Right now, the roads you drive d
potentially have a deadly guard.
Our 10 Investigates team first
told you in February about the
dozens of improperly installed
guard rails all across state ro,
and then they were tipped off
to some at Walt Disney World.
And since their first investiga,
they have heard from people who
have been tragically impacted,
as well as viewers who have now
spotted guardrails that are improperly
installed or frankensteined.
Then investigation.
Jennifer Titus is live for us tonight
where viewer found a potential
problem. Jen, you're continuing coverage
of this issue is bringing major results.
Yeah, Carolina, Carolina,
When we first started this investigation,
we didn't realize.
How widespread this issue was.
But we've truly learned
that it's a systemic issue.
Not only have we found impropery
installed guardrails on state r,
now we're finding them on
city and county roads.
But because of our findings,
once again, communities are fixg
potentially deadly guardrails.
How often do you drive this roa?
Quite frequently, but it
wasn't until a few months ago.
That he noticed this guardrail t
at the Pinellas Hillsborough li.
Loose bolts, loose bolts, loose bolts.
They're all loose, was Frankens.
Ryan Wentz is a sophomore in
college and you're studying
to be cellular and molecular biologists. So
nothing to do with engineering,
but it was a YouTube search.
I saw Steve's channel on the re,
and I saw that his was the only
channel focusing on something g.
This should not be normal.
It's Steve the guardrail guy.
That's something good. Was a
YouTube page for the guardrail ,
who you may know as Steve Immers
hitting the end of a guardrail.
Hitting a guardrail can be
a very violent act. He's
a safety advocate that helped
10 Investigates find dozens of
improperly installed guardrails
across state roads back in February. 1
Bolt 1 Bolt in the wrong spot cn
kill you if the cables loose.
It's not going to support you,
is it? That's pretty simple.
After taking what he learned
from the YouTube page, this
one is specifically mandated and the F
dot installation guidelines not to be
posted bolted through post three
knew this guardrail wasn't righ,
just noticed that it was damage.
Nothing in particular stood out to me,
just that I had been hit and that was it.
From there I contacted the Flora
Department of Transportation.
I sent them an e-mail saying tht
it was hit and I would request
that it would be fixed. The
guardrail also turned out to be
Frankensteined, a major problem.
Then Ryan kept running
into other problems and
they said that it was a locally
maintained issue and that they d
be forwarding it to the next pen
because this guardrail was
not property of the Florida
Department of Transportation.
The guardrail belonged
to Hillsborough County.
Yep. I feel like sometimes I'm chasing
my tail trying to figure out whI
need to contact to get this don.
We contacted Hillsborough Counto
asking if they track Frankensten
guardrails on the side of their roads.
They sent us an e-mail back saying that
if a guardrail is struck in a car crash
or is disrupted in some other way like
localized flooding or a tree fa,
then the guardrail is replaced in large
sections with F dot approved components
designed to work with that guardrail.
But we know that's not the case
because of what was found here.
These are
some washers left behind by the crew.
These do not be long on these systems. Here,
it's not just Hillsborough Coun.
There's this improperly installd
guardrail in Pinellas County and
another one in Tarpon Springs.
They connected these in a way
that I've never seen before.
10 Investigates and compiled a database
together of how counties across the Bay
Area inspect and track their guardrails.
What we learned is that each
one has a different approach,
different inspection intervals,
with some inspecting everyone
to two years like in Pinellas,
to some taking longer every
seven years in Polk County.
And here's another problem.
While county seemed to handle
guardrails differently,
confusion adds up once again over ownership.
Of the Tarpon Springs guardrail.
In an e-mail from F dot,
they say this bridge is owned
by the City of Tarpon Springs.
While F dot provides inspection
reports to the city,
repairs and maintenance remain
the responsibility of the city.
Ryan then sent an e-mail to
the city back on May 3rd.
The guardrail still not fixed 2 weeks later,
but while we were out shooting
video of the guardrail.
County guys are here, dude.
Contractors with the city did show up. It's
missing some bolts. If you come
along this line you can count t.
Previously I counted around 22 missing
bolts like that side when they
replaced that first rail as W b.
It should have all been W beam r
at least that side. I would go
run that by Tuesdays.
They have Commission meetings.
OK, you can go there. OK, the
confusion turns to frustration.
The bolts over on this side is still loose.
You guys came out and it's still loose.
Do you think that this should be more of
a priority for not just state officials,
but city officials, county officials?
Who's ever responsible for putting these
steel along the roadways? Certay
if the government is going to put out a
barrier to protect you from a danger,
the barrier should work as
designed from the manufacturer.
The counties and the cities can
kind of do whatever they want.
Within reason. But if they don't have
that expertise or that knowledg,
that can create a quite a big problem that
just cascades down into the contractor.
Structural engineer Kevin Strum
has studied guardrails for year.
He's not surprised by our
findings on city and county roas
that the county and the city le,
they have even fewer resources,
fewer people that are aware of e
things and so trying to convince
them of the importance of, you .
Not drilling a hole in guardrail
to bolt it to the post, you kno,
it's such a subtle thing.
It's why Ryan knows it won't be the last
time he spots an improperly installed or
Frankenstein guardrail along the roads.
These do not be long on these systems. Here.
Steve will be very glad that I found this.
It's not in the rail. Very good.
This one, by the way, on the Hillsborough,
Pinellas County line that
contractors have come out to fix
is still not properly installed.
It's improperly bolted.
Why do this for us?
Why have us contact you? And wh?
Why spread this message? I
feel that this message is import
for everybody because it's our .
At the end of the day, the government,
people driving, we're all the s.
At the end of the day,
we have just different jobs and
so we need to help each other.
And back out here live,
Ryan told me just a few days ago
he received emails from the Citf
Tarpon Springs confirming that y
have ordered the proper parts and that
guardrail at that bridge there should
be fixed within the next couple weeks.
As far as this Hillsborough County guardrail,
that one right there to my left,
it is still Frankenstein.
I spoke with Steve Eimers a few hours
ago who spoke to some Hillsboroh
County contractors and they say
they again are making it a prioy
and that this will be fixed.
And now we are not just seeing
these two guardrails get fixed.
We are also seeing other
guardrails along Bay Area roads.
F dot is continuing to fix
guardrails that we've reported.
This one you're looking at
on US3O1 has now been fixed.
If you find one that you believe
may be potentially dangerous,
send them to me and we'll add them to our
database and get them to the proper owner.
Again,
we are seeing major impact becae
of our investigation and we're
continuing to do this Carolina,
because unfortunately we've seen the impact.
That an improperly installed
guardrail can cause
sorry Jen, absolutely there.
And look, you can see all of our
team stories from the Unguarded
series right now on 10 tampabaym
and on our 10 Tampa Bay app.