see how it repelled the 70 mph car with ease The Superficial damage was repaired and the car lined up for a second attempt a direct hit and it was as spectacular as my worst fears so it looks like the cars hit the concrete and then the barrier but rather than protecting you against the sign what the barrier's done is actually just flip the car straight up into the sign and on hitting the ground the car's thrown over violently making this a particularly unpleasant way to crash the consequences would be even worse with a bridge parit rather than a sign behind the barrier according to a survey in warshire every Motorway Junction with ramped ends can expect an injury or death from a crash like this every 5 years or so and that up round the road Network and you get hundreds of deaths or injuries a year but because the locations are all spread out they don't get classed as accident black spots and it's hard to justify changing the barrier design thankfully new barriers currently being installed are safer this may look severe but you can hit it at 70 mph with a much reduced chance of injury and without the car flying into the air where the barrier has to protect a broader object like a toll booth these crash cushions are now being used the highways agency are also improving the design of structures the crash barriers there to protect energy absorbing posts like the ones we've already featured on fifth gear are much less damaging to hit with friendly rude Furniture like this you don't need the barrier in the first place I'd certainly rather drive into one of these than fly into this this ohI've often wondered what would happen if I hit one of these Road Engineers call them ramped ends it's the traditional way of dealing with the end of a crash barrier ramping the barrier down into the ground and finishing off the end with a sloping lump of concrete they've been used since the 19 70s but I've always suspected these ramped ends could act as launch pads catapulting your car into the other carriageway or anything in its path in a sort of imitation of a Hollywood Blockbuster stunt and with 33,000 crash barrier terminals on Dual carriageways and motorways including ramped barriers at most Motorway Junctions that's a lot of spectacular accidents waiting to happen but are the consequences of say misjudging a Mot way exit and accidentally hitting one of these barriers as horrific as you might imagine well we've joined Highway Engineers mck McDonald and balur Bey who are going to do an experiment to find out we've got a reconstruction of a typical Motorway Junction complete with the signpost there are two crash barriers which meet at a point the idea is they stop you hitting the signpost if something goes wrong and we've got one of our famous remote control C cars that will drive towards the barrier at 70 mph to simulate what could happen should your attention wander while exiting the junction will the ramp ends cushion the blow gently lifting the car or will the result be much much more Hollywood the remote control team got into position to perform the test oh and they missed they didn't hit the ramped end they hit the side of the barrier but it was reassuring to see how it repelled the 70 mph car with ease The Superficial damage was repaired and the car lined up for a second attempt a direct hit and it was as spectacular as my worst fears so it looks like the cars hit the concrete and then the barrier but rather than protecting you against the sign what the barrier's done is actually just flip the car straight up into the sign and on hitting the ground the car's thrown over violently making this a particularly unpleasant way to crash the consequences would be even worse with a bridge parit rather than a sign behind the barrier according to a survey in warshire every Motorway Junction with ramped ends can expect an injury or death from a crash like this every 5 years or so and that up round the road Network and you get hundreds of deaths or injuries a year but because the locations are all spread out they don't get classed as accident black spots and it's hard to justify changing the barrier design thankfully new barriers currently being installed are safer this may look severe but you can hit it at 70 mph with a much reduced chance of injury and without the car flying into the air where the barrier has to protect a broader object like a toll booth these crash cushions are now being used the highways agency are also improving the design of structures the crash barriers there to protect energy absorbing posts like the ones we've already featured on fifth gear are much less damaging to hit with friendly rude Furniture like this you don't need the barrier in the first place I'd certainly rather drive into one of these than fly into this this ohI've often wondered what would happen if I hit one of these Road Engineers call them ramped ends it's the traditional way of dealing with the end of a crash barrier ramping the barrier down into the ground and finishing off the end with a sloping lump of concrete they've been used since the 19 70s but I've always suspected these ramped ends could act as launch pads catapulting your car into the other carriageway or anything in its path in a sort of imitation of a Hollywood Blockbuster stunt and with 33,000 crash barrier terminals on Dual carriageways and motorways including ramped barriers at most Motorway Junctions that's a lot of spectacular accidents waiting to happen but are the consequences of say misjudging a Mot way exit and accidentally hitting one of these barriers as horrific as you might imagine well we've joined Highway Engineers mck McDonald and balur Bey who are going to do an experiment to find out we've got a reconstruction of a typical Motorway Junction complete with the signpost there are two crash barriers which meet at a point the idea is they stop you hitting the signpost if something goes wrong and we've got one of our famous remote control C cars that will drive towards the barrier at 70 mph to simulate what could happen should your attention wander while exiting the junction will the ramp ends cushion the blow gently lifting the car or will the result be much much more Hollywood the remote control team got into position to perform the test oh and they missed they didn't hit the ramped end they hit the side of the barrier but it was reassuring to see how it repelled the 70 mph car with ease The Superficial damage was repaired and the car lined up for a second attempt a direct hit and it was as spectacular as my worst fears so it looks like the cars hit the concrete and then the barrier but rather than protecting you against the sign what the barrier's done is actually just flip the car straight up into the sign and on hitting the ground the car's thrown over violently making this a particularly unpleasant way to crash the consequences would be even worse with a bridge parit rather than a sign behind the barrier according to a survey in warshire every Motorway Junction with ramped ends can expect an injury or death from a crash like this every 5 years or so and that up round the road Network and you get hundreds of deaths or injuries a year but because the locations are all spread out they don't get classed as accident black spots and it's hard to justify changing the barrier design thankfully new barriers currently being installed are safer this may look severe but you can hit it at 70 mph with a much reduced chance of injury and without the car flying into the air where the barrier has to protect a broader object like a toll booth these crash cushions are now being used the highways agency are also improving the design of structures the crash barriers there to protect energy absorbing posts like the ones we've already featured on fifth gear are much less damaging to hit with friendly rude Furniture like this you don't need the barrier in the first place I'd certainly rather drive into one of these than fly into this this oh\n"