Guard rails had a nasty habit of impaling cars that were driven into the ends of the rail. Impaled cars are nightmare-worthy. Studies were done, and impaling incidents were reduced by bringing the rail ends down to the pavement, then burying them there. Fewer impalings, but then the buried end served as a dandy ramp to launch speeding vehicles and make them flip and roll into traffic.
Many, many divided highways have some type of drainage between the two roadbeds. It depends upon the terrain where the highways are constructed. You never want to construct anything in a flowline. I had a highway engineer explain it to me that “the water gets confused.” Confused water doesn’t drain where you want it to drain. When water goes looking for a place to drain, you can get ponded water, eroded roadbeds and other unwanted consequences.
Designing highways is a job of enormous responsibilities!
Sometimes those are called Texas turndowns. Now energy-absorbing end caps are preferred which are designed to peel the guardrail sideways and away from the vehicle when struck end-on. Best practice is “buried in backslope” but that requires specific topographical conditions like so:
The DRIVER/OWNER of the vehicle is responsible for damage to highway bridges/fences/guardrails/barriers/signs.
If you filed a claim with your insurance company, you should tell them about the stuff you destroyed. You WILL get a bill!
I had a very public discussion on this very topic with a cousin. Her husband had a single vehicle accident, and the CHP told him he was lucky to survive. Many who cracked up at that spot were killed.
Many months passed. Their insurance company settled damages on the vehicle, and Cousin + Spouse figured all was finished. The insurance company contacted them, wanting to close the file. They consented.
More months pass, and the State finally sends a bill. Cousin gets all indignant, “Why did the State take so long to notify! The insurance company closed the case!”
I said the voting residents of the State approved budget cutbacks, and the State has fewer people to get the job done. And it is still the responsibility of the driver to pay for the damages. I then said that she would have to contact her insurance company and have the file reopened, so the State’s claim can be paid.