Single Slope Barrier System – The use of single-slope road safety barriers is significantly increased because they provide more consistent performance than the vertical wall barriers. The single-slope road safety barrier systems can also facilitate the process of pavement resurfacing without being affected a lot. Today, there are two types of single slope barrier systems:
- Texas single-slope
- California single-slope barrier system.
The difference between these two road safety barrier systems is in the height of the wall slope. The California single-slope barrier system has 1.7 degrees lower slope. Many crash test were performed and the results showed that the performance of a Texas single-slope road safety barrier can easily be compared to the New Jersey road safety barrier, while the California single-slope road safety barrier resemble the F-Type barrier. Although both Texas and California road safety barrier systems are American products, they are widely used in Australia.
High Containment Barrier System – A high containment barrier system is used to absorb and to redirect an impact from bigger vehicles at higher angles and higher speeds. They are bigger, more rigid and are more expensive. Also, they are used only on special locations such as on roads used by large tankers, on sensitive roadside areas (hospital, school playground, etc.), and near bridges on the roads. Although these road safety barrier systems are not widely used in Australia, they can still be found on some major roads.
Vertical Wall Barrier System – This type of road safety barrier doesn’t have the same features as the New Jersey or the F-type road safety barrier. The vertical concrete-wall barrier systems are very effective alternative to these road safety barrier systems. Indeed, the vehicle damages with a vertical wall is much greater than with the wider safety-shape safety road barriers, but the injuries are significantly reduced. In a crash with a vertical wall, all four wheels of the vehicle remain on the ground, which minimizes the possibility of tipping over.
The New Jersey safety road barriers are no longer the Nº1 choice, while the F-Type road safety barrier systems are slowly taking the place of the New Jersey barriers. Additionally, the Californian single-slope road safety barrier is a very acceptable alternative, and this barrier system is installed on the roads where the authorities want to provide overlays for future surface that will not affect the profile of the barrier.