Bin the ‘cheese cutter’ barrier

3:04pm Tuesday 25th March 2008

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THE BRITISH Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) has called on Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick to end the installation of wire-rope - or cheese-cutter' - safety barriers.

The letter was prompted by the recent case of a motorcyclist who died after colliding with a wire-rope safety fence on the A41 New Ferry bypass in Merseyside.

It points out that, although the Highways Agency is aware of the BMF's concerns over the wire-rope safety fence type of vehicle restraint and now specifies other types of barrier, the de-trunking of large parts of the Highways Agency network now means control is passed to local authorities which often install wire-rope fences, mainly for aesthetic reasons.

If this continues, says the BMF, wire-rope safety fences will be installed on a growing portion of our road network, thereby increasing the risk to motorcyclists.

The BMF says that while local highway authorities maintain that wire-rope safety fences comply with the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and conform to the European standard for barriers, that does not currently test for motorcycle impacts.

In addition to the hazards presented by the wire ropes themselves, the exposed vertical supporting posts can cause severe injury and even death to a motorcyclist. Chris Hodder, the BMF government relations executive, said: "It seems perverse that a safety system has been designed which actually increases the likelihood of a fatality.

"Not only is the wire rope itself dangerous to motorcyclists, but its numerous upright support posts can also be lethal to riders. In the Netherlands and Norway such barriers have been outlawed following a spate of fatal accidents. We want the same to happen here."

Vertical concrete barriers (VCBs) are the BMF's preferred alternative. A motorcyclist colliding with a VCB at speed will still sustain injuries, but the trauma will be dissipated over a larger area reducing the chances of a fatal injury. Alternatively, the more common Armco type barrier with an additional flat infill barrier to prevent motorcyclists hitting the upright posts is acceptable.