RIO
VISTA - Two cars crashed into a concrete wall at high
speeds, bringing smiles to the faces of Golden Gate Bridge
District directors. The crash was a test of a movable
median barrier to stop head-on bridge accidents, and the
smiles were prompted by what didn't happen: The barrier
didn't give way, and the cars didn't rebound like errant
jump shots. "It seemed pretty effective, said Al
Boro, a bridge board member who represents Marin County
and one of six bridge directors who attended Wednesday's
demonstration. "It looks like it's done its job:
to prevent a car from going into oncoming traffic."
Bridge
District directors agreed to test the barrier following
public outcry by advocates and in June when a 38-year-old
San Francisco woman was killed by a car crossing through
the plastic cones into her lane on the bridge. During
Wednesday's tests at the old Rio Vista airport, the first
driverless car rammed the 150-foot prototype at 45 mph
and pushed the barrier 3 1/2 inches out of place. The
second car hit the steel-clad, concrete barrier at 60
mph and displaced it by 61/2 inches. Both cars hit the
wall at a 7 1/2-degree angle.
We
should keep going "I'm very impressed," said
Ginny 
Simms,
a bridge board member from Napa. "The automobile,
when it went into the barrier, doesn't tend to bounce
to the right. It tells me we should keep going, keep looking,
keep examining it." The barrier would cost about
$6 million. If the district buys it, the wall would be
the first 1-footwide barrier ever put on a bridge; all
others are 2 feet wide. The narrower width is necessary
because of the slim lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge.
The 32-inch tall prototype is made up of 3-foot-long sections
that weigh 1,500 pounds each. They are connected by a
special hinge system to limit lateral movement on impact.
John Duckett, president of Barrier Systems Inc., the Carson
City, Nev., company that designed the prototype, said
the firm had crash tested a car at 45 mph because "that's
what we considered a typical hit on the bridge at the
speed limit! He said the company had also chosen the higher
speed -60-mph - because some drivers don't obey the speed
laws.
More
tests planned "It's encouraging-, I want to see some
more tests," said Bob Ross, a bridge board member
from San Francisco. "I'm concerned about it moving
the other way." He said he was worried the barrier
could be shoved 4 feet into oncoming traffic if a bus
or large truck crashed into it. But Ed Wood, business
development director for Barrier Systems, said buses or
trucks generally travel in the right lane, not next to
the median. He said his company had not tested how the
barrier would withstand the impact of a bus or large truck
but could do so.
Merv Giacomini, the engineer for the bridge district,
said, "It was a good demonstration of how the barrier
performed....It performed well." However, he said,
further testing by an independent company, probably in
mid-February, is necessary. Among the tests will be a
60-mph crash by a car hitting the barrier at a 22-degree
angle.
The
earliest the barrier could be installed on the bridge
would be a year after testing was completed, officials
said. A group of Cal-trans officials also observed the
test. The agency is considering putting a barrier on the
Doyle Drive approach to the bridge as well. "As a
demonstration, it was interesting and informative, but
it's not definitive," said Richard Peter, senior
materials and research engineer with Cal-trans' office
in Sacramento. Golden Gate Bridge barrier is shown after
being struck in the same spot by two cars going 45 and
60 mph.
Crash victims watch. 
The test also attracted two victims of head-on collisions,
both who walked away canes. Frank Schweiger, 58 of San
Anselmo, CA. A member of the group, "Citizens for
a Safe Golden Gate Bridge" who was injured in a 1984
bridge crash, said he wanted to see the test for him self.
Danna Kirkbride, 48 of San Rafael, another crash victim
and also a member of the group, CfSGGB, was pleased with
the results, and feel that this is the one for the Golden
Gate Bridge, in stopping any future head-on collisions
on the span. We have spent a lot of time on this effort,
and hope me can make a difference to all who use it.
