Posts Tagged ‘traffic drums’
How To Save On Traffic Control Products
Most people are surprised at the cost of traffic safety products. They assume a traffic cone is $5 and a traffic drum can’t be more than $20. The reason it’s more than most would imagine is because of the safety standards the products need to meet and the reflective sheeting that needs to be applied. But the reason for this post is to help you save the most money possible on your next traffic safety purchase. Here are some tips:
Buy In Bulk
If you purchase a few pallets of product three or more times a year, consider buying all at once. For one you can negotiate a better price per unit when you buy in larger quantities. Two, you save a lot on shipping. For example, if you are shipping twenty traffic cones you will probably pay $4-5 per cone for shipping. If you purchase one hundred cones it may be closer to $1.50-2 per cone for shipping.
Find The Nearest Manufacturer
Once you know who the nearest manufacturer is, you can begin to search for that brand of product. A lot of companies (including us) drop ship our goods straight from the manufacturer. If you are in New York find a northeast manufacturer then go from there. Otherwise you may end up purchasing from a manufacturer in California and pay the freight cost to bring the product cross-country!
Manage Freight Costs
Freight can be 20% or more of the total cost of your purchase. Be sure that whoever is shipping your product gets good freight discounts. If the price seems a bit high and you are part of a big company/organization, there may heavily discounted shipping accounts that you can use. Ask a higher up about any LTL (pallet shipments) or UPS/FedEx accounts your organization may have. For us, we get great rates because we ship through the manufacturer’s account and they get large volume discounts. But when shopping elsewhere, it never hurts to ask around.
Paul Walker’s Tragic Death and How We All Have Tested The Limits
There is no doubt the way Paul Walker and his friend Roger Rodas died is a tragic story. I think we all have tested the limits of our cars to some extent within that first year of getting our license, and it’s hard for me to believe similar crashes like this haven’t happened more often in my small hometown. Whether you personally drove the car, or you were a silent occupant too nervous to tell your friend to slow down or stop racing another car due to social pressure, we have all seen it. Incredibly stupid and reckless, I’ve had friends actually hit traffic drums while trying to get as close as possible without hitting them, simply for the amusement of those in the car.
I’ve had friends race each other, and all other typical machismo type behavior that happens as a male at 16 and a half years old in a small town with not much to do (although I am sure it happens in any size town or city). I just saw a video from back in 2011 where Walker said he has gone 185 mph on a highway before as his fastest speed. No he wasn’t the driver in this accident but that’s beside the point. What I’m trying to say is this could have been any of us. And it’s time we figure out how to get through to the younger generation that is just now getting their license that pulling these sorts of stunts is extremely dangerous to themselves and to others, and it’s not the ‘cool thing to do’.
This may mean talking about it more in our traffic safety courses. This may mean harsher punishments for reckless driving. What do you think it should mean? What’s our best bet against fighting this?
What’s inside a traffic barrel?
I decided to tackle this one because I saw this a few times being asked on the internet. First off, it’s good to take a look at the following images to make sure we are talking about the same traffic barrel. The first image is typically called a traffic barrel where the second is called a crash barrel or crash cushion.
The orange traffic barrel has nothing in it, the inside is hollow. They are not meant to be filled with anything and wouldn’t work well if they were. These are used more for visual delineation and not an actual crash cushion. The yellow crash cushions are typically placed right before a k rail or right at an exit where if someone was to crash, it would be particularly dangerous. They are either filled with sand or water.
A little fun fact for you: the sizes of the yellow barrels vary because they hold different weights of sand. The first one you see there can hold 200, 400 or 700lbs of sand, the back left can hold 2100lbs and the back right can hold 1400lbs. In order to ‘cushion a crash’ in the safest possible way, there is actually a proper layout that must be followed based on the weight of the sand barrel.
So the moral of the story, if you have to crash into one of the two barrels, you will be better off with the yellow because it will stop you faster than the drums. Of course, let’s all just hope we never get in a car accident and we never have to think about such a thing!
If you are in the market for traffic barrels here is our orange barrel and here is our yellow sand barrel. If you have questions on either of these feel free to either comment on this post or contact us through the website where these can be purchased (linked in the previous sentence).
Traffic Drums vs Sand Barrels
Some may confuse traffic drums and sand barrels. Sand barrels are typically yellow with a black top, and are used as cushions for potential accidents along the freeway. Traffic drums are smaller and are more of a ‘channelizing’ device to direct traffic but will also provide some protection during an accident.
The drums are orange and typically have orange/white reflective stripes on them. By shopping around you will notice pricing on the sand barrels are a lot higher than the traffic drums. This is because they are heavy duty, a lot bigger and can hold sand to make them weigh a lot more.
Learning more about Traffic Drums
If looking for orange traffic drums for a road construction or parking lot project you may come up with a few questions before you decide on what you are going to purchase. Some questions include: Do I need reflective sheeting, how heavy of a base should I get, do I need 4″ or 6″ bands? Luckily these questions should be answered based on the specs of the project.
Another discovery you may come across is that there are different size and color traffic drums. Drums used in Canada tend to have a smaller diameter than the ones in the US. Also, it’s very rare to see anything but an orange traffic drum in the US while you will see black traffic drums in Canada. If you need any questions answered about channelizer drums feel free to comment below.