Highway reflectors

Pardon me if this isn't the place to ask, but I wonder if anyone knows where a flashaholic with night blind friends might find the reflectors the state DMV glues down to the road to assure sober folks don't drive the wrong way on a divided highway. I'm looking for the red for wrong way and white for right way, on opposite sides. I have a twisty concrete driveway that disappears into the yard when it rains and while I have learned to navigate it with eyes closed, guests have a problem.... (Save my mailbox!)
Any links, or advice will be appreciated!

http://www.allproducts.com/traffic/baolihfa/03-road-marker-blf551.html
Theres one, didn't read it indepth tho so don't know if you can actually buy from there...

Thanks Cris. I'll let you know if they can help me.

I dont know how slick you want your guides to be but you could just stake the edge of the driveway with poles and attach inexpensive reflectors from homedepot or lowes...similar to the ones in this link
http://lowcostusa.com/Merchant3/merchant.mvc?page=LCTS/CTGY/Lights_Electrical_6
I've seen them in lowes at the trailer section.

From researching bicycle visibility, I'd suggest picking up DOT Class 2 Conspicuity Tape if you want to stake the edges of your drive. The reason is that this type of reflective tape will reflect from severe "entry angles" where cube-corner reflectors would lose reflectivity. To illustrate... let's see here...



Note that the DOT Conspicuity Tape is reflecting well, but the DOT Oval Reflectors are not, because they rely on total internal reflectance and the light is entering them at such a pronounced angle that it's not working (if this photo were shot from the direct rear, they'd be reflecting well). Your viewers will presumably be at close range and this effect will probably come into play quite significantly.

You can get this tape at automotive stores (it's the stuff you see on semi trailers) or http://www.identi-tape.com is a good online source. Further info on reflective tape grades: http://www.trafficsign.us/signsheet.html I believe DOT C2 is typically Type VII.

I use some of the DOT semi-trailer reflectors to mark our driveway, and it works very well. We live on a busy state highway, and our house is about 100-150 feet off the road, and there are no lights outside, and it is very dark out in the country. Our headlights light up the refolectors from quite a distance away. We bought our reflectors from Gemplers, but they are available many places.

One advantage of having reflectors/reflective tape on stakes is that visiting drivers should notice the sound of driving through them even if they have their lights off.

How about solar powered garden lights? Might not be an affordable idea if you want lots of them, and you'd have to modify some LEDs to red.

TorchBoy said:

One advantage of having reflectors/reflective tape on stakes is that visiting drivers should notice the sound of driving through them even if they have their lights off.

How about solar powered garden lights? Might not be an affordable idea if you want lots of them, and you'd have to modify some LEDs to red.

Click to expand...

We have the solar garden lights at the head of our driveway, two on each side, about ten feet off the road. They work great, I put them out there 4-5 years ago, and they were only $15-20 for all four. Only one is working reliably anymore, two are just about gone, and the fourth one was smashed to bits by a good-samaritan neighbor who plowed our driveway with a tractor and blade one winter and ran over it.

I'll probably replace them this summer, LED, solar panel, and battery technology might have progressed enough in the last five years that I might get a little more light and a little more runtime out of a new set, I hope so at least. The ones I have now will often go dark by 3-4am during the winter because of the many overcast days and the shorter daylight hours.

The biggest pain with reflectors on stakes and the solar powered lights is mowing and trimming around them every week during the warmer months. Worth the bother in my case though.

Batteries in those things will last about three years, which is about 1000 cycles (one per day). I'd suggest you find some NiCd cells to replace the existing ones before buying new lights.

To prevent the need for trimming around them, try a narrow bark garden (30cm/1 foot wide) along the edge of the driveway with weed mat underneath the bark to stop grass growing up through it.

Or pull them out every time you mow. Perhaps you could embed short lengths of pipe in the ground to keep open the holes to put them into.

TorchBoy said:

Batteries in those things will last about three years, which is about 1000 cycles (one per day). I'd suggest you find some NiCd cells to replace the existing ones before buying new lights.

To prevent the need for trimming around them, try a narrow bark garden (30cm/1 foot wide) along the edge of the driveway with weed mat underneath the bark to stop grass growing up through it.

Or pull them out every time you mow. Perhaps you could embed short lengths of pipe in the ground to keep open the holes to put them into.

Click to expand...

I'm just going to get new lights, as I said before, one of the old ones is completely destroyed, the other three are beat up pretty badly, they are just inexpensive plastic lights. For the $20 or so it will cost to replace them, I can't imagine any advantage to taking the old ones apart and putting new batteries in. Not worth the time or bother.

Good suggestions about mowing/trimming around them. We're probably going to pave our driveway soon (it is gravel now) and I'll be looking at some of those things then.

Thanks guys. I've had no luck finding the glue down reflectors. I have solar lights and they work well but are almost always dead when I leave for work around 5:00 am. Fortunately I know the driveway by heart.
Plastic solar lights also make warning noises when impaired guests drive over them!

Thank you for the great link in post #5.

:thumbsup:
_

They're called Raised Pavement Markers (RPM).Google turned up a ton of comppanies that sell them but most sell only DOT sized quantities.Here's one that sells homeowner size quantities.

http://www.hyviz.com/hyvis/street.htm

Thanks! That's JUST what I've been looking for!

Your Welcome.

Andy

This is the field that I am in, proffessionaly. Street markings and signing. I have access to these, as well as other retro-reflective products.

Why don't you contact my by PM?

I have had a few other members contact me about these reflectors as well, so to let you all know, I could supply 12 of these shipped to you for 36$ (US) I have been told that other sources are charging as much as 15$ a pair though I haven't confirmed it.