[alphabettsy]

I understand what you’re saying completely. The point of highway safety equipment is usually as a last resort to minimize injury as much as possible, this is after markings, signage, drivers and vehicles have failed to prevent a crash.

Obviously the crash should’ve been avoided, but poorly maintained or designed infrastructure should not be left out of the conversation.

[jackvalentine]

I think it's best to split these in to two 'investigations' to talk about. Yep the barrier probably contributed to the death but are we really interested in talking about? We're here to talk about the self-driving bit! We wouldn't be talking about it if it was a 2002 Toyota Camry that hit it..

[alphabettsy]

There’s no need for there to be two investigations, the NTSB generally produces very thorough reports that will acknowledge all causes leading to injury or death.

[jackvalentine]

I'm not saying there should be two investigations, I'm saying there should be two 'investigations' for the purposes of us talking about it.

Nobody here is actually interested in the case because of the implications for roadside maintenance - they're interested because it's a (semi) autonomous vehicle.