John Fitch Invented Crash Barrels

At the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, French race car driver Pierre Levegh and 84 spectators died in the worst accident in racing history. The disaster prompted Levegh's co-driver, American race car driver John Fitch, to invent the Fitch barrier, a system of sand-filled plastic barrels. Inspired by sand-filled fuel cans that had protected his tent from strafing during World War II, Fitch tested prototypes by personally crashing reinforced vehicles into sand-filled liquor barrels. Highway crews now place the barriers between highways and exit lanes, where their progressively heavier sand loads scatter during collisions and slow vehicles more gradually.

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