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The EN 1317 European Standard was developed within the framework of the Construction Products Directive 89/106/EEC and was establish in February 1989.

EN 1317 defines common testing and certification procedures for Road Restraint Systems. The EN 1317-5 standard serves as the framework for the CE marking of road safety systems such as Barriers, Crash Cushions, Barrier Terminal Ends and Transitions. In order to receive the CE marking, road safety systems must be tested following the requirements described in EN 1317.

To be implemented within Europe, Vehicle Restraint Systems (VRS) have to meet the requirements of the European Standard EN 1317. The systems have to undergo crash tests, whose parameters and acceptance criteria are defined by the norm. Depending on the test results, the systems are divided into performance classes. Each type of VRS is evaluated in an individual part of the EN 1317:

EN 1317-1: Terminology and general criteria for test methods
This European Standard contains provisions for the measurement of performance of products for the road restraint systems, under impact and impact severity levels, and includes:
  • Test site data
  • Definitions for road restraint systems
  • Vehicle specification (including loading requirements) for vehicles used in the impact tests
  • Instrumentation for the vehicles
  • Calculation procedures and methods of recording crash impact data including impact severity levels
  • VCDI
EN 1317-2: Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for safety barriers including vehicle parapets
This European Standard specifies requirements on impact performance of safety barriers, including vehicle parapets, classes of containment, working width, vehicle intrusion and impact severity levels. NOTE This European Standard should be read in conjunction with EN 1317-1. Both these standards support EN 1317-5.
EN 1317-3: Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for crash cushions
This European Standard specifies requirements for the performance of crash cushions during vehicle impacts. It specifies performance classes and acceptance criteria for impact tests, which should be read in conjunction with EN 1317-1 and EN 1317-5.
ENV 1317-4: Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for terminals and transitions of safety barriers.
This European Pre-standard specifies requirements for the performance of terminals and transitions. It defines performance classes and acceptance criteria for impact tests.
EN 1317-5: Product requirements and evaluation of conformity for vehicle restraint systems
This European Standard specifies requirements for evaluation of conformity of the following vehicle restraint systems:
  1. Safety Barriers
  2. Crash Cushions
  3. Terminals (will be effective when ENV 1317-4 becomes an EN)
  4. Transitions (will be effective when ENV 1317-4 becomes an EN)
  5. Vehicle / Pedestrian parapets (only for the vehicle restraint function)
Pedestrian parapet requirements are not covered in this document. Requirements for the evaluation of durability with respect to weathering are included in this document. Requirements for other forms of durability (e.g. marine environment, sand abrasion) are not included. Temporary barriers are not within the scope of this document.
TR 1317-6: Pedestrian restraint system - Pedestrian parapets
This Technical Report specifies geometrical and technical requirements for the design and manufacture for pedestrian parapets on road bridges, footbridges, on top of retaining walls and on similarly elevated structures. This Technical Report also specifies test methods and provision for the labelling and marking of these products. This Technical Report does not cover:
  • Vehicle Restraint Systems
  • Pedestrian restraint systems in Residential, Commercial or Industrial buildings and within their perimeter
  • Non-rigid rails (i.e. rope, cables)
This Technical Report may be used for pedestrian parapets on structures which cross over railways, rivers and canals.
EN 1317-7: Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for terminals of safety barriers
This part of EN 1317 specifies requirements on the impact performance of terminals, performance classes, lateral displacement, vehicle redirection classes, terminal direction classes, VCDI and impact severity levels. NOTE This European Standard should be read in conjunction with EN 1317-1. Both these standards support EN 1317-5. The performance of a terminal is generally dependent on the connected barrier.
TS 1317-8: Motorcycle road restraint systems which reduce the impact severity of motorcyclist collisions with safety barriers
This Technical Specification specifies requirements for the impact performance of systems designed for the reduction of impact severity for PTW riders impacting safety barriers whilst sliding along the ground, having fallen from their PTW vehicle. The protection systems concerned are those fitted to barriers or barriers that have an inherent PTW rider protection or risk reduction capability. This Technical Specification excludes the assessment of the vehicle restraint capabilities of barriers and the risk that they represent to the occupants of impacting cars. The assessment of performance of impacting vehicles is covered by EN 1317 1 and EN 1317 2. This Technical Specification defines performance classes taking into account rider speed classes, impact severity and the working width of the system with respect to rider impacts. For systems designed to be added to a standard barrier, the test results are valid only when the system is fitted to the model of barrier used in the tests since the performance will not necessarily be the same if the system is fitted to a different barrier.