St. Louis Teen Injured after Crashing into Concrete Median
Alexander C. Bright of St. Louis, Missouri was injured after crashing into a concrete median on I-44. Bright’s St. Louis County Missouri car accident occurred when he drove off the left side of I-44 in a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer. The Lancer crashed into a concrete median. After colliding with the median, the Lancer returned to the roadway. The St. Louis County Missouri car accident continued as the Lancer drove off the roadway and crashed into the median again.
States and municipalities may be re-evaluating the type of highway median to build. Concrete medians are well-known, but the number of states installing cable median barriers are increasing. Cable median barriers are posts with three or four steel cables strung on them. During a St. Louis County Missouri car accident, the cables bend while the posts break. Cable median barriers are designed to absorb the forces created by a collision and redirect the vehicle’s direction along the barrier.
Concrete median barriers are not capable of the same movement. Concrete is a stiff material so it is less capable of absorbing the impact of an accident. Concrete barriers may increase the likelihood of serious physical injuries in a St. Louis Country Missouri car accident. Proponents of concrete median barriers, however, assert that concrete median barriers prevent dangerous crossover accidents.
Proponents of cable median barriers state that cable median barriers lessen the severity of a car crash and help states save money. Concrete median barriers may cost up to $500,000 per mile to install, while cable median barriers may cost $140,000 per mile. To many states, the cable median barrier represents a dual improvement in cost and safety.
Missouri was one of the first states to widely install cable median barriers. The state government determined that cable median barriers are generally safer than concrete barriers. If a Missourian is injured after crashing into a concrete median barrier, the government’s choice to maintain a concrete barrier may be partly responsible for the accident victim’s injuries.
