The ET-Plus Guardrail system is manufactured by Trinity Highway Products, based in Dallas, Texas. The ET-Plus was designed at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and built by Trinity. The end terminal cap absorbs the impact of a crash. The wooden posts break and the guardrail collapses.[1] The end terminal slides along, pushing the guardrail to the side.[2] However, in 2005, Trinity made changes to the ET-Plus without reporting the changes.[1] It was alleged that the Trinity design change caused it to malfunction.[3] A lawsuit under the False Claims Act filed in 2012 against Trinity stated that these changes were causing damages to cars and drivers. Tests have shown that the guardrails act the way they should.[1]
| Inventor | Texas A&M Transportation Institute |
|---|---|
| Inception | 2005 |
| Current supplier | Trinity Industries |
Overview edit
The end terminal cap had been first tested in 2005 and over 200 thousand have been used on United States highways.[4] In 2005 and 2006, five crash tests were done showing the ET-Plus a failure by spearing a vehicle or flipping it.[5] Trinity argued that the tests were on an experimental system, and that the guardrails on the roads are safe.[2][5]
Joshua Harman, a Virginia guardrail engineer, was whistleblower in a federal suit which accused Trinity of failing to notify the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of a change of size of the end piece from five to four inches.[3] The Federal Highway Administration requires that changes be reported immediately.[2] The change from five inches to four allegedly saved the company $2 per end terminal.[5] A federal jury found Trinity guilty of fraud by not reporting a change of one inch made to the ET-Plus end terminal.[6] The lawsuit resulted in a fraud verdict $175 million, which would be tripled.[2]
In November 2014, Trinity announced its plan to test highway guardrails.[2] In December 2014, an FHWA commissioned peer review of the study "Relative Comparison on NCHRT 350 Accepted W-Beam Guardrail End Terminals" was conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The reviewers found the information presented to be either questionable or invalid due to assumptions made on the report. The FHWA collected measurements of more than 1,000 ET-Plus devices to ensure the sets were representative of actual guardrails in use.[7] Tests were mandated by the Federal Highway Administration.[8]
As of January 2015, 40 states had suspended the use of guardrails.[1] States that have used the ET-Plus endcaps are eligible for federal reimbursements.[3] The company did a series of eight crash tests which were released in February 2015.[4][6] done by Southwest Research Institute in Texas.[7] The tests have been conducted at the height of 31 inches to meet crash test criteria. The test results must be considered alongside data from actual crashes to come up with a comprehensive report.[9]
The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) has removed the end terminal model, ET-Plus, from its list of approved products.[10] Trinity has stopped the sale of the units until testing is completed.[2]
The U.S. Justice Department launched a criminal investigation into the use of the guardrail system.[11] The federal cases accuse Trinity of making false and misleading statements about the ET-Plus system.[12]
In June 2015, a US district court jury verdict of $663 million was passed against Trinity Industries for defrauding the Federal Highway Administration.[13][14] The original penalty of $175 million was tripled to $525 million, and an additional $8,250 was charged for each of the 16,771 false certification claims made by Trinity. Joshua Harmon, the whistleblower for the case, was awarded more than $16 million in legal fees and $2.3 million in expenses.[15] Harmon was also awarded $199 million, thirty percent of the $663 million judgement.[16] In September 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in an opinion authored by Judge Patrick Higginbotham, reversed the finding of the district court and rendered judgement as a matter of law for Trinity.[17]
References edit
- ^ a b c d Patrina Adger (January 4, 2015). "Texas Suspending Use of ET Plus Guardrails". KBTX. Archived from the original on August 9, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Danielle Ivory; Aaron M. Kessler (November 12, 2014). "U.S. Accepts Trinity's Plan to Test Design of Guardrail". The New York Times. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ a b c Ashley Halsey III (March 13, 2015). "Controversial guardrail performs correctly in federally mandated tests". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ a b Rudy Harper (February 9, 2015). "ET-Plus guardrails in Alabama being tested for safety". Fox. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ a b c Cindy Galli (December 11, 2014). "Virginia Sues Guardrail Maker for Fraud Ami Urgent Safety Tests". ABC News. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ a b Dave Jordan (March 13, 2015). "ET Plus Guardrails Pass All Eight Crash Tests". WSPA. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ a b "FHWA Releases Results and Analysis of the Second Set of Crash Tests of ET-Plus Guardrail End Terminals". CE News. 2015-03-16. Archived from the original on 2016-01-30. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Nick Ochsner (March 25, 2015). "Guardrail testing complete, more tests possible". ABC 13. Archived from the original on July 18, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Dan Noyes (March 13, 2015). "Safety Officials Say Controversial Guardrail Passes Crash Tests". ABC 7. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Lynn Walsh. "Nevada Department of Transportation removes Trinity ET-Plus guardrail from approved product list". ABC 15 Arizona. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Patrick G Lee (April 21, 2015). "U.S. Opens Criminal Probe Into Highway Guardrails Alleged to Turn Into Spears on Impact". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Becky Oliver (April 29, 2015). "Two more lawsuits foiled over Trinity's E.T. Plus guardrail system". FOX 9. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Aaron M. Kessler; Danielle Ivory (June 9, 2015). "$663 Million in Penalties for Maker of Guardrail". New York Times. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Josh Smith (June 9, 2015). "VA Attorney General moving forward with lawsuit against guardrail company". WJHL. Retrieved June 16, 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Federal judge hits guardrail company Trinity with $663 million penalty". The Roanoke Times. June 11, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ William Joy (June 11, 2015). "Live 5 Investigates: Judge triples fine against guardrail company". Live 5 News. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
- ^ Mark Curriden (October 2, 2017). "Fifth Circuit reverses $663 million judgment against DFW company". American City Business Journals. Retrieved October 12, 2017.