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NathanBacaNews OP t1_iv19wq9 wrote

I'm the WUSA9 reporter on this story. There's something called "Frankensteined" guardrails. That's when you have Brand A of a guardrail attached to Brand B of an end terminal. If a car hits that, the guardrail doesn't collapse and becomes a spear which can kill a driver. With the help of a dad who lost his daughter in a guardrail crash, we spotted some of these on and outside the Beltway. MDOT is now launching a statewide inspection expected to be complete April 2023 and has already begun to replace the frankensteined rails that exist. Virginia is replacing them too, but has not announced a statewide inspection. I'll try to answer any redditors questions!

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giscard78 t1_iv1bbob wrote

> the guardrail doesn't collapse and becomes a spear which can kill a driver

Wasn’t this an issue in Virginia about ten years ago, too? Might not have been quite that long, maybe 2014 or so, but I distinctly remember this issue occurring in the past.

I also somewhat remember that they had an issue either surveying the guardrails or going through the records to figure out which type of guard rail had been installed where.

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NathanBacaNews OP t1_iv1bkzy wrote

The previous issue had to do with a particular brand of guardrail that was prone to failure. The problem here is when you mix and match two different brands. By themselves, they could work perfectly. But when Brand A is used with Brand B, then the guardrails and end terminals are prone to fail.

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MsMrsh t1_iv3uxpr wrote

Thank you for reporting on this!

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