Could Armco have saved Diana?

Autocar is perhaps not the most appropriate journal in which to air my views on the death of Princess Diana, but as most of us are aware of the 20th anniversary of her passing, I feel obliged to write about what, I feel, could have prevented her death.

Much has been written about the cause of the crash in the tunnel in Paris but, to my knowledge, there has been no mention whatsoever of the absence of Armco barriers along the concrete pillars lining the centre of the tunnel against which the Mercedes impacted.

Pillar number 13 caused the car to stop dead, as was evidenced in the photographs of the wreckage, whereas, in my view, the consequent g-forces would have been significantly reduced had the car merely bounced off a barrier, had there been one, with much reduced impact forces.

The Mercedes would still have suffered damage and the passengers would have been injured but hopefully to a lesser degree, although I recognise the absence of seatbelts was also a significant factor. Is there some reason, political or otherwise, why this aspect of the accident has not been discussed previously? John Johnson Via email Not that we know of, John, but given the lack of a seatbelt you mention, plus the driver’s blood-alcohol level, it probably wasn’t high on the authorities’ list when it came to apportioning cause of death – MB