HIGHWAY SAFETY Better traffic cones promise to be a hit with less impact

A redesigned traffic cone was named the best new safety product.
MODESTO BEE
The orange traffic cones that are used to mark construction zones and traffic accident scenes have remained the same for 60 years.
That has changed.
Guadalupe "Lou" Garcia of Modesto, Calif., believes he has built a better cone and a machine to put them in place.
Why it's better
The cone is lightweight, more reflective, collapsible and can't be knocked over. The machine that puts them out is about the same size as a milk carton crate and fits on the back of a car or truck.
Garcia hopes to have both products on the market by the end of the year through his company, Worldwide Safety of Modesto.
Garcia, who owns an electric company, uses orange cones when his crews are installing streetlights or other devices along roads.
He got the idea for the new cones in February 2002, after hearing about a child who was killed when a car hit a cone and sent it hurtling into the victim.
For his cone, he found an experimental orange and white nylon material made by 3M -- maker of Post It notes, Scotch tape and sponges. A hard plastic is used for the base.
The cones are bottom-heavy, making them difficult to tip over. And since the top is made of nylon, they weigh about one-third of a traditional 12-pound rubber cone. Garcia's cones also can be flattened and easily stored.
His first cones were built just for his workers.
Highway connection
William Brennan, the former deputy secretary for the California Business Transportation and Housing Agency, is a friend of Garcia's and liked the new cones.
He borrowed a few and showed them to California Highway Patrol officials.
"They said it would be great if we put a cone like this in a tote bag that we could have in the back of our car," Brennan said of the CHP's reaction. "The back of a patrol car is filled with all the electronics and computer hardware, so they have limited space for full-size cones."
Garcia decided to take that idea one step further. By February 2003, he had a working model for "the cone shooter."
The shooter can be attached to the back of any vehicle with a trailer hitch or built into the trunk of a car. The vehicle's operator only has to push a button to drop a cone on the ground. It lands upright.
Although his prices aren't set yet, Garcia thinks a shooter will retail for $1,700 and a tote with two cones will cost about $17.
His prototype was demonstrated at the American Traffic Safety Services Association convention in New Orleans in February and won first place for best product.
Garcia hopes to be selling them by the end of the year to law enforcement agencies and others who often go to emergency scenes.
Bob Bosler, the outreach officer for Advanced Highway Maintenance and Construction Technology research center at the University of California at Davis, has seen a video of the new equipment and is impressed.
Bosler, who isn't associated with the company, has been showing the video to other researchers around the country for a few months.
Eventually, Garcia hopes to market the cones to the public.
Garcia doesn't plan to stop with just the cones and shooter. He already has an idea and a working model of a highway warning sign that immediately unfolds in an upright position and lights up when it's dropped on the ground. In addition, he has come up with a reflective magnet that has a pouch to keep parking tickets dry on rainy days.
Technical support
D & amp;D Engineering in Turlock and Complere Engineering in Modesto have provided him with technical support. 3M has donated materials as well, Garcia said.
Even his neighbors have pitched in, he said, clearing his street of vehicles when he wanted to run tests, acting as test subjects and helping him make contacts.
"They all see the big potential in this," Garcia said. "All my neighbors will have jobs in the company when we hit it big."