Maui Gets Super Serious About Traffic Safety with New 'Cone Man'

Maui County officials on Thursday announced a new traffic safety tool to be assigned at troublesome locations island-wide where motorists just won't slow down. Introducing: the Cone Man.

The roughly 8-foot-tall traffic safety tool, constructed from combining four squat traffic barricades with orange traffic delineator posts for arms, aims to better catch the eyes of passing cars and motorcycles compared with what the county has tried so far.

"People just need to slow down, darn it," said Maria Molnar, traffic safety specialist for the county. "But since they seem to blow off all the other types of signs, posts, cones, and barricades we set up, we came up with something no one driving by can miss.

"Plus we added a killer spear to let them know we're super serious about traffic safety."

The tool, called the Cone Man by county transportation workers, is expected for placement at about 20 troublesome locations all around the island as part of a pilot program.

County transportation officials have gauged traffic volumes at the locations, and then will carefully monitor the flows once the Cone Men are posted. "We should get good data on whether or not these big fellas are doing their job or not," Mayor Richard Bissen said.

Local rubber safety cone enthusiasts expressed concerns that the county already suffers through an orange safety cone shortage island-wide, and that the loss of the delineator posts will only exacerbate the problem.

"We wholeheartedly support the county purchasing more orange safety cones, as thousands  have been left out there in the sun to dry out and die," said Joanne Crabapple, founder of the Maui Safety Cone Coalition (MSCC). "We all want safer roadways, but we must be cognizant of how these Cone Men are going to impact the overall inventory on Maui.

"It would be a disaster if we ran out of cones."

Molnar, the county traffic safety specialist, said if the Cone Men fail the county may have to install OGG-height speed bumps at the most challenging locations.