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-   -   New Wire ropes to curb Mumbai - Pune Expressway Accidents (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/134611-new-wire-ropes-curb-mumbai-pune-expressway-accidents.html)

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/wi...sway/1095872/0

This is going to be a welcome step to reduce accidents at the stretches where the road dividers are small. They should also do something to raise some barriers on the dividers to block high beam lights of oncoming traffic. Lack of this is a major irritance and possibly cause of accidents at some stretches during night time.

Wire-Rope barriers are a welcome move on such an high speed highway.

The effectiveness will be majorly because of the flexibility that the wire fences will offer, which will help absorb the impact energy during an accident.
& hence less damage to the vehicle and less severe injuries to occupants.

Also these shall prove to be cost effective in the long run.

I am a little sceptic about these. I'm sure these high tensile wires will have a good resale value. Rest is open to imagination.

Cheers,
Tapish

One of the most common reasons for accidents on the Expressway is tyre burst.. so these wires would probably help only mitigate damage by a small margin. Of course, every bit helps.

The report talks about the wires being one-time use only; hope they are quick in replacing those who've done their job.

I think you didn't read it right, the report compares the wires to the inferior crash barriers that are one-time use only. The wires themselves seem to have a life of 18 years.

I'd like to see this new stuff, once they've fitted everything I think I'll go for a drive on the expressway.. :)

The last few lines of the article are stupid. How do they expect to reduce scope for accidents by putting "hundred" CCTV cameras, trauma centers and helipads? Aren't they supposed to catch hold of speeding vehicles, rash drivers and go about sensitizing the uncivilized on driving skills? This wire thing is a band aid approach to avoid investing in a holistic approach.

Actually I was thinking if a speeding vehicle bounces off the wires, wouldn't that cause more damage. There is possibility that vehicles coming from behind could also be involved in the accident. The trauma centres could help reduce casualties. As of now, people need to be taken to either Panvel, Pune or Lonavala which takes time.

I imagine the wires are not elastic enough to bounce off of, the cars would hit it similar to how it hits a barrier, only in this case it won't break like a barrier and the cars won't be totally damaged either. Due to the momentum of the car it would move forwards along the wire, and then come to a stop.

With the incredibly thin sheet metal being used in many of our cars, I will not be surprised if these wire ropes will simply cut into the metal due to rubbing at high speed. Since it is made of smaller wires, the rope overall will have a spiral shape which will increase this possibility.

I just hope that these high tension wires are properly fit, so that the chances of a whiplash are minimised. I dont know if many of you have even seen the effects of what a wire of that type can do when moving at speed. It can probably cut a man in half.

In contradiction to what others have to say this is exactly what came to my mind.

At expressway speeds IMO these high strength wires may act like metal "cutters" or "slicers" doing more damage than good.

BUT, I may be gravely wrong because the authorities implementing this must have done a good amount of ground work before giving the plan a "Go Ahead". Futhermore, the technology being from UK must be developed well enough to avoid the wire's "cutting" action.

It would be interesting if some one could properly explain how will it work in reducing the accidental damage and lessen the impact.

-Bhargav

Our authorities and the work they do is well known to all of us. Never depend on them to do anything right. They can't even fix a pavement, forget anything else.

This system consists of 4 wire ropes with the lower pair interwoven between posts, which are designed to collapse on impact. Each rope comprises 21 wires of high tensile carbon steel. Each of these 21 wires has a breaking load of more than one tonne, capable of lifting the weight of typical saloon car.
The kinetic energy of the impacting vehicle is absorbed by both the wire ropes and the posts, which collapse on impact. The vehicle is guided along the fence coming safely to rest.


More details here - http://cakra-international.com/produ...e-safety-fence

While they may reduce the impact on a vehicle, they increase the size of the impact. If you are standing on the roadside and an out of control car whizzes past you into the field, you will be safe. If the highway has wires, the wires will take you with it into the field.

Ortopilot has posted a good link explaining how these wires look and work. Hopefully, the authorities makes sure that after an accident they repair the wires immediately and not leave it as it is for days. If this sytem works then such wires should be put up on all roads where there are steep ghats around or bridges. This simple thing has the potential to save hundreds of lives.