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Median Crossover Head-On Crashes

In 2001 there were 23,139 roadway departure fatalities, accounting for
almost 55% of all roadway fatalities. Of this total, 16,214 fatalities
were from run-off-the-road (ROR) crashes, which comprise 38.5% of all
fatalities.

Also, there were 740,000 roadway departure injury crashes (35% of all
injury crashes) and 2,600,000 roadway departure crashes (40% of all
crashes) in 2001.

On the freeway system, there were 267 fatalities involving crossover
median head-on collisions -- a number which may seem small in comparison
to the statistics listed above.

But these are extremely dangerous and tragic crashes. In fact, these
crashes are [3 times as severe]{.underline} as other highway crashes. It
is the extreme severity of these fatalities and injuries, as well as the
fact that many of these are innocent victims that tells the real story.

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Why Are Median Crossover Head-On Collisions So Deadly?

Due to the extraordinary growth of traffic and congestion on today's
freeways, when a vehicle leaves the road and crosses the median, there
is a high probability of hitting one or more oncoming vehicles if there
isn't a median barrier.

And unfortunately, many freeways do not have median barriers to prevent
these catastrophic median crossover collisions.

When many of the early freeways were built, these freeways, including
the median width, were designed for forecasted volumes. No one
anticipated the current high level of traffic volume and the need for
median barriers.

However, traffic volume and traffic congestion increased far beyond the
forecasted levels. In order to improve mobility, new lanes were often
added by narrowing median widths even further.

So today, with the higher traffic volumes traveling at high speeds, and
narrow medians without barriers, median crossover head-on crashes are
occurring with increasing frequency and deadly results.

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height="1.9583333333333333in"}

FHWA RECOMMENDS THE USE OF MEDIAN BARRIERS: A proven safety technology
that prevents deadly, median crossover head-on crashes.

What Does A Median Barrier Do?

Median barriers are designed to prevent vehicles from crossing the
median and going into opposing lanes.

There are different types of median barriers (concrete, steel, and
cable) and all are designed to safely stop or redirect a vehicle that
enters the median.

The most commonly used median barrier in urban areas is the concrete
Jersey barrier. Metal beam and cable barriers are commonly used in rural
areas.

What Kind of Median Barrier

Should Be Used?

In order to determine what type of median barrier should be used,
highway engineers assess a number of factors including: traffic volume
and speed; traffic vehicle mix; median width and cross slope; number of
lanes; roadway alignment; crash history; and installation and
maintenance costs.

SCDOT Success Story -- 99% Effective

In 1999-2000, more than 70 people in South Carolina lost their lives in
57 separate interstate media crashes.

To address this problem, SCDOT, using 100% federal-aid funds from FHWA,
installed 314.5 miles of three-strand median cable on all interstate
segments with medians less than 60 feet wide.

Over the next three years, the results of this installation showed that
1,913 vehicles were stopped by the median barriers. Only 15 vehicles --
less than 1 percent of those that penetrated the median -- also
penetrated the cable barrier, resulting in 8 median crossover
fatalities.

Put another way, the installation of these cable media barriers were 99%
effective in saving lives.

NCDOT Success with Median Barriers

In January 2003, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)
announced that its median barrier safety program, called Across the
Median Safety, saved almost 70 lives and prevented hundreds of injuries.

Established in 1998, this program has installed about 730 miles of
median barriers on full-access highways -- with median widths of 70 feet
or less \-- that have a record of crossover crashes. NCDOT plans to
install another 1,000 miles by the spring of 2004.

Federal Standards for Median Barriers

FHWA requires that all roadside hardware such as median barriers used on
the National Highway System meet the federal standards contained in the
National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350,
"Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway
Features." For more information, go to the FHWA Safety Website at:
[***http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/report350hardware***](http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/reports350hardware).

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