 So how do I get there? Well, you go down the highway, cross the creek, and then watch on your right. There's 85 mailboxes along a white fence. That's where you turn. Can't miss those mailboxes. Mailboxes aren't just for sending and receiving mail. Since the mailbox is considered an extension of the American home, some people like to create one that reflects their hobbies or interests. While these mailboxes represent personal style at the side of the roadway, their proximity to that roadway represents something else to motorists. Danger. This danger lies in the height and mounting of the mailbox. Most mailboxes are mounted approximately 42 inches above the ground, a height established by the U.S. Postal Service. While convenient for postal carriers, this height places the mailbox in a direct line with the most vulnerable and easily destroyed feature of a vehicle, the windshield. At any speed, an impact between an automobile and a mailbox can result in injuries ranging from blindness to disfigurement to decapitation. These injuries happen when the mailbox and or its support penetrate the windshield and hit the car's occupants. Early crash tests sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration were conducted at the Texas Transportation Institute at the Texas A&M University. These tests were designed to recreate what happens when a vehicle accidentally hits a mailbox and to discover which mailbox types and supports lead to the least amount of injury. In this test, the traditional single 4x4 wooden post mailbox mount was hit at 60 miles per hour by an average small car. The post, fracturing upon impact, dislodged the box and sent it against the windshield. This was an unacceptable result. The need was realized for a mailbox that would not disengage from its mount, so this test used steel straps to retain the box to the post. However, the same breakage of the post and subsequent broken windshield confirmed the overall failure of the wooden support system. Unfortunately, this failure was also verified in a fatal accident reported by the Texas Department of Public Safety where the broken half of the wood post penetrated the windshield and hit the driver in the face. Additional tests were conducted to develop a satisfactory metal support and bracket. In the final test in the series, another retaining nut was added. This modification satisfied the requirements for an acceptable mailbox attachment as being one that does not separate from its post upon impact. In addition, the post must either yield or have base bending characteristics. Multiple mailbox supports pose an even bigger problem. For example, this test of a typical 4-box installation does not appear at first glance to have caused much damage. However, the second look provided by slow motion shows how catastrophic the crash really was. Even with empty mailboxes, the plank and the boxes required little effort to fly through the windshield. Being a district maintenance engineer in the 1970s, I became aware of the hazard posed by mailboxes along the roadsides, particularly the multiple box mounts. At that time, we were still mounting the boxes on a 2x6 horizontally near the roadside, and I knew of several serious accidents that had resulted from those multiple mounts being struck by a vehicle. A young high school senior, late at night, ran off the wrong side of the road and vehicles struck one of our multiple mounts and, reading the paper the following day, it described the accident which was a fatality. He was so locked in the car and he was killed instantly. The horizontal 2x6 penetrated the windshield of the car, the chest of the driver, the driver's seat, and on into the back seat. The counties, I remembered, said that EMS people had used a chainsaw in order to free his body from the car. We had pretty much cleaned up a lot of the roadside of other hazards. Signs were breakaway, covered head walls were been removed, light standards were breakaway, but we still had the thousands of mailboxes sitting there almost invisible at night waiting to cause a serious accident. After giving it a lot of thought and trying a lot of ideas, it didn't get me anywhere. I came up on an idea for an inverted U pipe mount for multiple boxes. The inverted U pipe mount was tested using steel pipe and pouring concrete as the support. Results of the test were mixed. Eliminating the wooden plank greatly reduced the hazard. However, the extensive damage to the vehicle and the potential for serious injury to the occupant made this design unacceptable. At about this same time, private industry introduced a design for a multiple mailbox mount similar in shape to an inverted coat hanger. I suppose I had the first two foresight mounts that ever came into Texas. I delivered them to Hayes Ross and they were mounted and a few days later went up and observed the crash test and I think everybody was pretty skeptical because we tried a lot of things that didn't work, but the foresight mounts that day was caused for jubilation. They came through the test in great shape. The same Vega was used, if I remember, for both of the foresight mounts and was still completely dryable having only some very minor dents in the front bumper and grille and it was used the third time on another mount. Texas has now installed over 30,000 of these units in place of horizontal boards. Following the initial effort by FHWA, Texas began extensive research to develop safer, cost-effective designs for mailbox supports. Crash tests were conducted on various materials and types of steel as supports. Meanwhile, in answer to the needs for more efficient mail delivery, the United States Postal Service began erecting neighborhood collection and delivery units along the edge of the shoulder on Texas highways. In cooperation with the Postal Service, Texas conducted a crash test on one of the new units. The results were disastrous. As a result, the Postal Service advised their field offices to work with the highway departments and relocating the boxes outside the clear zone of the roadway. Just as mail carriers endure all weather conditions, so must the mailbox support. Testing has been done by the Minnesota Department of Transportation to provide a mailbox support that could be used in heavy snow country. Two types of cantilever designs were tested. One constructed of pipe, the second wood. Although the cantilever support and box shattered the windshields on impact, there was not penetration into the passenger compartment and very little vehicle deceleration. Requests to replace unacceptable rural mailboxes along the nation's high-speed highways have been met with everything from compliance to resentment among personalized mailbox owners. Since brick mailboxes are especially popular among these owners, two crash tests were conducted to evaluate the consequences of hitting a brick mailbox. The 50-mile-per-hour impact on this hollow brick veneer mailbox and this solid concrete-filled brick veneer box illustrate the explosive unacceptability of this support. Taxpayers spend millions of dollars to travel down a road with maintained clear zones for errant drivers only to find those zones studded with dangerous obstructions, your mailboxes. The AASHTO Guide for Erecting Mailboxes on Highways was updated in 1984 to reflect new research findings. The new guide declared the grouping of mailboxes on horizontal boards as unsafe as several new designs that were crash-tested and found acceptable. Constructed of two-pound steel-channel U-posts, these single-box supports are recommended when only one box is needed. Both Texas and Nebraska tested two boxes on a single support and found them to be acceptable. The AASHTO Guide recommends that mailbox supports be separated at a distance of at least 3 fourths of their height above ground. Texas limits to two, the number of supports in a group. These recommendations are designed to prevent the ramp effect from occurring when a vehicle impacts the group. Environmental considerations are also important in the design of the mailbox support. Two types of catalever designs for a snow country were tested and approved. This multiple unit is the only approved support to accommodate more than two boxes. They must be spaced four feet apart and no limit has been established for the maximum number in a group. Neighborhood box units or cluster boxes are a popular alternative for providing easy access to postal patrons and carriers. However, locating these boxes on or close to the shoulder does not provide a safe clear zone for errant motorists. Therefore, cluster boxes should be located outside this clear area. Postmasters and the designers responsible for the location of the cluster boxes should contact local government authorities, including the appropriate highway officials prior to installation to ensure their safe location. Mailboxes don't have to be killers. Correctly designed and installed, they can be visually pleasing and still be non-lethal when struck. For this reason, many states are joining Texas in adopting regulations for mailboxes along their highways. If your state hasn't, don't take your eyes off the road.