Almost every week we get an inquiry along these lines:
"Greetings, Truncated Domes Depot.
The other day when I was coming out of CostCo I pushed my overloaded shopping cart across those bumpy yellow things, you know, I call them "beer shakers," but youse guys call them trunkerated domes or something like that.
Anyway, I had a brilliant idea: I can use those bumpy domes things to get rid of all the annoying skateboarders who are always doing their thing on my property! I mean, those dang daredevil kamikazes are putting me at risk for liability and law suits and just being annoying as heck. Whaddaya think? Would those trucnkerated dome bump things deter skateboarders?"
Can Truncated Domes be Used as a Skateboarding Deterrent?
As Buddha allegedly said, "Yes and No."
On one hand, truncated domes are not designed to thwart our friendly neighborhood skateboarders. On the other hand, what a drag to be skating along some smooth concrete and suddenly be confronted by a field of densely packed bumps. Skating across truncated domes would be a rough ride, stop your forward momentum, and maybe be bumpy enough to jar fillings from your teeth. Talk about a buzz killer.
ADA pads and truncated domes have a very specific purpose, and since form follows function, they are most definitely NOT designed as a skateboarding deterrent system. These are warning devices required by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) that happen to have lots of benefits for able and disabled persons. Truncated domes alert everyone to changes in ground surface, such as at curb cut outs or along railway and subway platforms. And when crossing from a pedestrian zone into a vehicle or mixed use zone, such as when leaving CostCo and crossing into the parking lot area.
While we've had folks want to use truncated domes to make their property unattractive to skateboarders, no one has yet reported back to us on whether the idea was successful in making skaters scarce.
We cannot imagine anyone would consider it "fun" to skateboard across truncated domes. But then, some skaters may see truncated domes as a challenge. Keep in mind that the truncated domes on pads and tiles that are ADA compliant are required to be in parallel rows. If a skateboarder's wheels aren't too wide, they may consider it a challenge to try and skate on truncated domes smoothly by aligning their wheels with the channel between the raised domes. Good luck with that, dude!
One other non-traditional use of ADA pads and truncated domes that we have heard a lot of positive feedback on: Using truncated domes as visual and tactile warnings inside large warehouses, factories, and industrial spaces.
OSHA has regulations covering proper spacing of pathways, and as we've all seen, the yellow painted or adhesive strips used to mark pathways. But more than one customer of Truncated Domes Depot has used our products for warnings inside their warehouse to improve safety.
One customer used our self-adhesive truncated domes to delineate a safe area around their time clock. This enabled fork-lift drivers to easily stay clear, not endangering anyone using the time clock, who would have had their back to the nearby fork-lift traffic. The ADA pads, being only 2mm thick at the base, presented zero trip hazard for workers; and the contrasting yellow color against the smooth concrete floor, as well as the raised domes felt underfoot, alerted the worker when he or she was stepping out of the safe zone, and into the area used by fork-lifts.
Got a story about the intersection of truncated domes and skateboarding? Send it to us: sales@TruncatedDomesDepot.com