If I was driving along the M25 and I went over the QE11 bridge or along the Severn Bridge and I was travelling at 70mph and I had a blow out or another car hit me side on would the barriers stop a car/van/lorry going over the side ?

I reckon it couldn’t take the impact and you’d be sure to be a gonna !

You don’t think they thought of this when building them ?

is there a conveyor belt on the bridge?

I thought it was a 50mph limit on the bridge… Hope you’re not typing this whilst you go over the bridge either.

I think* that the barriers they use are designed to deflect impact back onto the road by deforming slightly. This would mean that a shallow angle impact in relation to the barrier would just come loose and push you back onto the road surface in a bit of an arc. They are good for a fair amount of impact too and I would imagine that they would handle an HGV at the speed limit plus a bit extra, so a car should be fine.

if they do not stop vehicles why would they have put them there?

Sure there will be test footage on You tube of this

The barriers are designed to stop you traversing to the other carriageway, I believe.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87CjZv_O2oQ[/video]

well that is confidence inspiring 😯

Not on a bridge but M6 J12-ish has a ‘wavy’ central barrier intended to keep errant vehicles on their own side.

Have seen a few people use it for overtaking.

Yes really

sometimes it is the only way to get past mollgrips

😆

🙂

Cougar – Moderator
The barriers are designed to stop you traversing to the other carriageway, I believe.

the other carriage way being the thames?? 😕

Am I famous now then? Cool.

Dear Mr Kennedy

Thank you for your hypothetical question. Our only answer is that it is best to remain sober when driving at night.

Sincerely yours
Chappaquiddick Police Department

It’s the elevated section of the M5 heading south below Bristol that worries me. Makes me shudder thinking what would happen if a 40t truck hit that.

The Avon bridge you mean? Those poor sods in the prefab houses below.

As an aside when I was a child we were driving over that bridge when the bungee octopus strap holding the suitcases broke, depositing them all over the road – but fortunately not off the bridge. A truck driver saw it happening so pulled across the road to stop the traffic and allow by dad and grandad to recover the cases. Lucky escape for our luggage and the other drivers.

No the bit further down where one carriageway is about 100 ft below the other

Serious crash a few years ago on the bridge on a483, near chirk the lorry went through the bridge railings and the cows it was carrying fell to their death, same thing with the a55 bridge at Rhudlan north wales lgv went through barrier and driver sadly died.

And on A9 Pitlochry bridge this last winter. 🙁

molgrips – Member
Am I infamous now then? Cool.

FTFY 😉

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – Member
No the bit further down where one carriageway is about 100 ft below the other

I know exactly the bit you mean, I drove that bit Bank Holiday Monday, and I try not to think too hard about what might happen. Doesn’t stop me overtaking the slower-moving grockles on their way down to Weston, mind.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4621446.stm

Those cable type ones are horrific when motorcyclists meet them at speed! Then again standard Armco will sort you out unless you miss the posts!

It’s the elevated section of the M5 heading south below Bristol that worries me. Makes me shudder thinking what would happen if a 40t truck hit that.

It seems to have it’s own micro-climate round there too. Generally a lot more rain (if that’s even possible) and fog. Going from 4 to 3 lanes causes lots of problems too as there is always a couple of people trying to pass just one more car before the merge.

molgrips – Member
Am I infamous now then? Cool.

No, just your driving. Every time an STWer is sat in a queue of cars they’ll be chuntering trying to work out if it’s your Prius that has yet to overtake the tractor on the mile-long straight.

It’s dangerous out there

Them barriers won’t stop something going through if it hit head onto them.

About 9 years ago, an HGV went through the barriers of a bridge on the M60 near the Trafford Centre after swerving for some reason across from lane 1 to 3 then back across lane 1 going through and dropping onto the road underneath.

Sadly the driver died. I’d only gone under that section 5 mins previous and I felt sick when I saw the aftermath.

The barriers will stop a ” deflection ” type impact but I’m sure that even cars have gone through the Barton High Level barriers after hitting head on but not had enough momentum to fall off luckily.