<they installed shock absorbers> In the SF Bay Area, such junctions of guardrails tend to be preceded by what look like huge plastic garbage pails filled with

<they installed shock absorbers> In the SF Bay Area, such junctions of guardrails tend to be preceded by what look like huge plastic garbage pails filled with sand, apparently to absorb as much energy as possible without (or, at least, before) bouncing such vehicles back into traffic. The other extreme was a freeway case (locals to the San Jose area can see this now, on 85 northbound in Cupertino between the onramp from 280 westbound and the Fremont Ave. exit) where the guardrail began about 10 feet from the side soundwall, leaving a car-width's gap to the right of the guardrail. A perpendicular soundwall was about 30 feet beyond. One evening, a car went right through the gap and into the perpendicular wall at full speed. Subsequently, the guardrail was extended at an angle to meet the side soundwall.