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'Screaming' motorway traffic cones used on M6 | |
(34 minutes later) | |
"Screaming" traffic cones are being used on the M6 in the West Midlands. | |
The cones are fitted with an alarm that "will literally scream" when the cone is struck, the Highways Agency said. | |
The yellow-topped, "lighthouse" style wailers alert road workers to the danger of vehicles coming too close. | |
The agency said they will mainly be used on motorways, meaning students or other traditional cone nemeses are likely to be kept at bay. | |
The cones were unveiled by the agency near Perry Barr in Birmingham. | |
"We will only use them at certain localities, such as motorways or critical road works," a spokesman said. | |
"We wouldn't expect people to be able to get close to them. | |
"Local authorities may use them for pothole repairs or similar, but they are still being rolled out." | |
'Crew alarms' | |
A spokesman from manufacturers Intellicone said "an ordinary orange cone lantern" is placed on a red and white cone and when they are struck it is picked up by a yellow "portable site alarm" sensor. | |
This transmits to "crew alarms" where road workers are operating to alert them to the potential danger. | |
The firm said there can be an unlimited number of alarms and they can transmit "as far as you like". | |
The agency said eight workers have been killed in the last three years while maintaining England's road network. | |
"At times, your protection is a plastic cone and your faith in the ability of the person at the wheel to keep it in lane," a Highways Agency spokesman said. | |
"Where roadworks have narrow lanes they are 3.25 metres wide. An HGV is typically up to 2.5m wide. | "Where roadworks have narrow lanes they are 3.25 metres wide. An HGV is typically up to 2.5m wide. |
"That's less than 40cm spare either side - about the width of the computer screen you're reading this on." | "That's less than 40cm spare either side - about the width of the computer screen you're reading this on." |