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Fitch Barrier
The Fitch Highway Barrier System, invented by race car driver John Fitch, comprises a series of sand-filled yellow plastic barrels with black lids, often found in a triangular arrangement at the tip of a guardrail between a highway and an exit lane, along the most probable line of impact. The barriers in front contain the most sand, with each successive barrel containing less; so that when a vehicle collides with the barrels they shatter, the kinetic energy is dissipated by scattering the sand, and the vehicle decelerates smoothly instead of violently striking a solid obstruction, reducing the risk of injury to the occupants.
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