SST® Trailer TMA Stops Driver From Impacting Bridge Crew.

A two-person drill crew working on the Little River Bridge in Sayre, Alabama was saved from a potentially fatal incident when a driver traveling eastbound on Highway 78 errantly entered the work zone late last summer, and impacted the crew’s shadow vehicle that was serving as protection for the workers.

The shadow vehicle, a five-ton tandem dump truck, was equipped with an Energy Absorption Systems, Inc.’s (a Quixote Transportation Safety company) Model SST Safe-Stop® Truck Mounted Attenuator, which stopped the intruding vehicle, prohibiting what could have been a tragic story.

“The workers were employees of the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) making repairs on the bridge at the time of the incident,” explains Roger Smith, Superintendent for ALDOT’s District 4. “It was estimated that the driver of the vehicle, a Toyota Camry, was traveling at approximately 75 mph when it impacted the dump truck. The SST TMA was mounted on the back of the truck that was positioned approximately 100 feet from the drill crew.

“In addition to our workers being protected, the driver of our shadow truck, Randy Briggs, was not hurt even though the car impacted the TMA at a fairly high rate of speed. In fact, Randy commented that he never really even felt the impact!”

Smith adds that after impact, the drivcr, his son and dog that were with him all got out of the car unharmed as well.

Smith said ALDOT had used TMAs in the past, but that this incident was the first time a Model SST was employed by his district. “I toured the Energy Absorption TMA manufacturing facility in Pell City (Alabama) earlier in the year and at that time decided that their new SST would be the best fit for our vehicles. I am pleased that we made the right decision.”

The local distributor for the SST TMA is Jace Chandler & Associates, located in Homewood, Alabama. Chandler, a QTS distributor, handles sales, supplies and technical support for all of the company’s crash cushion and other highway safety product lines. Due to the SST’s high reusability features, the SST was repaired and quickly put back in service for ALDOT. Jace Chandler, president of the firm, said that the SST was equipped with an Energy Absorption Systems arrow board mounting system and that neither the mounting system nor arrow board sustained any major damage after the impact.

About the SST TMA
The SST Safe-Stop TMA from Quixote is a new trailer-mounted SST Safe-Stop® Truck Mounted Attenuator (TMA). The SST’s design requires minimal modification to host vehicles allowing quick and simple attachment, resulting in low installation and operating costs, as well as increased truck fleet operating flexibility.

The SST TMA has passed all mandatory & optional NCHRP 350 TL-3 tests.

The SST TMA’s length from the back of the host vehicle is less than 20 feet (6m) and has many interchangeable parts with the company’s popular Safe-Stop 180º tilt model TMA, including the lightweight aluminum energy-absorbing cartridges.

An added feature of the SST TMA is anti-rotational dampeners that are designed to lock the TMA in place during an angled impact to maximize the TMA’s effectiveness and minimizing impacting vehicles from “gating” into a work zone or adjacent lane(s), which could potentially cause a secondary accident. The dampeners also protect the host truck’s frame by spreading the load of the impacting force, and provide maximum protection to work crews, the impacting driver, adjacent drivers, and the host vehicle.

About Quixote Corporation
Quixote Corporation (www.quixotecorp.com) through its wholly owned subsidiaries Quixote Transportation Safety, Inc., Quixote Transportation Technologies, Inc. and Quixote Traffic Corporation, is the world's leading manufacturer of energy-absorbing highway crash cushions, truck-mounted attenuators, intelligent intersection control systems, computerized highway advisory radio transmitting devices, electronic wireless measuring and sensing devices, weather monitoring stations, flexible post delineators and other highway safety products and services.