Traffic cone
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Traffic cones, also called road cones, safety cones, pylons, or Witches' Hats, are cone-shaped markers, generally made out of plastic or rubber, that are placed on roads or footpaths to temporarily redirect traffic in a safe manner. They are often used to create merge lanes during road construction projects or automobile accidents, though heavier, more permanent markers or signs are used if the diversion is to stay in place for a long period of time.
Traffic cones are designed to be highly visible and easily movable. Various sizes are used, commonly ranging from around 30 cm to a little over 1 m. Traffic cones come in many different colors, with orange, yellow and red being the most common colors due to their brightness. They may also have a reflective strip to further increase their visibility to vehicle traffic.
Not all traffic cones are conical; pillar shaped movable bollards fulfilling a similar function are often called by the same name.[citation needed]
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[edit] History
Traffic cones were originally invented in 1914 by Charles P. Rudabaker. Though at first wrought from concrete, today's versions are more commonly brightly-colored rubber cones.
[edit] Descriptions
[edit] Indoor use
Cones are also frequently used in indoor public spaces to mark off areas which are closed to pedestrians, such as a restroom being out of order; or to make note of a dangerous condition, such as a slippery floor. They can even be used on school playgrounds to delimit areas of a playing field. Some of the cones used for this purpose are miniature, as small as 5cm tall.
[edit] Outdoor use
Traffic cones are typically used outdoors during road works or other situations requiring traffic delignation or advance warning of hazards or dangers. For night time use, or low-light situations traffic cones are usually fitted with a reflective sleeve to increase visibility and safety.
[edit] Other forms of traffic barriers
Cones are easy to move or remove. Where sturdier (and larger) markers are needed, construction sites use traffic barrels (plastic orange barrels with reflective stripes, normally about the same size as a 55 gallon drum), which may be weighted with sandbags. When a lane closure must also be a physical barrier against cars accidentally crossing it, a Jersey barrier is preferred.
In countries such as Australia traffic barrels are rarely seen; devices known as bollards are used instead of traffic cones in situations where larger and sturdier warning or delineation devices are needed.
Typically bollards are 1150 mm high fluorescent orange posts with reflective tape and heavy weight rubber bases.
Larger devices such as barrier boards may also be used instead of traffic cones where larger areas need to be excluded or for longer periods.
[edit] Theft
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An increasing number of teenagers are participating in what is part of a growing national fad known colloquially as Coning. Coning involves stealing traffic cones from road work, road diversion sites, and sometimes private property for personal or gang related recreation. This happens typically in suburban areas, and on poorly lit and secluded back roads. While frowned upon by parents and legal authorities, it is also seen as a more benign alternative to the more malicious pastime of Mailboxing.
The theft and/or relocation of traffic cones has a long history, but it seems each generation assume they began the fad.
Also note that coning may refer to stealing street cones and moving them onto the tops of buildings and even inserting them into mailboxes. While not very well known or popular, it began with a group of high school students, and is now beginning to attract more people. Coning methods have been known to vary by region and some coners are known to prefer inserting them into mailboxes as well as leaving them on doorsteps in attempts to baffle and confuse their fellow man. In some cases, instances of cones found in chimneys have been reported. This tends to happen around winter time when chimneys are known to frequently be in use. This is often seen as adding insult to injury and contributes to the confusion surrounding theories of motive, since reasons other than personal relations seem out of the question.
Coning can be seen as a work of art, as many of these "coners" are attempting to unite their community through harmony rather than separate it through fear.
[edit] Types and sizes
Typical traffic cones are fluorescent "safety" orange and come in sizes such as:
- 300 mm (12") - for indoor/outdoor applications
- 450 mm (18") - for outdoor applications such as free-way line painting
- 700 mm (28") - for free-way/high applications
- 900 mm (36") - as above
- 1050 mm (42") - as above and high speed construction zones
[edit] Trivia
- In the "Notes" section of his collection Skeleton Crew, author Stephen King describes an incident during his college days at the University of Orono in 1970 where he accidentally ran over some cones, destroying his muffler. An angry King decided to collect every traffic cone in Orono and dump them at the police station, and collected about 150 cones before being caught by police. He was sent to trial and was found guilty of grand larceny, and was fined two-hundred and fifty dollars. He was unable to pay the fine and would have been in serious trouble. On returning home he discovered that the magazine publishing the short story "The Raft" sent a check paying him two-hundred and fifty dollars which he used to pay the fine. He remarks that if such a piece of synchronicity had been put into one of his books it would be dismissed as an unrealistic deus ex machina, but to see it happen in real life left him speechless.
- The early Kraftwerk albums Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk 2 and (less prominently) Ralf und Florian all feature a traffic cone on their sleeves. The cone is also found on the back cover of the pre-Kraftwerk album Tone Float by Organisation.
- The logo of the VLC media player is a traffic cone.
- Traffic cones are sometimes used as a makeshift megaphone.
- In the Red Dwarf episode, The Last Day, Lister wakes up and proclaims, "We're on a mining ship, three million years into deep space. Can someone tell me where the Smeg I got this traffic cone?"
[edit] External links
- The Traffic Cone Preservation Society
- Orange Cones -- Kibo's collection of photographs of cones in unusual places
- Automated Traffic Cone Placement-Retrieval Trailer
- Photos of English traffic cones
- The Cone Epicentre -- Many photos of traffic cones
