Tennessee man says guardrail in place on NH highways to blame for daughter's death
X-Lite guardrail terminals focus of lawsuit
X-Lite guardrail terminals focus of lawsuit
X-Lite guardrail terminals focus of lawsuit
In 2017, a devastating crash on Interstate 93 in Londonderry killed a young mother from Massachusetts. Both the front-seat passenger and a baby were hurt but survived.
A Tennessee father whose daughter was killed in a similar crash seven months earlier started investigating. Stephen Eimers is a father on a crusade to eliminate what he believes is the sole cause of these deaths: a guardrail.
"It was one of the top 10 accidents that I've responded to for being a gruesome scene and for being a serious motor vehicle accident with a fatality involved," said Londonderry Fire Battalion Chief Mike McQuillen.
The Honda Civic that crashed on I-93 was headed north on a summer evening in 2017. State Fire Marshal Bill Degnan was first to the scene.
"I saw a vehicle that had gone down off the right-hand side of the road that had gone through the guardrail," Degnan said.
Now retired, Degnan said he remembers speaking to the female passenger, who said she was OK. When he walked further down the embankment, he saw that the driver, Julia Melendez, had been ejected.
"She was pinned underneath the vehicle," Degnan said.
Melendez did not survive.
Nine months earlier, a 17-year-old girl was killed in a crash on a Tennessee highway.
"My daughter was fatally obliterated to the point that we were literally picking up the pieces," Eimers said. "You don't want to be where I am. You do not want to be where I am."
Since that day in November 2016, Eimers has morphed from small business owner to a part-time investigator, lobbyist and activist. He said he believes with every fiber of his being that one piece of the guardrail, the end cap terminal, is the reason his daughter was killed.
"The Lindsay corporation has the blood of my daughter and dozens of individuals all across the country on their hands," Eimers said.
Lindsay Transportation Solutions is one of several companies listed in the lawsuit Eimers filed earlier this year. According to court documents, Lindsay "designed, developed, manufactured, ... tested, inspected, marketed the guardrail system." The case is scheduled for trial next year.
"I want to make sure that the people of New Hampshire are aware of this risk in their state," Eimers said.
According to the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, as of February 2017, 119 X-Lite terminals were in use on state roadways. One was installed on the I-93 guardrail Melendez crashed through.
"The guardrail, it was a twisted mass of metal that had come through the vehicle and just kind of bound up around the vehicle at the scene," McQuillen said.
New Hampshire DOT officials declined an on-camera interview with News 9, citing concerns over potential litigation, via email, the department confirmed that Lindsay X-Lite terminals were installed between 2014 and 2017.
A 2017 interdepartmental memo obtained by News 9 Investigates said that because of questions about the performance of X-Lite and other products, "the use of these terminals on projects under design and construction is suspended."
That same year, repair guidelines were changed for roads with speeds higher than 45 mph, requiring that any damaged X-Lite guardrail terminals be replaced with a new generation of road safety hardware.
Unlike other states, New Hampshire is not actively removing and replacing all X-Lite end terminals.
"Why are 17 states removing their product from the roadside and throwing it into the dustbin?" Eimers said.
Lindsay Transportation Solutions vigorously denied the claims that its end cap terminals are dangerous or defective, citing rigorous testing and approval by the Federal Highway Administration, which said last May, "Our research and repeated calls for information from the state do not support claims that this specific type of guardrail performs differently than others."
Company officials said the removal of X-Lite guardrail terminals from lists of approved hardware is merely the sunsetting of an entire generation of road safety equipment as states move to comply with new, updated federal guidelines, and not a referendum on the safety or quality of their product.
But for Eimers, his loss has turned into a life mission to eradicate all X-Lite end terminals everywhere.
"I've never been to New Hampshire, but I would not wish this on anyone," he said.
The Maine Department of Transportation announced last week that it is removing all X-Lite guardrail end terminals from its roadways. The department's chief engineer said there are about 50, and the cost of removal is estimated to be between $200,000 and $300,000.