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Wednesday, Mar 27, 2024

Portable Barricade Protects Against Errant Drivers

Palmdale-based Delta Scientific Corp., the leading manufacturer of counter-terrorist vehicle control systems throughout the world, has manufactured its first mobile anti-crash barricade for commercial social events. Prior to developing the new product, Delta’s barricades were predominantly used to protect government entities against potential terrorists. They also manufacture parking control equipment and guard booths. “Those kind of anti-terrorist barricades are too much for doing a lot of local events,” said Delta spokesman Tom Brigham. “They’re too much to put up quickly. The others are literally overkill for these types of events.” The new DSC 1000, now available for sale, is a toned-down version of the anti-terrorist barricades. They can be assembled in 10 minutes and towed and stored on their own trailer. The new barricades were created for such events as farmers’ markets, concerts and sporting events to prevent drivers from accidentally plowing into crowds “so we don’t have a tragedy like the errant driver in Santa Monica (at the farmer’s market) a few years ago,” said Brigham. “Many municipalities, event organizers and others that stage temporary events have requested a commercial barrier that can be towed into place and protect attendees from errant drivers,” said David Dickinson, Delta Scientific vice president. The portable barrier has passed a crash test in which it stopped a 5,000-pound vehicle traveling 50 miles per hour, Delta officials said. The DSC 1000 is the commercial extension of Delta’s MP5000 and uses the same electro-hydraulic power system, Delta officials said. The MP5000 was introduced in 2003 for use by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Deployment and U.S. Army at checkpoints in Iraq. The barrier stops a 7.5-ton vehicle traveling 30 miles per hour. More than 350 have been sold. The new commercial barricades have soft-stop technology to protect errant drivers when they crash into them, as opposed to the anti-terrorist barricades, which usually kill would-be terrorists when they drive into them, said Brigham. “This is important,” Dickinson said of the soft-stop driver protection. “In many cases, the tragedies that the DSC 1000 will negate are accidents. Authorities want the vehicle stopped, but they also want to avoid injury to the driver as much as possible.” With the commercial barricades, vehicles that crash into them are pushed off the ground several feet and are then stopped within several feet via anti-skid technology. Although the cars will get dented, the drivers should be safe, Brigham said. The anti-terrorist barricades, which are used at U.S. embassies around the world, are designed to push a vehicle’s cab into the would-be terrorist, crushing them. Those barricades have stopped several drivers from committing terrorism in the past. “It has stopped trucks that have tried to do nasty things,” Brigham said. But due to security reasons, Brigham couldn’t elaborate on specific incidents. “I could tell you but I’d have to kill you,” he said jokingly. “The major use of them ends up as a deterrent,” he said. Brigham said Delta developed the new barrier due to demand. Event holders “had no alternative before,” Brigham said. “There was a pent-up demand for them,” he said. “There are way more applications for them.” Richard Winger, chief financial officer of Delta, agrees. “We think it will fill a need,” he said. “There is a demand out there for a lighter-weight barrier that can be easily deployed.” Winger said other barricades the company has manufactured have proven to be profitable within the first year of going on the market. He doesn’t expect the DSC 1000 to be any different. “I would think revenues would be up during the first year and subsequent years thereafter,” he said. Due to higher demand for anti-terrorist barricades after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Delta moved from Santa Clarita about a year ago to a larger facility in Palmdale. “It more than doubled our capacity,” Winger said of the larger facility. Brigham said the new DSC 1000 will be the first in a full commercial line of products that have various strengths and applications. “There’s a lot of opportunity for that,” he said.

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