Traffic safety products promote a more secure world, making them wise investments. Here are five types of traffic safety products that every agency should have on hand, and three major guidelines to use them!
5 Types of Traffic Safety Devices
1. Traffic channelizers.
These enable effective control of on foot and vehicle traffic. Examples include mobile barricades, orange cones and drums, flexible signs, flexible posts, curbing mechanisms, guardrail markers, and temporary stop signs.
2. Light posts and light reflectors.
These include battery-powered mobile lights, reflective signs and flexible signs and bollards. They enhance safety by improving the visibility of the surrounding area, and are also used to draw attention to important notices.
3. Work zone lights and signs.
These are designed specifically to highlight construction areas along roadsides and in other areas with substantial vehicle traffic. Many illuminated products use solar panels, diesel generators, and other ways of creating their own electricity. Work zone signs and dividers help provide driver awareness of these hazardous areas as well.
4. Semi-permanent and permanent security-enhancing devices.
These are intended to limit access to sensitive areas. Examples include retractable and immobile bollards that are mounted into the surrounding landscape. These products are designed to withstand deliberate attempts to dislodge them.
5. Specialized clothing.
These traffic safety products protect the wearer by increasing his or her visibility to oncoming vehicles. One example is the light-reflecting vests worn by traffic officials during evening hours.
4 Essential features of Traffic Safety Devices
Traffic safety devices must incorporate certain features in order to do their job. America’s infrastructure is always expanding, spurred on by a growing population and economic development.
1. Uniformity.
There’s a reason why every stop sign in America is identical. Studies show that human beings recognize symbols more quickly when they vary as little as possible from place to place. The MUTCD specifies shapes, colors, graphics, and other features of traffic safety systems in order to ensure uniform, easily recognizable characteristics across geographical distances.
2. Durability.
To do their job, traffic safety systems must stay on the job 24/7, with as much uptime as possible. Even brief downtimes to replace damaged or defective components can compromise public safety to some degree. Achieving long-term durability requires not only sturdy materials, but also a degree of flexibility in design and installation. Just as a tree can survive a fierce storm by bending a little, traffic safety systems must have a little “give” to prevent needless damage.
3. Reliability.
As America’s driving population ages, traffic safety systems will need to be more visible. The best way to achieve higher visibility is to add flashing lights and similar components. However, these features rely on electric and/or electronic components, which must function with minimal maintenance required in all types of conditions.
4. Affordability.
Highway departments rarely receive the lion’s share of public funding. The tools they employ to achieve their goals must therefore fit within constricted budgets without compromising quality. This can create severe challenges for product designers, who must balance cost against performance.
4 Guidelines for Using Traffic Safety Products
There are several factors to consider when it comes to traffic safety equipment choice and usage:
1. Time.
Specifically the length of time that a traffic safety measure will be needed. For example, a short-term repair job to a local rural road can usually be safeguarded with short-term highly portable measures like traffic cones, movable signs, and, when the work takes place after dark, light-generating devices. On the other hand, long-term needs require more permanent measures like permanently affixed signs and lights.
2. Threat level.
Highway work crews are rarely the target of deliberate attempts on their lives. Lightweight, highly mobile devices like traffic cones are usually sufficient to protect them from harm. Sometimes, however, the situation requires heavier, more substantial products like large concrete or water-filled barriers, like when the work is occurring on or along high-speed interstate highways. Then there are scenarios in which deliberate attempt at physical harm or sabotage may occur. This may be the case around military installations, law enforcement barracks, nuclear power plants, and science research facilities, all of which are potential targets of extremist groups.
3. Budget.
In an ideal world, agencies would have all the funds they need to meet their traffic control needs. In reality, of course, officials must make these purchases in accord with local priorities. For example, a rural county in the American Midwest will have different requirements than a densely packed borough of a major city.
4. Public decorum.
Sometimes traffic safety products must stand out from their surroundings in order to do the job. Other times, however, they can be just as effective while blending into the background. One example is permanently mounted safety bollards, which often do double-duty as planters, sculptures, or other works of art. In general, the less obtrusive a safety measure is, the more acceptable it is to the public. Most people don’t like to feel as if they live in an armed fortress. Purchasers of traffic safety products should keep this fact in mind and plan accordingly.
The modern world could not function without traffic safety systems. Assuring these products serve their purpose requires designing, building and using them with the above principles in mind.
