The Lattix design in action

Posted on Sep 01, 2009 - 08:59 AM

All Lattix solutions are thoroughly and rigorously tested, but documentation of how the masts and gantries perform in actual use is harder to come by. We do know that accidents do happen, but usually the debris after accidents have been cleared up by the time we are informed of accidents involving Lattix products.

That makes these photos somewhat unique. As you can see from the photos, the gantry legs were heavily deformed after the crash, which took place in Tromsoe in northern Norway, on June 13^th. The vehicles was also heavily damaged, but – due to the energy absorbing qualities of aluminium and the unique Lattix material, the two people involved in the near-fatal accident survived with only minor injuries. Both passengers were discharged after a night in the local hospital, with only small cuts and bruises to show for after their brush with death.

The vehicle hit the Lattix portal at high speed. Immediately prior to impact, the vehicle most likely skidded off a curb, which tossed the vehicle into the air at high velocity. As is evident from the photos, the vehicle impacted the Lattix mast about 1.5 metres off the ground. This often causes shearing points or slip base solutions to malfunction, but the forgiving Lattix mast did its job anyway: crumbling on impact, absorbing massive amounts of kinetic energy.

The portal had been erected in 2005, when local road authorities placed special emphasis on road safety. The return on this investment came just four years later, when two lives were saved, thanks to the foresight of representatives of the Norwegian Road Authority in the Tromsoe region.

 

 

Photos: Aasta Pettersen (Photos used with permission).

Links:

The local newspaper «Tromsø» reported on the incident. This is the reason we now have these photos. You may read the original newspaper report on this address (Norwegian text only): http://www.itromso.no/nyheter/article275193.ece