In winter 2020, there was an accident in Estonia where a vehicle ran over a central guardrail and the restraint system was not sufficient to stop the vehicle: The accident was reportedly filmed by an onboard camera on the three-lane section of the Tallinn-Tartu highway near Põltsamaa. A Jeep SUV apparently overtook a truck in the fast lane. The speeds were not high: less than 80 km/h for a truck, so less than 100 km/h for a car. However, the snow-covered track caused the jeep to skid. After ramming the guardrail separating the two lanes, the car stopped in the opposite direction. Luckily there was no vehicle in the opposite lane at the time, so there was no collision. However, according to the commentators, the jeep was not badly damaged because it left the scene of the accident under its own power.

In Estonia there is no minimum height for the central guardrail. For this reason, the lowest collision barrier on the market was used for the heavily travelled section where the accident occurred. The system used has a height of 600 mm. Our systems MegaRail xt and MegaRail xo are 750 mm high. Both systems therefore offer good conditions for increasing safety in the area of the central guardrail and preventing a car from getting into oncoming traffic.

In December 2021, a similar accident occurred as in the previous year. But this time our MegaRail xo vehicle restraint system was able to stop the car and prevent worse consequences for the driver. The car was damaged, but the driver was not injured. The weather conditions were similar, but the vehicles and the drivers were different. Therefore, no concrete parallels can be drawn between the two accidents. Nonetheless, this is a good example of how our guardrails can prevent serious injuries to occupants in the event of an accident.