As many in Missouri and Illinois may be aware, highway guardrails play an important role in protecting drivers and their passengers from further injury when a vehicle runs off the road at a high rate of speed. Unfortunately, the grim reality is that some guardrails which are supposedly meant to reduce injuries and save lives may be actually causing people further harm in serious car accidents. One man who has been working in this industry for decades has made it his crusade to raise public awareness on the dangers of certain highway guardrails.
This man has actually gone so far as to file a whistleblower claim lawsuit against a manufacturer which currently has several hundred thousands of its particular guardrail systems out on American roadways. The company, Trinity Highway Products, supposedly changed its guardrail design several years ago, without publicizing the switch. The apparent controversy as far as the whistleblower sees it relates to the part of the guardrail known as the end terminal, which is responsible for absorbing energy and giving way in a wreck. According to him, Trinity changed its end terminal design — which was originally approved by federal authorities in 2000 — during the time period between 2002 and 2005, without alerting federal officials.
The whistleblower further claims that this change was made for two basic reasons: to lower the company’s own costs in making the guardrails, and to force highway departments into needing to purchase more of the systems, since they are much less likely to be reusable after an accident.
One thing many people might now be wondering is just how these modified guardrail systems work in a car crash. One collision in another state resulted in a significant length of a Trinity guardrail actually piercing the driver’s door and forcing that 24-year-old man into the back seat. The whistleblower, who considers himself a safety advocate, later tracked down the 10-foot piece of guardrail which had impaled — and destroyed — the man’s vehicle. That length of guardrail paired with the sheared-off guardrail pointed toward the highway where it originated seem to paint a scary picture of guardrails not working in the way they are designed. The maker of that guardrail? Trinity Highway Products.
The lawsuit filed in 2012 in federal court maintains that the change in design to the guardrail systems is a great danger to innocent Americans on the roadways. Trinity, on the other hand, states that the changes made to the guardrail systems were merely “cosmetic” and did not need to be re-approved by the government because performance of the product was supposedly not impacted. Trinity also tried to block whistleblower status for the man behind the lawsuit — but a U.S. District Judge shot down the company’s objection, maintaining that the man’s expertise in the industry means that he has the professional chops to file a whistleblower lawsuit.
This case will certainly be interesting to watch as it unfolds, since it could greatly affect Missouri and Illinois victims who have been seriously injured or even killed in car accidents due to highway guardrails. My St. Louis personal injury law firm can be reached toll-free at 1-888-586-7041 by those who have been impacted by these types of collisions. We have the experience in filing civil lawsuits alleging personal injury or wrongful death, and know the steps that can be taken to strengthen a case’s chance of success. Scheduling a free, initial consultation with us is easy and could help victims and their families decide whether pursuing financial restitution and holding a manufacturer responsible could be the right step for them to take.
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Source Article: Article called “Highway Guardrails Are Killing Drivers, Says Industry Insider” by Patrick G. Lee.
