Good Question: Who is responsible for paying to fix guardrails damaged in crashes?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Driving down the interstate, you are likely to see them: damaged guardrails. That led to today’s Good Question from a viewer.

For today’s Good Question, Lisa asks, Who pays to fix the guardrails that people wreck into? Do the taxpayers pay or the person who hit the guardrail?

We checked with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and officials told us they will try to file a claim on a driver’s insurance if a wreck causes damage to a guardrail. If that driver doesn’t have insurance, they will still try to collect on the damage.

Even if they can’t, they’ll make the necessary repairs.

“Safety of the public is our top priority, so the guardrail will be replaced or repaired, regardless,” said Chuck Wolfe, KYTC.

That is for state roads, but, looking online, it appears to be pretty standard for the driver to be responsible for damaged guardrails.

If you have a Good Question you’d like us to try to answer, send it to goodquestion@wkyt.com.

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