Traffic Drums – what’s on the side?

A lot of people do not know what is on the side or the top of traffic drums.  They know what traffic drums are, the orange traffic barrels they always see on the side of the road.  What they don’t know is that the lights on top of them are called barricade lights and they are typically wrapped with four 6″ bands, two orange and two white.

This reflective sheeting makes the traffic drums easier to be seen during the night so people know that construction is coming up.  The lights also help with this, because they are typically blinking during the night and have a photocell in them so that they only turn on during the night.