Families take guardrail battle to the courts and federal government

UPDATE: Lindsay Transportation Solutions offers this response to the lawsuits:

“For Lindsay Transportation Solutions, providing products that save lives is our top priority. Any allegations questioning the safety of X-Lite are without merit. X-Lite has successfully passed crash and safety tests in accordance with federal standards and criteria, and remains qualified for use on America’s roadways. Just last month, the Federal Highway Administration examined available end terminal performance data and found no reason to conclude that the devices reviewed, including the X-Lite, are unsafe. The equipment’s inability to singly prevent every tragedy does not indicate a flaw or defect. There are a variety of factors that contribute to the severity of impact in any instance, such as excessive speed, the angle at which a vehicle makes impact, and whether the equipment was installed and maintained properly.”

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WASHINGTON D.C. (WDEF) The families of three traffic crash victim on Wednesday announced lawsuits against the Lindsay Corporation over alleged faulty guardrails.

One of those victims was killed in a crash here in Chattanooga last year.

Almost a year ago, 69 year old Wilbert Byrd was a passenger in a car that crashed into a Lindsay X-LITE guardrail at the I-75/24 merge.

The guardrail went into the car and killed Byrd.

Here is dashcam video of what happened.

Dashcam video shows Wilbert Byrd's deadly crash. The guardrail apparently pierced the car instead of retracting as it's designed to do. pic.twitter.com/B8UGufgJ1X

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 28, 2017

The families say the company makes guardrails that fail to accordian as they are supposed to.

In each of the three cases represented in the lawsuits, victims were impaled by guardrails.

The families also say the Federal Highway Association needs to move aggressively address the guardrail problem.

“The inaction of officials at the Federal Highway Administration, which is tasked with ensuring the safety of our nation’s roads, is simply unacceptable and contradicts its obligations to the public,” said Ted Leopold, Chair of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll’s Defective Products practice, which represents the Eimers, Beuttel, Davison and Byrd families.

“The deaths of these victims and others across the country should and must compel FHWA and the Lindsay Corporation to act quickly in order to prevent further tragedies.”

X-LITE units are still in 29 states, but 80% of them are in seven states, which include Tennessee and North Carolina.

TDOT is currently working on replacing the X-LITE guardrails in Tennessee.

#NEW: Families of car crash victims are expected to file wrongful death lawsuits today against a company that makes guardrails. pic.twitter.com/CS3HDpQSl0

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 28, 2017