Safety Performance of G4 (1S) W-Beam Guardrails versus Cable Median Barriers on Florida's Freeways

Different roadside safety hardware including guardrails and cable barriers have been installed on freeways to prevent run-off-the-road and median crossover crashes. This article compares the safety performance of G4 (1S) strong-post W-beam guardrails and cable barriers installed in the medians on freeways in Florida. The comparison is based on the percentages of barrier and median crossovers by vehicle type and crash severity. A crash is categorized as barrier crossover crash if the errant vehicle crosses the barrier during the crash. If after crossing the barrier the errant vehicle clears the median and traverses into the opposite travel lanes, it becomes a median crossover crash. To obtain a more precise measurement of barrier performance, this study considers only crashes involving vehicles hitting a barrier. A total of 678.9 miles of freeways with G4 (1S) W-beam guardrails and 101.0 miles of freeways with cable barriers were identified. Police reports of 8,536 crashes from years 2006 to 2010 at these locations were reviewed. Z-test and odds ratio were used to compare the safety performance of cable median barriers and guardrails. Overall, guardrails performed slightly better than cable barriers in terms of barrier and median crossover crashes. However, cable median barriers were found to result in fewer severe injury crashes.