This article provides details of accidents where vehicles leave the road on a major motorway axis in France and gives an analysis of the improvements due to the provision of safety barriers. Detailed records of road accidents on the 1,000 km length of motorway from Paris to Perpignan have been kept for more than 10 years during which time there have been very significant developments in the provision of safety barriers. The effects of such developments on safety have been established and this has led to the application of certain rules in the provision of the barriers at national level or by the companies concerned. In this paper the present position is considered with particular reference to the following problems: (a) Should the provision of safety barriers along the central reservation, which has been obligatory since the beginning of the 1980' s, allow for the retention of heavy lorries? (b) Half the total length of road shoulders are equipped with safety barriers serving to isolate individual obstructions of an aggressive nature and to provide protection on embankments of more than 4 metres in height. Should this provision of barriers be extended to other areas? (c) The aggressive nature of the front ends of safety barriers.
Samenvatting