Highway guardrails are intended to prevent serious accidents by protecting people when their vehicle veers off the roadway—indeed, the name “guardrail” implies as much.

The Federal Highway Administration notes that guardrails can make roads “safer and lessen the severity of crashes.” But in some accidents, a guardrail beam can actually be dangerous or even deadly.

Recently, a serious accident in Dunlap, Tenn. involved a guardrail that technically stopped the vehicle—by impaling it straight through.

A resident of Dunlap, Benton Lewis, was driving along East Valley Road, just south of Highway 111, on Oct. 26. His car crashed into the guardrail on the side of the road, and the guardrail beam impaled his car straight through. Fortunately, there were no casualties involved in the accident, and Lewis’s injuries were not particularly severe.

But Sequatchie County officials say that the incident could have been much worse and that Lewis is lucky to be alive. The Dunlap Fire Department was dispatched to assist the Tennessee Highway Patrol in the wake of the accident.

“A few inches more toward the driver and this could have been a tragic event. Fortunately, injuries were not that bad. We cut the guardrail so the car could be towed,” the Dunlap Fire Department posted in an Oct. 26 accident post on Facebook.

Guardrail safety advocate Stephen Eimers noted that this kind of issue shouldn’t be a concern for drivers, especially not from a highway feature that is supposed to save lives rather than endanger them. “It is an inanimate object. It either functions or it doesn’t,” says Eimers.

“We should not have guardrails spearing our vehicles,” Eimers added.

Guardrail Safety

Eimers’ involvement with guardrail safety advocacy dates back to the death of his own daughter in 2016; she was impaled by the end of a guardrail at the age of 17. At the time of the accident, the specific guardrail beam used (a Lindsay X-lite guardrail terminal) had actually been removed from the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s list of approved products due to performance concerns. Despite this, this guardrail and several others were reportedly still on Tennessee roads.

Officials in Sequatchie County who responded to the Oct. 26 accident said that they were still unsure which specific type of guardrail was involved in this crash and subsequent impaling. Upon searching for records, WTVC was told by county road superintendent Eric Higgins that the records had actually burned in a fire years ago. However, Higgins noted that he believes the guardrail in question was built back in the 1960s.

This problem is more than just one defective guardrail beam—there are guardrails all over the country that may be old, outdated, and dangerous.

“We have this nationwide problem where we really need to be investing in, especially our rural infrastructure,” said Eimers.

But it may not just be old guardrails at issue here. Trinity Industries guardrails that were modified in 2005 have been linked with a significant increase in fatal car accidents. So far, more than a dozen Trinity guardrail lawsuits have been filed by victims and family members.

If you or someone you love were injured in a car accident involving a highway guardrail, you may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation. Filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by an accident, nor can it bring a loved one back to life, but it can at least help to alleviate the financial burden incurred by medical expenses, lost wages, and more.