Just as there are many different names for traffic cones – including road cones, safety cones, traffic pylons, highway cones, and even witch’s hats – there are also many different types of traffic cones available as well.

As you may have gathered by the last name mentioned, witch’s hat, they have a shape that’s very similar to this; a cone with a square or rounded base.

Their purpose is to divert traffic in a safe manner, whether this relates to traffic on the road or on footpaths. They are frequently needed. After all, there is a wealth of reasons why traffic may need to be diverted; from a road accident to work taking place on manholes, it can be anything.

Most safety cones are bright orange in colour. This is because the colour is highly visible and thus there is very little chance that people will not notice them.

The main differentiation between these types of cones is there size. In general, you can opt for 500 mm (small), 750mm (medium), and 1000mm (large).

The smallest type of cone tends to be suitable for use in car parks or indoors. In addition to this they can effectively mark out any minor road works or site works.

The 750mm size cones are ideal for utilisation in car parks and for site works, nevertheless as they are bigger they are also suitable for factor use and use on public roads and pathways too.

And last but not the least, the largest type of traffic cone is the only one that is suitable for motorway use because of the fact that they are visible even from a great distance.

Aside from your standard orange coloured safety traffic cones, another important cone is the ‘no waiting’ version. As you may have gathered, these cones stop people from parking or stopping in certain areas.

This is bright yellow in colour – again the reason for this is because it is highly visible. They also feature an image of the no waiting sign imprinted on so that people are easily aware of the cone’s purpose. This is the blue circle with a red outline and diagonal line through the middle.

These tend to be available in 500mm only. After all, their use does not require them to be any bigger in size. They only tend to be utilised in car parks or on road sides. In fact, their most frequent use is when someone has reserved their car parking – these cones ensure that nobody tries to park there.

There are other variations of traffic cones; nevertheless the two mentioned are the most frequently used by a mile. It is not recommended to go for anything different. For instance, there are some safety cones available in lime green. These are only likely to confuse people because they are not used to seeing them, thus they will begin to wonder what their meaning is. Stick to the traditional orange for diverting and the yellow for no waiting zones.

To conclude, no one can deny how important safety cones are. They may be a simple product yet their use is highly effective and it’s certain that they have prevented a vast number of accidents from occurring.

Summary

This article sheds light on the various types of traffic cones available today in the market. These include safety cones and no waiting cones and various others that are used to indicate different purposes.

Author Bio

Alisha Smith is a road traffic manager who does freelancing as a part time content writer. She uses all types of traffic cones mentioned in this article on a daily basis and shares information about these here.