Traffic Control Devices

Here we discuss the different types of traffic control devices used in various situations to increase driver awareness and improve road safety for pedestrians.

What is Traffic Control Device?

Traffic control devices come in various shapes and sizes. They are positioned in strategic public zones to enhance a sense of situational awareness among all road users, particularly when regulating traffic. Depending on the type of control traffic equipment, its purposes, and positioning, these devices can successfully inform motorists about route changes, announce road redirections, and most importantly, alert them about looming dangers.

Because traffic signals offers the most visually tactile indicators that direct, guide, and inform, their application is not limited to public or private roads, streets, and highways. An efficient and well-established uniform traffic control devices for the safety of people, buildings, assets, and utilities. It’s, therefore, important to install the right traffic control devices within large premises that share roadways with pedestrians, like hospitals, campuses, supermarkets, or shopping mall parking lots.

Commonly Used Traffic Control Devices and Equipment

Public roads have an extensive selection of traffic control devices and equipment that mainly focus on road signs, signals, pavement markings, and barriers. The following are some of the most important and commonly used traffic control devices:

• Traffic Cones: typically used during road work, colored traffic cones are designed for high visibility and therefore, help control or redirect traffic. Road cones can also block off an area, create temporary footpaths, or give advance warning of hazards.
• Traffic Barricades: you can use steel or portable barricades such as A-frame barriers, cone bars, and traffic control barricades with engineering-grade reflective panels. They all have multiple applications, including blocking an under-construction exit ramp on the freeway, at a concert for crowd control, creating a streetside barrier at a school drop-off zone, and more.
• Barricade Lights: battery or solar-powered barricades are mounted on top of work zone barricades and cones to provide warning and channelizing functions. Different colored lights can be used to divert traffic away from a closed lane, while also increasing traffic visibility from a greater distance in any weather. Check out this Yellow Jacket Advance Warning Beacon Headlight.
• Portable Rumble Strips: these quick and easy-to-deploy temporary rumble strips reduce the likelihood of work zone injuries, road accidents, and fatalities, thanks to the groove patterns that simultaneously generate vibratory and audible stimuli. Portable rumble strips are installed on the centerline of the roadway to help alert distracted drivers when they drift from their lane.
• Water-Wall Barrier: the easy-to-install crash barrier system provides protection at construction sites and work zones. The barrier design helps minimize damage to vehicles in the event of a road accident. Another great option is the water-filled, non-redirective crash protector called Sentry Longitudinal Energy Dissipater. SLED is designed to rupture or deform to absorb the impact of a vehicle accident.
• Channelizer Posts: featuring reflective materials, channelizers can withstand frequent high-speed collisions and, therefore, are used for demarcating bends in the road surface, funneling traffic flow, indicating lane shifts, dividing opposing lanes of traffic facilities, etc. Like channelizers, Delineator Tubes are impact resistant and have reflective tapes that help outline no-go zones.
• Reflective K1, K2, and Q-Markers: the different-sized yellow reflective tapes make these impact recovery devices ideal for marking obstructions within raised curbs, road medians, and where a traffic island ends.
• Stop/Slow Paddle Kit: the two-sided, 18″ and 24″ sized octagonal stop/slow paddles with highly-visible 6-inch upper case letters are ideal for safely guiding traffic, pedestrians, motorists, and work crews through busy and often hazardous construction zones.

Knowing the right type, size, and color of traffic control devices to use ensures public and property safety. It’s also the most effective way to make public transportation safer and more efficient as motorists travel through temporary traffic control zones. Regulatory signs, warning or signal devices, and informatory traffic signs are among the most useful traffic control tools that are utilized to regulate traffic, divert vehicles, and communicate vital information. Reflective road markings, including pavement, curb, stop signs, and object markings, are crucial highway components. They act as psychological barriers that safely guide and control traffic. This helps channel the movement of pedestrians or pavement markings and cyclists on road surfaces for a smooth, orderly traffic flow.

Is safety a concern in your premises or construction project? Contact us or browse a vast collection of high-quality traffic control devices to suit your needs. These warning signs devices will optimize your traffic and crowd control efforts while providing a hedge of protection against visual deterrence and subsequent accidental impacts on most motor vehicle drivers.