Motivation for the development of the Ingal Block guardrail road safety barrier was driven by field observation that the steel blocking piece often fails through lateral bending during the course of an impact. This behaviour is similar to the failure of the “I” beam blocking piece that was once used in the US but discontinued after it was shown to fail NCHRP-350 Test Level 3 testing.
The main function of a guardrail blocking piece is to prevent the wheels of a colliding vehicle from snagging on a guardrail post. Traditional steel blocking pieces are vulnerable to folding and crushing on impact and therefore may fail to perform their intended function. The Ingal Block provides a significant improvement to the safety of FLEXBEAM™ guardrail by maintaining its geometry during impact.