Thanks to KSAT 12 in San Antonio for their coverage of a simple accident that could have been much bigger news were it not for the effectiveness of a simple bollard.
Last night at a Shell gas station in San Antonio a driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel when she was exiting from a freeway. Her car rolled through some road signs and into the gas station where it headed straight for one of the gas pumps.
Fortunately for all concerned, this station was equipped with steel bollards installed directly in front of the gas pumps. When the SUV struck the bollard, the front of the vehicle absorbed much of the impact energy (as cars are designed to do) and it is reported that the driver was not seriously injured. It is unclear whether or not the airbags deployed on the vehicle, and while it is always hard to guess speed of impact from such limited information, I am going to just guesstimate from the damage that the SUV was traveling 20 to 25 MPH at the time it impacted the bollard.
What is clear was that a 6 inch diameter steel bollard, though scratched and leaning from the impact, stopped the moving vehicle and prevented the SUV from crashing through the gas pump. At the very least, there would have been a big, messy Hazmat cleanup; more often, fire erupts when gasoline flows out until the pump is shut off. If the woman was unconscious and no one could reach her in time, the fire would have been fatal.
withstand an impact of 30MPH from a test vehicle that weighs 5,000 LBS -- in short, exactly what happened at this Shell gas station in San Antonio. The fact that bollards were installed in front of these gas pumps may have saved a life; going forward, many more lives will be saved by installation of such safety devices in other vulnerable locations.
A New Report Has Been Issued on Drugged Driving -- Fasten Your Seat Belt And Hang On!!!
A study was released this week about the frequency of drugged driving in the journal Public Health Reports.
In a nutshell -- driving under the influence of multiple drugs is on the rise, driving under the influence of prescription drugs is on the rise, and the average age of drivers who are operating vehicles under the influence of three or more drugs is climbing along with the tide of aging Baby Boomer drivers.
--They compared rates for drivers testing positive for drugs after being involved in fatal crashes between 1993 and 2010. They found that the number of those who had three or more drugs in their body increased from 11.5 percent to 21.5 percent during that period.
--Drugged drivers involved in fatal crashes in the United States are more likely to test positive for prescription drugs, marijuana and multiple drugs than they were 20 years ago, a new study finds. These drivers are also now more likely to be older than 50, according to the researchers.
"While we've seen a decrease over the years in motor vehicle fatalities involving people under the influence, the nature of those crashes is changing," Wilson said. "These trends are likely to continue into the future given the aging U.S. population, an increasing reliance on prescription medications by medical providers, and increasing initiatives to legalize marijuana" he noted. "However, it is unclear whether current state policies are completely up to the challenge of addressing the growing issue of drugged driving."
Based on these findings and based on the evidence we see every day of the increasing frequency of pedal error crashes and crashes resulting from other driver error, we have to agree -- drugged drivers (on legal prescription medicines, marijuana, alcohol, illegal or un-prescribed medications and sometimes all of the above) are a huge risk to Americans where we live, work, play, and shop.
It is important to know the crash resistance of a product before it is purchased and installed in order to protect people and property, particularly at a site like First Responders Park in Hilliard Ohio, near Columbus. Dedicated to the first responders and decorated with artifacts of stone and steel from the World Trade Center, the park is busy with bike riders and pedestrians and is beautifully laid out and designed.
Unfortunately, it is not well protected.
This was proven last night when a DUI driver in a small passenger car drove into the line of decorative bollards and sheered off or shattered four of them. A small passenger car hitting four proper steel bollards would have been stopped cold and the bollards maybe slightly damaged; these decorative bollards had no impact resistance whatever; they failed to stop the car and will now have to be replaced.
See video coverage of the park and damage to the decorative bollards HERE.
ASTM, the worldwide standards organization is in the final stages of completing a new test standard (WK 13074) which will provide engineers, architects, developers, property owners, and municipal or other governmental end-users with a clear and specific qualification for products and manufacturers of safety barriers for low speed (30 MPH) applications. Vehicle incursions, whether accidental or deliberate, put people at risk every day; more than sixty such crashes happen in the US every day, with thousands injured and hundreds killed every year.
Specifiers, you need to be on notice -- if your intent is to separate people and property from inept or drunk or violent drivers; if you are going to install barriers in order to protect people where they live, work, play, or shop; if you want to comply with the emerging standard AND have a safer result for your project; if you want to protect yourself from future liability -- remember that "decorative" is for pretty, not for safety. The public sees decorative railings or pretty bollards such as the ones at this park and they make a presumption of personal safety, a presumption that is NOT based on the actual vehicle stopping capabilities of the product.
There is plenty of good product out there that looks beautiful and has actual crash resistance -- your clients and your projects and your customers are depend on you to make better choices.
Horrific Video of SUV Crashing Into a NY Library -- Pedal Error?
An SUV is seen approaching a library to park near the entrance. We see the SUV as it turns off of the street and moves through the parking lot. Unfortunately, the drive aisle is pointed directly at the library entrance and there are no barriers to prevent an incursion by an oncoming vehicle. As we see from the several different camera angles, the SUV accelerates instead of slowing down; several pedestrians are nearly struck; and in a split second the vehicle is several car lengths into the library and comes to rest on top of debris and patrons.
Several injuries -- fortunately all of the injured are recovering.
Thank to Westchester News 12 for great coverage. See the video HERE.
By all appearances, this seems like a case of pedal error. Although sudden acceleration has not been ruled out, there have been no reports of mechanical issues. The 58 year-old driver claims that there was some sort of mechanical failure; this is not indicated from the video. The SUV clearly accelerates, and comes to a stop only because of the debris (and people) piled in front of it after crashing through the entry and the circulation desk.
Now for the irony: the designers of the building did think that bollards would be a good idea to place at the library entrance; unfortunately, they thought two of them were sufficient and those two were placed so widely apart that the SUV had no trouble passing right between them......they look more like goal posts than barriers in the photo below. With a nice easy access ramp to the glass doors making it even easier.
Poor design execution. Failure to see an obvious hazard and failure to take simple and inexpensive steps to prevent a predictable and foreseeable incident. Once again, young lives have been altered and bodies injured because of a common accident with a common cause, and because designers and builders and a municipality have failed to follow a simple standard of care to protect library patrons and employees.