At the end of October, Louisiana joined the growing number of states that have banned any new installations of the ET-Plus highway guardrail.<\/p>\n
The guardrail has been linked to numerous deaths since 2005, when a design change produced a deadly malfunction. According to numerous reports, the new design caused a piece of metal that normally crumples upon impact to instead pierce through the vehicle body, killing or gravely injuring car occupants. <\/p>\n
A few days before Louisiana and many other states rushed to ban the guardrail, a federal court jury found that the manufacturer, Trinity Industries, had defrauded transportation regulators by changing a piece of the guardrail\u2019s end cap without divulging that information for several years. The jury decided that Trinity Industries should pay at least $175 million. The Dallas Morning News reports that a judge could decide to triple that figure.<\/p>\n
Trinity Industries stands by the safety of the (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the end of October, Louisiana joined the growing number of states that have banned any new installations of the ET-Plus highway guardrail. The guardrail has been linked to numerous deaths since 2005, when a design change produced a deadly…<\/span><\/p>\n