Traffic cone

Traffic cones (also called road cones, safety cones or pylons) are cone-shaped markers, usually made from plastic, that are put on roads to temporarily redirect car traffic in a safe manner.

Traffic cones are usually used to divert traffic.

Traffic cones used by the Metropolitan police

Uses

Traffic cones are usually placed around construction sites or roadside accidents. As well, many utility companies such as telephone companies and electric companies place cones on the road when utility workers are working on or near the road. Cones are also used by driving schools to set up tests of turning and parking skills. They have many other uses including bike training, fun and for personal use like reserving parking spaces.

On top of traffic redirection, traffic cones are often used in sports as markers to test and train for skills like agility and precision.

Traffic cones are often used due to their resilient rubber construction, and a new one can easily handle being run over multiple times and be reformed by stacking it between other cones. However, a disadvantage to this rubber construction is that older traffic cones tend to become brittle, and easily shattered.

Due to their rubber construction, they can easily be dropped off of specialized road striping trucks to mark paint.

Features

Traffic cones are easily movable and about 60 cm (24 inches) tall. Traffic cones come in many different colors, with orange, yellow and red being the most common colors. Many types of traffic cones have reflective strips or stripes of reflective paint, so that the cones are easier to see at night.

History

Traffic cones were invented in 1914 by Charles P. Rudabaker. The first cones were made of concrete. In the 2000s, most cones are made of brightly-colored plastic.

Other websites

• The Traffic Cone Preservation Society
• Orange Cones -- Kibo's collection of photographs of cones in unusual places
• Automated Traffic Cone Placement-Retrieval Trailer Archived 2006-03-16 at the Wayback Machine