Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices, authored an article for Chicago Lawyer Magazine titled “Weight Gain” which explores the growing safety concerns surrounding electric vehicles (EVs) and their impact on roadside infrastructure, particularly guardrails. Significantly heavier than gas-powered vehicles, Bob shares the urgent need to address the potential dangers of EVs as their popularity increases.
“Guardrails are essential for safety on the nation’s roads, but if not properly designed, constructed, installed, and maintained, they can pose great risks. There have been more than 100,000 fatalities each year involving run-off-the-road crashes involving infrastructure elements such as barriers.”
-Robert A. Clifford, Founder and Senior Partner at Clifford Law Offices
A renowned Chicago personal injury and catastrophic accident attorney, Bob Clifford references a study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, which found that current steel guardrails are not designed to withstand the increased weight of EVs. In crash tests, heavier EVs like the Rivian R1T truck and Tesla Model 3 either tore through or lifted the guardrails, raising major safety concerns.
“The heavier EVs are not just a concern for guardrail safety. Aging roads, bridges, parking infrastructures, braking performance, and other weight issues are impacted as more EVs hit the roads.”
-Robert A. Clifford
The article calls for collaboration among safety experts and government agencies to update roadside barriers and implement stronger safety measures, such as adjusting speed limits and improving guardrail designs to accommodate a wide range of vehicles.
Click here to read more about this growing public safety concern.