Patent ID: 7878486

Claim:
A structural safety system to absorb energy from an errant vehicle, comprising: at least one support; at least one vehicle impact absorbing member, each said vehicle impact absorbing member having at least one elongated opening, each said opening corresponding to a respective said support and longitudinally extending along a longitudinal length of said vehicle impact absorbing member; at least one securing member, each said securing member passing through a respective said opening in one of said vehicle impact absorbing members and supported on a respective said support; each said securing member comprising a head and a shaft extending from said head, said shaft comprising an end and supported on a respective said support and a positioning member adjacent said head, said positioning member having an oblong cross-sectional shape having opposing apexes, and said head having opposing perimeter edges diametrically aligned with and disposed at or offset radially inward from said opposing apexes; and a longitudinally extending edge portion of each said opening defining a releasing member for releasing said vehicle impact absorbing member from said support during a vehicle impact, said edge portion of said opening deformed by said head of a respective said securing member during a vehicle impact; and said positioning member of each said securing member extending through a respective said opening such that said opposing apexes of said positioning member are longitudinally aligned within said opening, said opposing perimeter edges of said head of said securing member each being spaced between opposing longitudinal ends of said opening, regardless of the longitudinal position of said positioning member within said opening, thereby preventing each opposing perimeter edge of said securing member from overlapping or engaging said longitudinal ends of said opening during release of said vehicle impact absorbing member from said support and enabling said opening to deform and pass said head of said securing member through said opening to release said impact absorbing member from said support.