National Highways is being urged to restart its stalled programme to replace ageing motorway steel barriers with stronger concrete systems amid growing safety fears over heavier electric vehicles.
Most existing steel barriers were only designed to contain vehicles up to 1.5 tonnes, below the weight of modern battery-powered SUVs and EVs, which can exceed 2.2 tonnes.
In new report, Containing the risk of heavier electric cars: a concrete solution, concrete paving trade body Britpave warns that outdated barriers may fail to contain electric cars during collisions, increasing the risk of vehicles crossing central reservations into oncoming traffic.
Concrete barriers, it argues, provide far greater protection — capable of containing vehicles of up to 13.5 tonnes in tests and even stopping 44-tonne HGVs in real-world crashes.
Recognising the superior strength of concrete barriers in 2022 National Highways started a 3-year programme to replace 63 miles of steel barriers on existing motorways that were reaching the end of their 20-year design life.
The programme includes sections of the M6, M62, M42, M1, M4 and M5. But the abandonment of the smart motorway programme saw replacement work falter with funding withdrawn and proposed projects being postponed.
The Vehicle Restraint Manufacturers Association has also warned ministers that the issue represents a “critical and largely overlooked” safety concern as Britain transitions to electric vehicles.
Crash testing in the US by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility found that a Tesla Model 3 lifted and passed beneath a steel guardrail at 62mph — while a concrete barrier contained the same vehicle.
Britpave Chair Al McDermid said: “Steel barriers were never designed for the increased weight of electric vehicles. They are simply not robust enough to contain errant vehicles and prevent them from crossing through the central reservation.
“Concrete barriers are recognised for their superior containment, yet the replacement programme seems to be faltering when it should be accelerated and expanded.”
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