This past week, a 2013 SRT Viper crashed badly a short distance from our house...sadly, the chrysler engineer driving this test car was killed in the crash.

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A tragic combination of multiple human errors... unless the missing hardware was removed prior to this photo, the barrier was either improperly installed or installation was not complete.

The barrier design requires the cables to be attached to the posts to keep the vehicle from submarining under the cables and killing the occupants.

To see a properly installed barrier and how it is intended to function look up "Cable Barrier Fence Crash Test" on youtube, note the cables attached to the posts and the Dodge Ram that is one of the crash test vehicles.

If you see a cable barrier not attached to the posts report it to your local department of transportation, the life you save may be your own.

 

That is a very interesting point. I am not all that familiar with the design of these types of fences...can you tell for sure from what you see in the image that the fence wasnt assembled properly? I know that there are metal stanchions that string the cables together...couldnt the car be jammed between them?

 

I travel this stretch of road on a daily basis Patrick. I live near Fenton and work in Plymouth now. And these cable fences were just recently put in, say withing the last 6 months. They are constantly being repaired. I see work crews repairing them at lest every other week.

Another thing is I believe they may have added some additional fencing in that area in addition to the typical 3 cables. It almost looks like a chain link fence material that connects the 3 cables. I'll take a closer/slower look on my way home tonight.

***edit***
It looks like I was wrong about the interconnecting fencing. It just turned out to be a night time optical illusion. But there was another section of this fence south of where this happened that looks like it took another hit.