General rules for the use of protective barriers (fragment)

The protective safety barrier is a road safety device, but it is also a physical obstacle which, if hit by a vehicle, may pose a threat to the health or life of road users.The main purpose of using road safety barriers is to protect the health and life of road users  and the safety of persons and structures in the vicinity of the road.

Protective barriers may only be used if their absence could have more negative effects on persons in the vehicle and on persons and objects in the hazardous safety barrier area than in the case of barriers. After identifying the presence of hazards on the road and its surroundings that require the use of safeguards, it is necessary.

To check the safety barrier possibility of removing, moving or minimizing these hazards by engineering activities (e.g. changes in the location of obstacles, the use of supporting structures absorbing energy or easily tearable during impact, barrier alleviation of slope inclination and sharpening of sharp edge,Solutions that pose hazards that will require the use of protective barriers should be avoided on existing roads or in their vicinity. 

Such action would be contrary to the logic and principle of minimizing threats.For single obstacles that cannot be eliminated, or for a traditional support structure that cannot be replaced by an energy-absorbing or easily breakable safety barrier structure, it should be considered whether protective barriers or crash cushions will be more effective and economical for their protection.