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Old 05-22-2011, 09:49 AM   #2
Bruno
 
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
Default Re: Chain Link Vs. Car

Unfortunately it's a heavy "It Depends". The fences the Mythbusters always end up driving into when a remote-controlled vehicle goes awol are temporary fences, not "real" ones. They're not fixed to the ground by fence posts, they're just standing on feet. These kinds of fences rely on their weight and symbolic value to stop people - you could totally knock these over with a car, although how drivable your car would be after I'm not sure. Depends on your collision speed I suspect.

It would be simpler and inflict less vehicle damage to just get out and haul out the wire snips, and a hacksaw for the crossbars.

These are typical not only around film shoots, but also around some construction sites (usually in more sub-urban areas, urban areas install permanent fences).

A "proper" fence should have heavy posts sunk into concrete blocks buried in the ground to a significant depth. Usually steel posts. This version is much sturdier.

It's much stronger, too, if it has the hollow steel crossbars at the top and bottom of the chain link. If it's just link strung between the two posts, it's much more vulnerable to abuse.

A chain link gate is different from a fence. It comes with a natural break point in it. This is what they tested on Mythbusters - it's not the chain link you break through, it's the lock or the chain holding the gate closed.

Note that they never actually bust through the portable fences when something goes AWOL...
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