There is an important distinction to understand between a legal maximum speed and safe speed. The legal maximum may be lower or higher than the safe speed. In bad weather, such as icy conditions, heavy rain, fog, the safe speed may be far lower than legal maximum. Safe speed will also depend on your skill, car equipment and maintenance, and particulars of the road itself. A road with a 60mph legal limit may feel absolutely fine at 65mph on a quiet summer afternoon in a newly serviced BMW M3 driven by a 25 year old rally champion, yet be genuinely very dangerous at 55mph in freezing fog at 3am on a January morning in a car with bald tyres driven by my grandfather.

You should not drive at an unsafe speed, even though many drivers will do so especially when it's beneath legal limits. If you're losing steering authority, you either are going too fast, or you're somewhere you shouldn't be driving at all. The car is intended to operate with your steering wheel controlling where it goes, when that's not working you've stepped outside the intended bounds of operation.

Oh I read it. I just don't think you're telling the whole story. Speed is almost always a factor in crashes and near misses like this. The fact that stopped traffic caught you that much by surprise doesn't seem like a good sign.

Like I said, glad you're OK. Glad the barrier saved your life / reduced the damage. These barriers are a last resort. Terrifying to read just how many stories there are in this thread of people relying on them.

Better than barriers I would think is more driver training, higher standards for licensure, and more alternatives to driving. Safest way to travel is not in a personal car operated by an amateur.