NORFOLK, Va. — The Virginia Department of Transportation says it has now removed all known X-Lite guardrails on roads with speed limits above 25 miles per hour.
Previously, VDOT pledged to remove all X-Lite guardrails on state roads with speed limits above 55 mph by the end of 2019.
The X-Lite guardrails no longer meet U.S. safety standards and VDOT has worked for years to replace them, after reports of the guardrails spearing through cars and killing people in crashes around the country.
"VDOT has removed virtually every X-Lite in the state of Virginia, that’s phenomenal news," said Steve Eimers. "We know another family in the state of Virginia is not going to live the horror that’s been inflicted upon our family."
In 2016, Eimers’ 17-year-old daughter Hannah was driving home from Georgia to Tennessee when she crashed and died. The guardrail pierced through her car.
"She died with too much music still in her, too many books unwritten, too many stories untold," Eimers told 13News Now.
Since then, nearly 20 states including Virginia have removed X-Lite guardrails from highways, citing safety concerns.
Eimers said six remaining states, including North Carolina, still haven’t committed to replacing X-Lite inventory.
VDOT says it’s replaced the X-Lite guardrails with terminals that are compliant with the current Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH). The department said a total of 967 X-Lite guardrail terminals "have been replaced with the MSKT, a MASH-compliant terminal."
Lindsay Transportation Solutions, the maker of X-Lite, says its products are safe, referencing a 2017 memo from the Federal Highway Administration that says, in part: "In considering the 200-plus crashes, the ratio of Fatality+ Serious Injury per total crashes does not lead to any conclusions that any of the devices, including the Lindsay X-LITE, are unsafe."
In a statement provided to to 13News Now, an LTS spokeswoman said: "The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) examined and re-examined the X-LITE and its in-service performance and gathered input from state departments of transportation across the United States. In FHWA's evaluations, the X-LITE performed consistently with other end terminals on U.S. roads and highways and did not lead to any conclusion that the X-Lite was unsafe. Numerous states have confirmed that they’ve had no negative experiences with the X-LITE."
The 2017 memo from the FHWA does point out that Virginia had removed the X-Lite from its Qualified Product List, indicating the Commonwealth decided to move on to devices that are compliant with safety standards and MASH.
In response to questions from 13News Now, VDOT said the "X-Lite guardrail terminal was one of the products identified for priority replacement as part of VDOT’s guardrail program...VDOT has not inventoried terminals on roadways with posted speed limits of 25 mph and lower and unposted roadways with daily vehicle traffic under 500 vehicles per day."
While VDOT’s efforts apply to state roads, Eimers said it is crucial cities check and replace any X-Lite guardrails on local roads.
He said when other people around the country have died in car crashes where guardrails slice through the car, he's often found himself grieving with family members who are mourning a "horrific, mutilating" death.
"I went [to the road] with a husband that lost his wife in South Carolina. She was cut in half, and you just kneel there in silence while he places flowers where she breathed her last breath," Eimers said. "It really motivates you because this should not have happened."
