Introduction to roller barriers
In the past few years, there has been an increment in road accidents due to the increased number of vehicles owned by people. Therefore, many technologies have evolved in order to minimize these incidents and to enhance the safety of people on the road. One such technique is the addition of roller barrier. A roller barrier is a barrier that is capable of absorbing impactful energies and then turns them into rotational energy. By doing so, they can direct any vehicle to move in the forward direction rather than collapsing with an immovable barrier.
Types of roller barriers
Roller barriers are also known by the names of longitudinal barriers and guardrails.
According to their functions, roller barriers can be categorized into three parts, i.e.:
- Roadside barriers: primarily used to prevent traffic from outside menaces and obstacles. These obstacles may include a steep slope, stones, any kind of heavy rigid body or waterbody.
- Median barriers: they prevent the cars from crossing a median over to avoid a direct accident.
- Bridge barriers: they have many more dimensions to them than any other roller barrier types. They do not let any car to crash off the bridge side and also prevent them from jumping on the river, railway track or other roads down below.
According to their stiffness, the barriers can be divided into these categories:
- Flexible barriers: they are made from cable line barriers and ridged guide rails.
- Semi-rigid barriers: they are made from grooved guide rails as well as a thrice beam rail.
- Rigid barriers: only made out of cement material and gives zero deflection.
How do roller barriers work?
They are made with flexible and semi-rigid properties of barrier stiffness. They work by absorbing the shock of an accident by their major points, i.e. the buffering bracket, the liquidity of the rail and the barrel. The energy absorbed during a curve crash is transformed into rotational energy while the shock energy captivates the gain through upper and lower guardrails. After this, the safety roller barriers leave the cover back to the lane thus reducing the damage to the car and making sure that the driver and the passengers are safe and sound.
Advantages of roller barriers
- These barriers are made from a special kind of compounds such as hard rubber or urethane; therefore, they are the best to provide resilience against accidents and car collision.
- They have recyclable and separated barrels in them. Therefore, they are very easy to maintain.
- They are installed with stopper boards on lower and top parts so they can easily guide the vehicle back to the road in case of an accident.
- Their height can be adjusted and are easily noticeable for the drivers due to coloration.
- They are low in cost and highly affordable.
Where is roller barriers implemented?
To cater to a variety of objectives, roller barriers are implemented at the following sites:
- National highways and important roadways
- Curved road sections and U-turns and other accident-prone areas
- Hills and ramps at national road routes and urban streets