This guide examines why guardrail repair and maintenance is needed. Those reasons include:

• Road was designed and constructed to require guardrail
• Maintenance workers are closest to the problem
• Good maintenance reduces lawsuits against highway agencies.

Some tips to increase safety are:

• W-beam rail sections must not be badly bent out of shape.
• Bolts must be the right size and be tight.
• Wooden posts must not be loose, broken, or rotted.
• Steel posts must not be bent or pushed offline so badly that a vehicle hitting the rail will slide off the road.
• Rail sections must be blocked out away from the posts.
• Road or shoulder surface under the rail needs to be free of holes and eroded ruts that a wheel can drop into.
• General line of the guardrail should be a smooth path.
• Guardrail needs b be at the correct height from the ground.