How Road Barriers Stopped Killing Drivers

We've gotten way better at the engineering and design of road barriers — often in surprising ways — to dramatically reduce driving deaths.

To understand crash costs better, NPR has a great podcast on how life is valued: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/15/835571...

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🌟 🌟 UPDATE: Dec 12, 2023 🌟 🌟
New video is out! When does your car become unsafe?    • When does a car stop being safe?  

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SOURCES

It took a full month to research this video. Here are some of the most important sources I've used:
NDDOT - Guardrail Training and Information: https://www.dot.nd.gov/divisions/main...
WDOT Cable Barriers: https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/rep...
FDOT - Guardrail – How it Works:    • Guardrail – How it Works!  
Alberta Roadside Design Guide: https://www.alberta.ca/roadside-desig...
NHTSA Fatality Causes: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/...
Midwest Roadside Safety Facility: https://mwrsf.unl.edu/ for their excellent videos on crash tests they've done
FHWA Crash Costs for Highway Safety Analysis: https://trid.trb.org/view/1539891
Texas A&M Transporation Institute's Videos:    / ttitamu  
A comparison of freeway median crash frequency, severity, and barrier
strike outcomes by median barrier type https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29715...

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TIMELINE
0:00 Driving deaths are WAY less
1:01 How we test barriers for safety
2:37 When barriers are used or avoided
3:19 The surprising design of concrete barriers
4:37 How guardrails are designed to absorb energy
5:44 Why concrete & guardrail connections stopped crushing vehicles
6:08 Cable barriers and how they gently slow vehicles down
6:42 Why some people think cable barriers are dangerous
8:23 How guardrails used to impale people
9:26 How new guardrail ends actually save drivers
11:00 How larger structures are protected
13:16 What your life and limbs are worth ($$$$)
13:55 What if saving your life isn't "worth it"?

Credits
Drekken Pownz for his critical input on storytelling, content strategy, and design
Sam Leung for his feedback and listening to me complain