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Giant 'crash cushion' protects at roadside
The roadside can be a highly dangerous workplace. Those who attend incidents on our roads and freeways, such as our RAC patrols, are in constant danger from oncoming traffic.
Published Jan 2025
2 min read
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Published Jan 2025
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To help keep RAC’s roadside responders and members of the public safer during roadside incidents, RAC uses two vehicles known as Impact Protection Vehicles (IPV) to provide a shield on the road.
The IPV is positioned at a breakdown to help protect those at the scene should there be a collision. It acts like a crash cushion, absorbing the impact of any vehicle that may veer off from the traffic flow and into the site of the breakdown.
See how an IPV offers protection in a roadside breakdown:
The IPVs are sent to incidents attended by tow trucks and Patrols from RAC Roadside Assistance on the Kwinana and Mitchell freeways as well as the Roe and Tonkin Highways.
Since first deployed in June 2018, the IPVs have been dispatched to thousands of events on Perth’s freeways, helping to protect the lives of those at the scene.
Last updated October 2019
We'll cover you 24 hours a day
With 24/7 roadside assistance and more patrols on the road than any other service in WA, RAC's Roadside Assistance has been helping West Australians keep moving when their car breaks down for more than 90 years, with cover from just $10 a month.
