Posts Tagged ‘safety cone’
Traffic Cone
Most people know what a traffic cone is, those orange cones on the side of the road usually involved in some sort of contruction. Or you may see them on the soccer field, as a drill to dribble between with the soccer ball (called sports cones). Traffic cones have a few different options, such as reflective tape.
You can get different grades of reflective tape, such as engineer grade, hi intensity or diamond grade. Traffic cones can come in different weights, because heavier cones may be needed to make sure they don’t blow over. A safety cone can come in different colors too, yellow, orange, blue, green etc.
Stealing Traffic Cones
It seems like the thing to do when you are drunk. It’s funny, and harmless right? Think again, stealing traffic cones can get you in big trouble, especially because they are usually owned by the city. It’s easy to find many stories on the internet about kids who got drunk, stole a traffic cone, and got in a lot of trouble.
One story I stumbled upon was where a couple of drunk people jumped out of the car (the driver wasn’t drinking, lucky for him) and stole some traffic cones and brought them back into the car. The sober driver tried to tell them to put the cones down before they got in, but they wouldn’t budge. Long story short, a cop saw them and charged two of them with a Class “C” misdemeanor. Next time you reach for that traffic cone think again!
There are different brands of safety cones? Yes, more than one manufacturer of safety cones exist. In fact, there are many. Most companies that make traffic cones make other products as well (traffic barricades, delineator posts, etc). So what’s the difference between one brand and the next?
Well, the answer is there isn’t too much of a difference. Of course some are going to have more plastic, be more reflective or just stand up to the weather better. Aesthetically, there are minimal differences – the base is a little longer, the top a little narrower, but it’s what they are made of and how they are made that counts. Some believe that safety cones coming from China are of a lesser quality, so try and find out where your cones are coming from and whether they will stand up to what you need them for.
Emergency Traffic Cones
We have all been witness to an accident that just happened, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that carrying around some sort of warning device for accidents is a good idea. You get distracted on your cell phone and look up and there is a car that isn’t moving. If you are that car, it’s important to carry around traffic cones or some other sort of warning device so that people can easily tell you need to be avoided.
Carrying around traffic cones in the back of your car is obviously not very practical, but luckily there is a solution. There are companies out there that make inflatable traffic cones, that will inflate via a pump that is built in. Think about which size is best – 24″ is most likely the standard for this type of use. There are many options – reflective tape, weights to keep them from blowing over, and even blinking LED lights at the top.
Traffic Cone Damage
One motorist describes an incident where other motorists drove over traffic cones. One road safety worker was dropping cones off the back of a moving truck onto a lane that was under construction. The problem was that he wasn’t as careful as he should have been, and one of the traffic cones landed in a lane under use.
Most oncoming traffic was able to avoid the cone, but one motorist was confused and went directly into it. The traffic cone went under the vehicle and was dragged for a few feet. The motorist didn’t think much of it, took the squished cone out from under the car, and kept driving. It’s impressive that there was no damage, but this raises two questions that user “edisdead” from honestjohn.co.uk brought up. Why were the maintenance crews being reckless, and would the traffic cones do more damage if they had heavy bases?