Speaking of poor design and collisions with immovable objects..

invictus43

Well-known member
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17362643

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It seems like that wall jumped out of nowhere
 
It seems like that wall jumped out of nowhere

That's what the driver WOULD have said.. :-) Hard to get a handle on exactly how close that wall is to the travel lane..they mentioned something about a "stop lane"..so how far do you go to mitigate and effect of a collision with that wall? Would it have been too much to put in an angled guard-rail to "steer" the colliding vehicle back to the roadway? Or maybe don't make a 90 degree corner there, but make it a sloped concrete wall? Is painting it green enough? At what point is it "safe enough"? I'm sure they'll be asking these questions now..
 
I see a curb there. Pretty sure the lane ended earlier. Something tells me the driver wasnt fully focused.
 
I see a curb there. Pretty sure the lane ended earlier. Something tells me the driver wasnt fully focused.

Undoubtedly..the question is, is there something that could have been done, from a design point of view, to mitigate the effects of a collision with that wall? Much like the ski accident..could more have been done? At what point is it "safe enough"?
 
For once I agree here ... were these deaths the fault of the engineers who designed this roadway and tunnel? Absolutely not. Considering the speed (100 kph) and type of traffic expected, could the tunnel have been better designed to reduce the damage of this accident? I believe so.

Or maybe not, the field of view in that photograph might not be telling the whole story.
 
Undoubtedly..the question is, is there something that could have been done, from a design point of view, to mitigate the effects of a collision with that wall? Much like the ski accident..could more have been done? At what point is it "safe enough"?

Also at what point do we stop designing to prevent stupidity of others. We can design and plan and design and plan and somehow someone will be stupid enough to break past all the protective measures.

But I agree more could have easily been done here. Just raising a point.
 
Also at what point do we stop designing to prevent stupidity of others. We can design and plan and design and plan and somehow someone will be stupid enough to break past all the protective measures.

But I agree more could have easily been done here. Just raising a point.

When the associated costs of making something "idiot proof" become unjustifiable.

Terrible shame, this.
 
When the associated costs of making something "idiot proof" become unjustifiable.

Terrible shame, this.
How much is justifiable varies. One person can say lives are worth a couple million dollars or renovations for safety. Where someone else thinks the money could be better spent on education instead.
 
Also at what point do we stop designing to prevent stupidity of others. We can design and plan and design and plan and somehow someone will be stupid enough to break past all the protective measures.

But I agree more could have easily been done here. Just raising a point.

Yup. I understand and that's my point really. We see things every day and think nothing of them. Then one day something bad happens and you think, wow, that could have been easily avoided. Some things are very safe and well-designed and we don't even see those things. I suppose we need to take lessons and try to do a reasonably better job next time around.
 
Yup. I understand and that's my point really. We see things every day and think nothing of them. Then one day something bad happens and you think, wow, that could have been easily avoided. Some things are very safe and well-designed and we don't even see those things. I suppose we need to take lessons and try to do a reasonably better job next time around.

Yes but then you get pressure to complete the job. Financial implications of delays etc etc. See it happen all the time. Client was such and such done or it's gonna cost millions in development fees etc so job gets rush and therefore not at a quality you would prefer. AND then we end up back at square one.
 
I've driven through a couple of Swiss tunnels. Not sure I've done this one. The few I've done are/were some of the most scary driving I've ever done. I can easily imagine an accident happening in a split second. There's little to no margin for error.

One of the tunnels (San Gotthard Tunnel) had just reopened after a big crash, when I drove through it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Road_Tunnel
 
Undoubtedly..the question is, is there something that could have been done, from a design point of view, to mitigate the effects of a collision with that wall? Much like the ski accident..could more have been done? At what point is it "safe enough"?

+1 on poor design.

If someone smashes into the wall on their own, its their own fault.

But you could be pushed into the wall too...
 
They claim those tunnels to be safe. How can they be safe with walls like that?? That place is called "safety pocket". Oh really?
 
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