Underrun protection report

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Table of contents

Underrun protection report
manufacturer

Underrun protection report

Underrun protection report

Underrun protection report

Underrun protection report

8th pictures

Underrun protection report
manufacturer

1/8
Wanted play on words: Mehrsi says Merci and Merci to Mehrsi – say thank you and receive thanks.

Underrun protection report
Blacksmith

2/8
Unsecured guard rail posts hold the greatest potential for injury in the event of an impact.

Underrun protection report
Breakable

3/8
“The underrun protection does not give a carte blanche. But it signals: Attention, something happened here. ”

Underrun protection report
Breakable

4/8
“Others talk, we do. It is also about the still missing lobby of motorcyclists. “

Underrun protection report
manufacturer

5/8
The underrun protection closes the gap between the guardrail and the road. He can save lives.

Underrun protection report
Breakable

6/8
“Part of the job is liaising with the authorities and identifying critical curves.”

Underrun protection report
Breakable

7/8
Mehrsi managing director Monika Schwill: “We are a positive platform for everyone involved and for the first time we have broken through the familiar.”

Underrun protection report
manufacturer

8/8
Underrun protection on crash barriers has established itself for the safety of motorcyclists as well as protectors in protective clothing.

counselor

traffic & business

Underrun protection report

Mehrsi commitment to underride protection
More of that!

The underrun protection on crash barriers promoted by Mehrsi gGmbH has established itself for the safety of motorcyclists as well as protectors in protective clothing. The success story is also due to a committed fighter by nature.

Brigitte Haschek

03/19/2015

Granted, it took time. But already at the beginning of the 90s you can read in MOTORRAD that something is happening on the roads between the Rhine and Ruhr – North Rhine-Westphalia is the first in the republic to take care of the safety of motorcyclists.

The main focus is on mitigating the bad consequences of slipping under guardrails and hitting the support posts. Because over 80 percent of those who have had an accident crash into the restraint system commonly known as the guardrail, and the support posts can become a death trap.

In the early years they experimented with post coverings made of plastic, but also with double guardrails that were copied from the French. The driving force is Helmut Nikolaus, during these years the branch manager of the state road construction company in Euskirchen. He recognizes the need for action early on.

The nearby Nurburgring and the winding Eifel routes are popular destinations for motorcyclists in his area of ​​responsibility. The other side of the coin: Hardly a weekend goes by without hearing about bikers who have had an accident in the Eifel.

Road construction engineer Nikolaus was inspired by a French underrun protection model and developed it further in cooperation with industry. The result is the Euskirchen type underrun protection: a 37 centimeter high sheet metal that is screwed to the existing crash barriers and only leaves a five centimeter gap open. The person who has fallen usually slides along it and can often get up again fairly unharmed.

The right woman in the right place at the right time


Underrun protection report


Breakable

“The underrun protection does not give a license. But it signals: Attention, something happened here. “

In 1998, the Euskirchen type was tested on the B 256 and L 165. It will take another five years before the system has been approved by the Federal Highway Research Institute (BaSt) and is officially presented.

“I am convinced that this innovative and so far unique idea will spread very quickly”, says the then North Rhine-Westphalian Transport Minister Axel Horstmann during an on-site visit on the L 165 in Bad Munstereifel at the end of April 2004.

The good man didn’t have to be a prophet for this, however, because he already knew Monika Schwill, initiator of the Mehrsi organization founded in 2003 – more safety for bikers (spelling: MEHRSi).

Monika Schwill was somehow the right woman, in the right place and at the right time. Grew up in the Vulkaneifel town of Gerolstein and, as the sister of a brother who was enthusiastic about motorcycles, confronted early on with the potential risk of crash barriers: invented to protect motorists, but a treacherous threat to life and limb for motorcyclists. At the age of 20, one of her friends lost her left leg and other parts of the body after a motorcycle accident through no fault of her own as a result of the crash into the guardrail, but not the courage to face life.

For Schwill, this is both a shock and an initial spark. She is completely committed to making the underrun protection known to motorcyclists and the authorities. As Joan of Arc the Biker, she travels through the province, meets district administrators and accident commissions, and does persuasive work at all levels.

She wins ADAC honorary president Otto Flimm for multi-si patronage. Also ex-NRW Transport Minister Axel Horstmann (SPD), the SPD member of the Bundestag Ute Vogt and SPD front man Peter Struck († 19.12.2012) – all three are enthusiastic motorcyclists.

The Mehrsi principal also brings a lot of racing celebrities like Nina Prinz, Toni Mang, Helmut Dahne and Jutta Kleinschmidt on board, who beat the drum for the lifesaver underrun protection with her.

Donations of around 80,000 euros per year

It is very important for her and Mehrsis to convey the topic of security not with fear and horror, but with sympathy and fun. In addition to her professional activity, she does public relations and lobbying for this affair of the heart with trade fair appearances, information leaflets, numerous events as well as contacts with motorcycle clubs and industry. This not only costs money, but also a lot of time.

This full-time job cannot be done in the long term as a volunteer. That is why the trained teacher for artistic dance and music education pulled the rip cord in 2010: She gave up her job and made herself the full-time managing director of the non-profit Mehrsi GmbH.

The organization currently has around 2000 private and around 50 commercial sponsors. According to Schwill, this brings together donations of around 80,000 euros per year. From this, Mehrsi subsidizes, among other things, media-effective with – usually – 1000 euros individual security measures – most recently at the end of February in four curves on the K 1262 in the Baden-Wurttemberg district of Esslingen.

Monika Schwill does not want to inform you how much of the donation income after deducting all running operating costs including management fees for these grants.

The considerable list of already secured stretches of road on the Mehrsi website (www.mehrsi.org) gives a slightly distorted picture: The majority of the more than 800 curves in which well over 100 kilometers of underrun protection have already been installed are financially viable has been defused from the respective state budgets.

Saxony started an underride protection retrofit campaign in 2013, all of which was paid for from the Free State’s budget. The goal of securing a total of 20 kilometers will be achieved in April of this year. In North Rhine-Westphalia, too, they point out that all construction measures to improve motorcyclist safety come from their own pots without subsidies.

The same applies to Rhineland-Palatinate, where most of the underrun protection retrofits are also financed from the general maintenance budget. The B 48 between Rinnthal and Johanniskreuz in the southern Palatinate is an exception: there was a 1000 Euro multi-person grant to hand over the 1560 meters of underrun protection. In view of the total cost of 70,000 euros, it is more of a recognition contribution to create a public awareness of road safety issues.

That’s a good thing. The number 1 lifesaver for bikers has long been included in the catalog of measures of the road construction authorities and is consistently installed in danger spots. We just need more of it.

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