Guardrail vs Guiderail

[Pete from Boston]

It's come up that what we all like to refer to as "guardrail" along a highway is instead correctly termed a "guiderail." 

I am familiar with "guardrail" in building codes as the technical term for any fall protection barrier (generally 42" minimum off finished floor on any standing area over 30" in height).

Does "guardrail" have another meaning in roadway engineering, or is it still the same item I've described?

[Big John]

Most states use "guardrail" as it is a safety feature to prevent vehicles from hitting what is behind it (including a steep downhill grade), but not as stiff as a thrie beam or a concrete barrier.  Wisconsin calls it a "Beam guard" for some reason.

[PurdueBill]

Is "guardrail" actually incorrect?  FHWA says guardrail and guiderail are the same thing and the link seems to suggest that the term "guiderail" comes from legal interpretation problems in a few states with the word "guard"--a dubious argument it seems, but something that managed to make it.  (I mean, what else would have to be renamed? Safety goggles because they don't keep you safe necessarily?) 

[PHLBOS]

PennDOT uses guiderail in its construction specs. & details.

[vdeane]

NY exclusively uses guiderail as well.  Some of the NYSDOT engineers are very passionate about this.

[briantroutman]

I had a law class in high school (in Pennsylvania) where the teacher was very quick to correct anyone who said "guardrail" , saying that, for legal reasons, it doesn't definitively guard against a vehicle running off the road but instead attempts to guide it back on course.

[jeffandnicole]

It's a terminology issue.  Guiderail and guardrail are the same thing. 

[Pete from Boston]

How do these agencies refer to the fence-like structure that runs along a pedestrian walkway, which is the specific item the International Building Code uses the term "guardrail" for?

[kphoger]

How do these agencies refer to the fence-like structure that runs along a pedestrian walkway, which is the specific item the International Building Code uses the term "guardrail" for?

"Fence" ??

[Big John]

How do these agencies refer to the fence-like structure that runs along a pedestrian walkway, which is the specific item the International Building Code uses the term "guardrail" for?

"Fence" ??

yep

[Pete from Boston]

So you're telling me the technical term for the ~42" rail on a bridge between a sidewalk and the water is "fence"? 

[Big John]

So you're telling me the technical term for the ~42" rail on a bridge between a sidewalk and the water is "fence"? 

I thought you meant a fence-like item on the ground.  On a bridge it is a rail on the sides whether metal and/or concrete or even timber.  I have seen a few cases where a fence was used as a bridge railing and it was referred to as a rail.  But I have not seen those referred to a guardrail nor a guiderail.

[hbelkins]

It's officially guardrail in Kentucky. All the legalese about calling it "guiderail" is proof that Shakespeare was right about lawyers.

[cbeach40]

MTO uses "barrier" in general, "guiderail" applies more specifically to certain devices. "Guardrail" is seemingly viewed as the layman's term.

[slorydn1]

Its a guardrail here.

Damn lawyers, they have even found a way to screw us up too????? 

[lepidopteran]

For the railing on the side of a bridge, what about "parapet"?

For what it's worth, elevators have guide rails (rollers on either side of the car), as do escalators (rollers on the sides of the steps).  The elevator industry appears to use two words instead of one.

[CANALLER]

Guide Rail is a term that was created because of the accident lawyers suing the state, claiming that "Guard Rails" didn't guard vehicles from crashing through them.  This claim was made again a few years ago by a lawyer working for the father of a kid who got tanked well over the limit, then crashed through numerous signs and rails and drowned in the Union Canal.

The rails were never designed to prevent all vehicles from crashing through them, but rather to re-direct errant vehicles back on to the travelled way.  Despite the sad feelings of a family losing a loved one, they were never intended to guard drunk drivers from meeting tragic ends to their lives. 

Yet lawyers still try to make that claimt, so the word "Guard" was replaced with "Guide" in all of the legal documents.  A few of the design geek-types that Val referred to will always use that term to sound official, but everyone else uses the word guard in ordinary speech.

[adventurernumber1]

I have always heard "guardrail."

I don't think I've ever heard it spelled/pronounced as "guiderail" before.

[kphoger]

Let's all coin a new term for them, then.

Ideas:
crashrail
slambar
nudgerail
scrapealong
splunge

[machias]

NY exclusively uses guiderail as well.  Some of the NYSDOT engineers are very passionate about this.

I was quickly corrected by a professor in civil engineering school. A guiderail is definitely a guiderail at NYSDOT.

[yakra]

Did he say, "SPLUNGE!"?

[J N Winkler]

This is what is called a dialect marker (q.v. shibboleth).  Guiderail instantly marks you out as a NYSDOT purist (yes, even if the term is officially endorsed by some of NYSDOT's peer agencies).  Safety fence identifies you as a highway engineer who is either British or trained in Britain.  Guardrail is the term with the broadest usage base and thus the weakest overtones of regionalism, agency heirloomdom, and language policing.

Maintenance and protection of traffic (especially when abbreviated to MPT) is another term favored by NYSDOT purists.  The rest of the country calls it workzone traffic control or simply traffic control.

[paulthemapguy]

Let's all coin a new term for them, then.

Ideas:
crashrail
slambar
nudgerail
scrapealong
splunge

What is a guardrail to you? It all depends on how you use it.

[Rothman]

Let's all coin a new term for them, then.

Ideas:
crashrail
slambar
nudgerail
scrapealong
splunge

Whammy.

[cpzilliacus]

Maintenance and protection of traffic (especially when abbreviated to MPT) is another term favored by NYSDOT purists.  The rest of the country calls it workzone traffic control or simply traffic control.

Maryland prefers MOT (maintenance of traffic).