Discuss “How Things Work: Highway Barriers”

You have somewhere to go. You jump in the car and maneuver onto the nearest interstate. Whatever your destination, the National Highway System has probably helped you get there at some point. These highways allow direct, fast, and safe movement across the country; however, the high level of safety we have today on our highway systems hasn?t come easily.

When designing highways, minimizing the severity of off-road accidents is important. Unlike in video games, stunt bonuses don?t exist, normal people don?t drive down the sidewalk, and your Honda Civic probably can?t take a shortcut off a bridge. Fatalities resulting from these ?road departures? can be reduced in several ways.

On highways, median barriers between opposing traffic reduce fatalities...