Since the appearance of the first carriages on the roads, all traffic has needed a complex of signs visible from a distance and understandable to everyone: both vehicle owners and ordinary pedestrians. This need led to the emergence of the world famous rod.
From the history of the police wand
XX century - the time of popularity of quilt strollers and mares. Therefore, the question arose repeatedly about the need to control their movement in order to prevent emergency situations. Daniil Drachevsky, the St. Petersburg mayor, in 1907 was the first to use a white wooden stick, whose length did not exceed 90 cm. It was supposed to be worn in a leather case on the belt and removed only in certain situations. Such a stick was handed to traffic policemen, who at that time wore the title of traffic controllers. They could get it only for a specific purpose:
- point to the car that should stop now;
- raise the stick up and rotate a couple of minutes to stop pedestrians and all vehicles that are currently on the road.
When the Bolsheviks came to power, they slightly changed the color of the adjusting stick, adding black stripes. In 1922, the appearance of the stick radically changed: the length decreased to 49 cm, the color changed from striped to yellow. At the same time, instructions for its use were supplemented: categorical prohibitions on any unnecessary actions were introduced. The reason for this action is that at that time traffic lights were a rarity, so traffic controllers with special wands were the only way to control traffic. They could only do this with two actions - raising and lowering their stick.
In the 30s, such wands were completely withdrawn from use. Instead, they were given white gloves by traffic policemen, designed to perform similar functions. But this phenomenon was temporary, and, apparently, the people did not like it, since on April 27, 1939 the wands again took their rightful place. Their color was changed to black and white, explaining this with biological reasons: against the general background of colors, black and white quickly attracts the attention of the human brain. This is due to the peculiarities of life of the ancestors of people who hunted at night, while trying to protect themselves from predators. Therefore, black and white vision of a person is developed better than color.
In the 60s, wands were again taken from traffic cops. During this period, an experiment was conducted for two years, designed to teach the police to control traffic with only hands. This attempt ended successfully, and until 1969 traffic cops controlled the movement of drivers and pedestrians with a wave of hands.
But then again they began to use wands. Subsequently, attempts were made to replace it with a flashlight, a knife, a shocker, and so on, but they did not succeed. It was hard for the police to work with a heavy wooden object all day, so the next innovation in changing the material from wood to plastic was perfectly greeted and adapted to it without any problems.
In the Kursk region you can find one of the most interesting and complete collections of road wands, which at the moment is unrivaled. It belongs to the local police colonel Alexander Narykov. In his collection you can see more than 40 types of police wands belonging to different countries.
Kinds
Police wands come in several forms.
- More familiar to all wooden club. It is presented in the photo. A police wand can be of various sizes; It depends on the wishes of the customer and manufacturer.
In parallel with it, analogues are in demand, outwardly practically indistinguishable, but made of plastic. Both batons contain reflective elements that facilitate work in the dark.
- Wands with integrated power transmission. In fact, they are flashlights, whose front part is replaced by a striped or red plastic tube.
Judging by the reviews of traffic controllers, the quality of the product is not very different from the toy. A police rod of this kind performs its functions well, but requires a very careful attitude.
- Disc-shaped wand. This device resembles a white disk, in the center of which red-light-attracting elements are integrated. Manufacturers do not agree on the appearance of the handle, so you can meet any variations.
- Wand with stun gun functions. To date, it is not known whether it really exists or whether this is an invention of journalists. Law enforcement agencies deny the possibility of their use, referring this idea to the development of companies that have nothing to do with them.
