US News

Dead teen billed for guardrail that killed her

A father in Tennessee is “flabbergasted” after receiving a bill for $2,970 to replace the guardrail that killed his teenage daughter in a crash four months ago — saying he cannot believe the gall behind the call for money.

Hannah Eimers, 17, was behind the wheel of her father’s Volvo S80 on Interstate 75 North near Niota on Nov. 1 when the car crossed the median and struck the end of a guardrail. But instead of deflecting the car, the end of the structure impaled the vehicle, striking the teen in the head and chest — and sending her into the back seat.

The teen died instantly, according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol crash report cited by the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Steven Eimers later received a bill addressed to his daughter dated Feb. 24, months after she was killed by the “defective device,” he said.

“I’m shocked,” Eimers told the newspaper. “The audacity. What bothers me is that they’re playing Russian roulette with people’s lives. They know these devices do not perform at high speeds and in situations like my daughter’s accident, but they leave them in place.”

Just one week before the crash, the Tennessee Department of Transportation removed the guardrail end from its list of approved products due to performance concerns involving crashes in excess of 62 miles per hour.

Mark Nagi, a spokesman for the agency, said roughly 1,000 of the guardrail ends remain on state roads, but they will not be used in new projects. Transportation officials will start accepting bids for a contract to remove “most” of them at locations where the speed limit exceeds 45 miles per hour. The speed limit on Interstate 75 where Eimers crashed is 70 mph, the newspaper notes.

The bill, Nagi said, was sent in error, the result of a “mistake somewhere in processing.” He said the Eimers family will not be held responsible to pay for the damage and another letter will be sent to explain the mishap.

The bill, according to a copy supplied to the newspaper by Eimers, included $2,600 in material costs to replace the guardrail, $231 in labor costs and $138 in equipment costs, totaling $2,970.14.

“It’s obscene,” Eimers told the Washington Post. “They will kill you and then they will bill you. The bill was absolutely tasteless … It’s almost comical. It’s like the most obscene comedy skit you can come up with.”