Gamba aims to keep motorcyclists safe

Motorcyclists are one of the most vulnerable groups of road users. Their lack of protection from accident impacts puts them at particular risk.
April 6, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Motorcyclists are one of the most vulnerable groups of road users. Their lack of protection from accident impacts puts them at particular risk.


And while many modern crash barriers work well in redirecting vehicles back along the median, rather than crossing the central reservation and causing head-on crashes, these barriers do not work well with motorcyclists, says 8398 Gamba Safety.

Hitting a barrier’s support or metal edge can cause severe injuries, even death.

The Italian company is launching a new system that can replace or upgrade existing barriers and greatly reduce the impact force involved.

It consists of a sliding cable barrier system that is placed in front of existing barriers. Unlike most cable-based restraint systems, the Gamba Sliding Coated Cable Barrier (GSCCBS) does not have pre-tensioned cables. Instead, the cables have a certain amount of ‘give’.

This means, says Gamba, that the cables absorb up to 80% of the impact force, dissipating it along the cable and into the ground. Additionally, a net or special cloth fixed horizontally along the base of the barrier ‘catches’ motorcyclists, rather than bouncing them back into the traffic stream.

The cables have a steel core, surrounded by several layers of woven polyester and Kevlar. Even if the central cable snaps under the impact, the layers of fabric prevent any debris being scattered along the roadway.

Gamba Safety’s new system has been launched in co-operation with ANAS, Italy’s Roads and Highways Agency, which has just received €2 million to upgrade existing barriers.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Activu and Mitsubishi give New Jersey controllers the big picture
    May 27, 2014
    Mitsubishi and Activu team up to help New Jersey emergency centre with real-time situational awareness. Sandy was the largest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, with winds spanning an area of 1,100 miles and damages estimated at $68 billion. It killed at least 286 people in seven countries, from Jamaica to the Jersey Shore. But tropical storms are not the only challenge for emergency operations up and down the East Coast.
    Read More
  • Transport MEPs set out steps to achieve transport roadmap goals
    July 15, 2015
    To ensure the competitiveness and sustainability of EU transport, concrete measures are still needed, said MEPs in a report adopted in the Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN) this week and intended to feed into the Commission review of the 2011 White Paper on Transport. Further efforts to boost air, road, rail and maritime transport, reduce road injuries and close loopholes in passenger rights legislation should be made, they add. The transport sector is a driving force of the EU economy and should
    Read More
  • Leading Finland’s transport revolution
    July 18, 2017
    Anne Berner, Finland’s minister of transport and communications, does not fit the normal political mould. She is not a career politician but a business executive who became a member of parliament in 2015 and has said from the outset that she will only serve one term. Without concerns about being re-elected and a clear view of the future of transport, Berner can concentrate on what needs to be done - tackling some of the more contentious and intransigent subjects. Her name is best known for two major initiat
    Read More
  • Colorado DoT locates data-rich environment
    January 14, 2020
    Colorado DoT and Esri have been cooperating to unlock data’s potential. Jason Barnes finds out what that has to do with firing a howitzer at snowy mountains – and exactly why things that happened in the past point the way towards future proofing
    Read More

Highlighted Content