BILL NUMBER:  S5427A

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the highway law, in relation to
directing the commissioner of transportation to prohibit use on any
state or local highway of certain types of guardrails

 PURPOSE :

To ensure that New York prohibits the use of certain guardrails which
have proven to be dangerous in high-speed impacts.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1: The bill adds a new subdivision 47 to Section 10 of the
highway law to direct the Commissioner of Transportation to promulgate
rules and regulations prohibiting the use on any state or local
highway of any X-Lite guardrail or rail cap manufactured by the
Lindsay Corporation, or any other similarly designed and constructed
guardrail or rail cap as determined by the Commissioner.

The bill also provides that the Department of Transportation shall
immediately act to remove any existing X-Lite guardrail or rail cap
manufactured by the Lindsay Corporation, or any other similarly
designed and constructed guardrail or rail cap as determined by the
Commissioner.

              

Section 2: The bill provides that the act shall take effect
immediately.

 JUSTIFICATION :

In November 2016, seventeen-year-old Hannah Eimers was driving in the
state when her Volvo S80 sedan traveled into the median and hit the
end of an "X-Lite" guardrail with the driver's side door. Instead of
deflecting the vehicle or compacting to provide a protective barrier,
the guardrail end impaled the car, striking Hannah in the head and
chest and pushing her into the back seat. Hannah was killed
immediately upon impact.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation had decided to stop
contracting for the guardrails just two weeks before the crash. Since
the time of the crash, Tennessee is also in the process of contracting
to remove most of the same guardrails which are currently in place.
The "X-Lite" model guardrail manufactured by The Lindsay Corporation
has effectively been removed from use in the state of Tennessee.

Also in the State of Virginia, the Virginia Department of
Transportation removed the same guardrail from their approved product
list just two months before the Tennessee accident. According to a
study performed by an independent contractor hired by the Virginia
DOT, the guardrail had failed to perform as expected in crashes
exceeding 60 mph and should have collapsed like a telescope. The
Virginia DOT has since decided to remove all of the "X-Lite"
guardrails in use within the state.

A similarly constructed guardrail, constructed by Trinity Industries,
which has been involved in litigation across the country, has been
banned from future purchase and is currently being studied for removal
by New York and at least 29 other states.

New York should follow a similar path as Virginia and Tennessee and
immediately seek to remove and prohibit the future use of dangerously
constructed guardrails, so that future lives are not needlessly lost.
This bill would direct the Commissioner of Transportation to
immediately ban the use of the Lindsay "X-Lite" model as well as any
other similarly constructed guardrails or rail caps.
 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New legislation.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

Undetermined.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.