Skip to main content

More flexible workzone protection

Impact protection vehicles, often the only form of protection between workers and traffic in many road maintenance and repair operations, are designed to arrest an errant car or truck. Truck-mounted attenuators have been used for many years, but as Brent Kulp of Traffix Devices points out, advances in trailer attenuators, such as on his company's Scorpion, provide the same protection, at lower cost but with much greater flexibility. He points to the Scorpion's unique curved design, which not only redirects
January 31, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Impact protection vehicles, often the only form of protection between workers and traffic in many road maintenance and repair operations, are designed to arrest an errant car or truck. Truck-mounted attenuators have been used for many years, but as Brent Kulp of 1918 Traffix Devices points out, advances in trailer attenuators, such as on his company's Scorpion, provide the same protection, at lower cost but with much greater flexibility. He points to the Scorpion's unique curved design, which not only redirects side impacts away from exposed corners of the truck but enables the device to crush in stages upon impact, thereby reducing repair costs.

 "Trailers have been gaining in popularity over the last few years due in part to their portability and not having to have a dedicated crash truck in an agency's vehicle fleet," Kulp says.

Related Content

  • January 31, 2012
    Intersection collision avoidance system trial
    Although much of the emphasis of research into intersection management has tended to concentrate on the needs of urban locations, there remain specific issues pertaining to rural intersections which need to be addressed. Here, Rebecca Szymkowski and Greg Helgeson, Wisconsin DOT, Todd Szymkowski, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Craig Shankwitz and Arvind Menon, University of Minnesota detail progress on an intersection collision avoidance system for more remote locations.
  • February 12, 2024
    WiM eases structural health worries
    Concerns about infrastructure are leading road authorities to consider the importance of Weigh in Motion solutions to monitor the wellbeing of their roads – and particularly bridges – finds Adam Hill
  • September 14, 2021
    Norway gets ready for more EVs
    Norway’s road transport network is changing radically. The country is gearing up for greater electric vehicle use as well as gradually phasing out its traditional ferry links
  • March 10, 2014
    Latest barrier innovations from Saferoads
    Australian company Saferoads will use Intertraffic Amsterdam 2014 to release what it says are unique products to the European and American market – the Ironman Hybrid portable safety barrier system, the Omni Stop energy absorbing bollard, and the Safepole impact absorbing light pole. Standout feature of the Ironman Hybrid is that it is a ballasted portable steel barrier, tested to 100km/h, that requires no anchoring. Saferoads says it delivers the deflection performance of concrete with the durability a