The States of Kansas and Missouri Suspend ET-Plus Guardrail Installations After Lawsuit
Missouri and Kansas transportation officials have suspended installations of a guardrail system over concerns about its safety.
Critics of the ET-Plus guardrail systems contend its design allows sections of metal to break off and run through vehicles that collide with the rails.
The system is manufactured by Trinity Industries in Dallas. The Kansas City Star reports a Trinity spokesman defended the guardrails and predicted new federally required crash tests underway in San Antonio will show the product is safe.
A recent study funded partly by Missouri found that ET-Plus is almost four times more likely to be involved in fatal accidents than an earlier guardrail system.
Missouri suspended installations after survivors of a northwest Missouri man sued over an accident involving the ET-Plus system.
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A common type of guardrail made by a highway
manufacturing heavyweight is responsible for four deaths and nine injuries in
states like Texas, Tennessee, Florida and Virginia, according to lawsuits filed
across the country.
In November, Scripps reporters released information
relating to at least eight lawsuits or attorneys general complaints that have
been filed in recent years against Dallas-based Trinity Highway Products. The
lawsuits claim a small alteration to a device at the beginning of guardrails,
known as an end terminal or guardrail head, causes the device to perform
incorrectly.
Now, months after the investigation, Scripps reporters
have learned the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has removed the end
terminal model, the ET-Plus, from it’s list of approved products.
“A change made to the size of the guard channels on the
ET-Plus was not reported to NDOT, as required by our policy,” Meg Ragonese, the
public information officer for NDOT wrote in an email.
In Nevada and Florida, the transportation department’s
require companies to tell transportation officials about any changes made to
products approved for use on highways.
