During traffic jams, I've always thought it funny if it were that a road cone could wheel it's way down the road, signal a car's occupants, and collect money for charity. A suitable charity would be a matter of debate. The money would be collected through the point of the road cone, and it would call out it's little pals if there wasn't enough room in it to continue.
People could dispose of pennies and other forms of small change, and suitable charities would get money.
The road cones would have wheels, solar powered and made from light plastic to prevent overloading, but a lot of the weight in the bottom would stop it from blowing over on a windy day. The road cones would travel on the service lane, and are dispatched by air when a traffic jam is identified.
And yes, I'm sure that some of them could come up later on during the traffic jam, selling coffee, jam donuts, and those weird granola bars you seem to find at the counter of each and every truck stop/ roadside rest stop.-- froglet, Apr 09 2005 Flocking road cones Flocking_20Road_20Cones [ato_de, Apr 10 2005] Reminds me of Flocking Road Cones. I like your idea too.-- finrod, Apr 09 2005 I trust there'd be some built in anti-theft device?-- Laimak, Apr 09 2005 Hey! Road cone! Get me a coffee! [+]-- moomintroll, Apr 09 2005 Better still, _you_ sit in the car, I'll go get a coffee.-- moomintroll, Apr 09 2005 Fleecing flocking road cones?-- ato_de, Apr 10 2005 Good in many cases but when you've been held up for the last 20 minutes and travelled roughly 5 feet, I don't know whether I could refrain from knocking said road cones onto its side-- hidden truths, Apr 10 2005 I hate the "panhandler" school of charity. Names I dont recognize. They never are informed on where the money is going or how much of it is used in administrative costs. Hell, I asked someone if their charity was secular and they said "Huh?" Less of these the better.-- lowbot, Apr 10 2005 And what charity would the jamee want to pay for? I suggest donations to the road widening/improvement program. The more money collected the more spent in that area of the road. Perhaps the best giver of the day (cones accept credit cards and are tax deducible donations) will have your name displayed on those alphanumeric road displays as best giver of the day (but not fair if Bill Gates donated daily). Company credit cards would of course show the companies name, compete for name recognition!-- Widgit, Apr 10 2005 What happens if some people like those cute little roadcones, and so they stop their car just to cause a jam so they can get the roadcones to come out?
Widgit: If you do the math, you'd have to get every car to pay about 5 dollars (USD) per DAY for a whole year to get a freeway interchange widened. And nature abhors a vacuum... (it'll fill up within 2 years as people move farther out)-- sophocles, Apr 11 2005 I balance my checkbook, read [while stopped ], listen to my extended radio family, talk on the CB radio, curse, and other things I shouldn't mention here while stuck in traffic. I would talk with a roadcone, if they could hold up their end of the conversation.-- normzone, Apr 11 2005 i like moomintroll's idea -- have the damned things sell coffee and donuts, not just ask for a handout...-- jcomeau_ictx, Apr 11 2005 I think that you should consider having the cone distribute rotten milk with a spray head to anyone that refuses to contribute.
What about just having a giant chicken that shoots eggs at cars during a traffic jam, the purpose would be to heighten the miserable experience.-- vfrackis, Mar 04 2009 I really love the idea of a traffic cone that does things. Excellent Excellent Idea (froglet)
Might be a good idea to have this traffic cone combined with the robot compliments.
This cone could uplift people and that would be nice.-- vfrackis, Mar 04 2009 One good cause springs to mind. The election campaign for anyone running against the encumbent local authority.
However, I do think that lines of road cones would probably cause the hold up or make it worse.-- Bad Jim, Mar 04 2009 random, halfbakery