Three Georgia families are now suing after their loved ones crashed into deadly guardrails that a Channel 2 Action News investigation found should not even be on our roads.
In October, Channel 2 Action News uncovered hundreds of the outdated model still in use more than a decade after the government said to remove them.
"He was the definition of loyalty by all means do anything for you no matter what,
He was always there, just a good person," Frank Bohaczyk said remembering his brother, Paul.
Frank is still trying to understand why Paul's black Ford Mustang ran off the road on his way to work one morning last April.
His car slammed into a breakaway cable terminal (BCT) on the end of a guardrail along Ronald Reagan Parkway in Lawrenceville.
Investigators determined the BCT penetrated the driver's side of the car and sliced through Paul's seatbelt.
"It was literally enough to take him from the driver’s side and push him all the way to the passenger side," said Frank.
Paul died on impact.
The impact of what Frank learned later still has him reeling.
"It's hard knowing that there's a chance something could have been done differently. Something could have saved my brother and all the other people that's lost their lives," said Frank.
Last fall, Channel 2 Action News found more than 300 outdated BCT's still lining Georgia highways, even though the federal government told states and counties the guardrail ends were "too stiff" to protect drivers, and to begin replacing them back in 1998.
"This is 2015, it's about time," said attorney Mel Hewitt, who now represents three Georgia families whose loved ones have crashed into BCT's and died.
The BCT's can flatten like a spear and slice through cars and the people inside.
"They're killing people and they're maiming people," said Hewitt, "So do I hold the state responsible? Absolutely."
After Channel 2 exposed the problem, Georgia's Department of Transportation began a new program to map every guardrail end, and found there are many more BCT's than first thought. Crews located nearly 2000 of them just on Georgia's interstates. The ones on state routes are still being counted.
"Certainly the people who are in leadership roles now weren't being purposely negligent when it came to this. This was something that was called for many, many years ago and after you brought this to our attention, we were very eager to act," said GDOT spokesperson Natalie Dale.
She could not comment on the pending litigation, but said GDOT is trying to secure funding to replace all of the state's BCT's.
The state action won't address BCT's along local roads, those fall to each city or county transportation department.
The Bohaczyk family's claim is against the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation, which also declined to comment.
Frank says they all have a responsibility to drivers like his brother, Paul.
"It's going to be something I'm going to live with the rest of my life. I'm always going to wonder what if. What if it would have been changed?" said Frank.
