Motorcycle-Friendly Barriers Crash Tested in Spain

Remember my recent rant about Europeans getting all the cool stuff? Well, here's a news item that fuels that argument: Visordown.com mentions that motorcycle-friendly barriers are being tested in Madrid, and could be implemented as soon as the next few months.

According to the president of Tecnivial, the company developing the barriers, “Until now barriers that were based on metallic elements did not have enough give for the motorcyclist if he hit them, with this system the impact is absorbed and the rider is much safer than if he had hit the metal version.”

If that technology eventually makes its way to the states, perhaps we'll see less gory news items like this one; until then, guardrails intended to protect cars from skidding off the street continue to pose a danger to motorcyclists unfortunate enough to slide into them.