Analysis of the Impact of Road Safety Barriers on Reducing the Risk of Dangerous Road Accidents and Their Consequences

Abstract

The weaknesses of the road systems were analyzed, including dangerous events generated by vehicle getting out of the road and consequent secondary dangerous events such as: driving over a barrier or other dangerous object located next to road or roofing of the vehicle. Particularly, the security, availability of technological solutions for protection barriers, columns and road signs on roads and bridges were considered. The preventive and protective functions of road equipment and engineering objects are given, which are adequate to the specific risk. Failures of safety barriers and road protection barriers and the consequences of their failures for people, properties and the environment were analyzed. Solutions for the construction of road barriers were analyzed in terms of: availability, the degree of reliability of their components and the possibility of maintaining risk within acceptable limits. The scope of fulfillment of required functional features, design methods, modern technological solutions, test methods and certification procedures were analyzed. Functional features of protective barriers regarding: the protection level, displacements and the level of impact intensity were taken into account. Literature point of view on aided design of protective barriers has been included which covers finite element method (method of sum of displacements) with appropriate analysis of forces, torques and displacements with CAD systems including use of LS-DYNA system for events and damage parameters. A large part of the publication deals with modern technological solutions and analyzes including design of protective barriers, modeling of their elements as well as modeling collisions with vehicles, taking into account the impact of the ground. KEYWORDS: PROTECTION BARRIERS, FAILURES OF PROTECTION BARRIERS, DESIGN METHODS, SECURITY OF PROTECTION BARRIERS