What is the role of parking blocks?

Despite years of practice, many expert drivers make parking mistakes repeatedly. A driver may overrate the size of a parking spot or become confused while doing so. Property damage may occur when a car collides with another parked vehicle or nearby objects such as buses, motorcycles, etc.

Although you cannot avoid all occurrences of distracted parking in parking areas, you can prevent this damage and improve pedestrian safety by strategically placing parking blocks.

You can locate these curbs in different types of parking, such as valet parking, visitors parking, disabled parking, and airport parking.

Parking blocks are long-lasting, incredibly stable, and robust in the face of vehicular traffic wheel impacts.

So, where are parking curbs used, and how does it work? Here are the complete guidelines that discuss everything about wheel stops.

How does a parking bumper work?

The primary role of a parking bumper is to assist drivers in determining the appearance of a parking lot. It converts accident-prone parking spaces into well-streamlined parking spaces.

You must have noticed a parking spot in different places. Have you ever thought about what makes these parking areas attractive? If not, keep on reading.

Imagine entering an oversized public garage and not finding a spot nearby to stand your car. What would you do? You certainly try to find an appropriate site for parking. A parking bumper helps you there. It gives you directions to where you should park your car.

If you are not a commercial parking lot owner, you might think, why should I want to use these blocks? Are these blocks not only for private and public parking garages? These types of questions will revolve in your mind.

So, clear your misconception. Wheel stops, particularly rubber wheel stops, can be fixed anywhere you want to park your car. It may be your garage parking or business spot.

Let’s understand this concept with another example!

Suppose you drive your car in your garage at a little high speed or carelessly let your foot off the brake without putting the motorized vehicle into park. What would happen?

A clash may occur between your car and the wall, even at low speed, and cause cosmetic damage. Here these small bumpers provide safety against those careless mishaps.

Learn more: How does a parking bumper work?

Will parking blocks damage vehicles?

The primary function of parking blocks on roads, driveways, and parking areas is to stop a rolling car. In some cases, these barriers might cause danger if the driver forgets to engage the hand brake before leaving the vehicle in an inclined parking lot.

Having parking stops in the right location will prevent the car from going beyond the designated parking area. During the winter season, it may also cause disruptions.

In the US, roads are mainly covered with snow during cold weather, causing trouble for drivers and pedestrians. Drivers could not observe them, and car tires may skid over them. It could be even more dangerous if concrete parking bumpers hit tires.

Initially, parking bumpers were made from cement. After seeing the problems with concrete bumpers, technology has made a lot of progress, and rubber parking bumpers have been introduced to avoid such a crisis over the last few decades.

Nowadays, rubber parking bumpers have replaced concrete parking bumpers. Suppose you implement rubber parking blocks in your business parking spot, school, or hospital parking. It will not damage you and your vehicle in any way.

Moreover, their yellow reflective films made it easy for car owners to park at night.

Learn more: Will parking blocks damage vehicles?

Pros and cons of wheel stops!

Undoubtedly, parking bumpers, especially rubber bumpers, are significant innovations.

Their application has played a primary role in the transportation department. Seeing its myriad advantages, many companies have started manufacturing these rubber blocks.

Every invention has its benefits and drawbacks. Likewise, parking bumper has its pros and cons. You can control its hazards if you choose a rubber parking bumper. Let’s briefly see the advantages and disadvantages of a wheel stop.

Learn more: Pros and cons of wheel stops!

Advantages

One of the prime benefits of implementing parking curbs is to warn drivers when they approach the edge of parking lots.

Compared with different materials, rubber parking blocks are great for safety.

They reduce the risk of dangers and make the parking lots well organized. They also protect your vehicle’s front wheel if your car accidentally collides with them.

Another benefit of wheel stops in parking stalls is to prevent vehicles from parking on sidewalks or any restricted area. These physical barriers keep drivers from pulling through parking spaces and avoid other risky manoeuvres. It provides safety to sidewalks, delicate landscapes, and other vehicles.

Apart from providing safety, it transforms your unstructured property areas into structured ones. Do you notice how car owners often enter or leave your property area per day? Parking lots are usually busy during working hours.

It may include customers and employees driving in and out of the property. To maintain federal and state safety codes, it’s now compulsory to structure your parking lot that support traffic flow.

Nowadays, rubber parking bumpers are more in demand; their installation method is relatively easy and less costly. There are kits and instruction guides that come with rubber parking blocks. You can easily install it by following the given instructions.

Another fantastic perk of using a rubber parking stop is that you can uninstall it anytime. It is useable for both short-term parking and long-term parking. If you implement it in your garage, you want to change your home. You can deploy it and locate it in a new place.

Rubber parking blocks are environmentally friendly because they are made from recycled material.

A few years back, people had found difficulty with concrete parking curbs. They are made from cement, and their colours match the colour of the ground.

Drivers could not identify it, and they faced issues. Now, yellow reflective strips on rubber wheel stops make it easy for drivers and pedestrians to detect them.

Disadvantages

Parking bumpers are meant to avoid disaster by preventing vehicles from crossing a boundary in parking spaces. But they constitute significant obstructions to pedestrians and have resulted in numerous catastrophic orthopaedic and neurologic injuries.

For instance, cement-made parking blocks can leave you with serious injuries. You might fall forward on the bumper and hurt your legs or arms. In other situations, if you fall behind on barriers, there is a risk of your bones breaking.

Concrete parking blocks prove much more dangerous because of the heavy material used in them. They create serious problems both for drivers and walkers.

They can even damage the front part of your car badly if they strike with concrete blocks. If you replace it with rubber parking blocks, you can easily cope with this situation.

The parking facilities should not permit concrete parking bumpers, particularly where there are regular traffic flows, and keep an eye on such situations.

They should make sure that they locate rubber parking bumpers at suitable distances that may not create discomfort for pedestrians. If they were placed in pedestrian paths, injuries would increase drastically.

Reasons to select rubber wheel stops

As stated above in detail, the benefits and drawbacks of wheel stop. Now, it’s time to choose a parking bumper that meets your needs and looks attractive. Choosing a rubber parking bumper is the best option to avoid tripping hazards.

Below are some reasons to select rubber parking bumpers instead of concrete or plastic wheel stops.

• The installation cost is almost negligible if you buy rubber parking blocks.

• Rubber parking blocks are made from recycled rubber. They will not split or collapse If some heavy truck hits them.

• Rubber parking blocks’ colours do not faint even in bright sunlight. It makes them more visible at any time.

Conclusion

Parking bumper has become vital traffic management equipment. The transportation department should make using these blocks in large parking zones compulsory.

The trend of using rubber parking blocks is at its peak. They are a safety calming component for public parking lots, school campuses, corporate parks, and shopping centres. Every business owner wants to make their parking lots safe for visitors.

Do you also want to protect your parking lot from harm? It’s a better time to decide and make your parking spot secure, organized, and delightful.