Tennessee to replace controversial guardrails as death toll climbs
As Tennessee prepares to spend millions of dollars to remove and replace the majority of 1,700 allegedly defective guardrail ends along state roads, officials in other states have begun confirming deaths tied to the same type of guardrail.
At least seven people have died in six crashes in Tennessee, Missouri and Virginia when their vehicles struck Lindsay X-LITE guardrail ends, the USA TODAY Network-Tennessee has learned. In at least five of those crashes, the guardrails impaled vehicles along interstates with speed limits of 70 mph.
This model of guardrail end has been the subject of controversy since the Tennessee Department of Transportation mistakenly billed 17-year-old Hannah Eimers nearly $3,000 to replace the X-LITE that killed her in a car crash last November. After that story went viral, the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee reported that since June 2016, X-LITE ends have penetrated three vehicles, killing four people in Tennessee.
In two of those three crashes — which killed Jacob Davison, 18, of Zionville, N.C.; Lauren Beuttel, 21, of Johnson City, Tenn.; and Wilbert Byrd, 69, of Detroit — the guardrails "did not perform as they were intended to," TDOT communications director B.J. Doughty said Tuesday.
In the crash that killed Hannah, the X-LITE performed "exactly the way it was supposed to ... all three pieces telescoped," Doughty said. The impalement of Hannah's car was due to the angle of the crash: the rail impacted the driver's side door, she said.
Most guardrails are constructed of multiple pieces designed to "telescope" or slide into each other when struck, absorbing some of the impact of a crash and preventing the metal end from skewering the vehicle.
TDOT found the X-LITE model doesn't always work that way when hit at speeds higher than 62.2 mph, the standard crash test speed for guardrail ends.
Instead, in some crashes, the guardrail ends separated horizontally from the w-beam guardrails and pierced vehicle cabins, according to a letter from TDOT Commissioner John Schroer to Pamela Kordenbrock, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration's Tennessee branch.
TDOT also found the installation instructions for X-LITE terminals to be "unclear" regarding "a lack of bolt torque specifications," which "may cause installation deficiencies," the letter reads. Those deficiencies "could result in the terminal performing differently from the original tested conditions."
In other, non-fatal crashes, TDOT found some X-LITE guardrails failed to telescope but didn't pierce vehicles.
The agency is still investigating whether a crash that killed two people when a vehicle hit a guardrail end in Hamblen County involved an X-LITE, Doughty said Wednesday.
The findings prompted TDOT to begin accepting bids on March 31 for contractors to remove and replace most of the 1,700 to 1,800 X-LITE ends on state roads where speed limits exceed 45 mph. The agency previously estimated the number of guardrails to be closer to 1,000.
The work is included in the department's annual on-call guardrail repair and replacement contract, which is awarded every spring. It costs about $2,000 for labor and materials to replace an X-LITE, so the total cost of the endeavor could top $3.6 million, Doughty said.
The contracts will be awarded, region by region, on or before April 30. The work is slated to be completed by June 30, 2018 at the latest.
Past coverage:
TDOT bills East Tennessee girl $3,000 for guardrail that killed her
Same guardrail model involved in at least 4 Tennessee deaths
Tennessee's move may be the first of its kind in the nation by a state department of transportation. Other states haven't formally announced plans to follow suit.
In Missouri, at least two people have died in crashes involving X-LITE ends since the state began using them in 2015, according to state design engineer Eric Schroeter. At least one of those crashes involved the guardrail end impaling the vehicle, he said.
Schroeter was unable to say how many of the terminals are on state roads, but said the Missouri Department of Transportation stopped repairing and installing the X-LITE — as well as all guardrails approved under the NCHRP 350 crash standards — last July.
When asked if Missouri might replace the guardrails, Schroeter said, "We haven’t taken action yet, but I can’t say that we won’t."
Virginia has less than 1,000 X-LITE ends on state roads, and 37 of those were involved in crashes between Oct. 31, 2013, and March 27, 2017, according to Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Marshall Herman. The guardrail end impaled the vehicle in just one of those crashes, killing the driver. Herman didn't immediately specify whether any of the other crashes were fatal.
The woman killed in that crash was 37-year-old Sarah Weinberg, according to Thomas Curcio, an attorney retained by Weinberg's family.
Weinberg was driving home on Dec. 23 last year to see her parents for Christmas when she drove off the left side of Interstate 66 in Fauquier County and hit an X-LITE end "almost head-on," Curcio said.
"Rather than telescoping, the guardrail rode up over the hood, crushed the windshield and literally whipped the roof open like a can opener," Curcio said in a phone conversation Wednesday. "The second section of guardrail penetrated the firewall, came over the left side of the motor and punched open the driver’s door. She suffered massive head injuries and was killed."
The terminals "are not doing what they're designed to do," he said. "They’re supposed to telescope to absorb the energy and bring the vehicle to a controlled stop, and that’s not what’s happening."
In statements provided by a company representative, Lindsay Corp. officials have repeatedly noted the X-LITE model has passed crash and safety tests and remains approved for use by the Federal Highway Administration.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by these tragic accidents," reads a statement from Scott Marion, president of the company's infrastructure division. "For decades, Lindsay Transportation Solutions has made safety our number one priority. ... It is widely recognized that there are impact conditions that exceed the performance expectations of all safety equipment, and equipment’s inability to singly prevent every tragedy does not indicate a flaw or defect.
"While federal crash testing is intended to assess a variety of conditions, no test can replicate every possible scenario and factors, including severity of an impact, type and size of a vehicle, the installation and maintenance of the product, the angle at which a vehicle makes impact, vehicle speed, highway design, and many more. Without understanding the complete details of an accident, there is no additional information we can offer.”
"A guardrail is not something you want to hit," TDOT's Doughty said. "If you hit anything going 70 plus mph, it is probably going to be a devastating type crash. ...
"These devices are not a pillow for you to hit to gently stop your car."