Break-Safe® Omni-Directional Breakaway System for Sign Posts

Accident research and field experience have shown that vehicles often leave the roadway impacting structures at high angles of incident.

Break-Safe® is an omni-directional breakaway support system for ground mounted signs located within roadside clear zones and other locations vulnerable to vehicular impacts. The omni-directional performance of Break-Safe® allows the system to break away with consistent, predictable behavior, regardless of the vehicle’s angle of impact, thus saving lives and reducing property damage.

Break-Safe® has been crash-tested, resulting in a FHWA acceptance letter based on NCHRP Report 350. In addition to superior safety performance, Break-Safe® provides a high structural load-carrying capacity. New national signing standards specify increased sign sizes for visibility, in addition to increased wind load levels. These changes create a significant increase in structural demands on sign supports.

Break-Safe® is designed to support a wide range of post sizes, up to and including the largest permitted by AASHTO. The flexibility built into the system gives you many choices when selecting post types and sizes for specific applications. The high-strength coupling and L-bracket design provides increasing structural capacity as the size of the post increases. This unique feature offers unmatched load-carrying capacity, and accommodates both single and multiple post configurations.

Break-Safe® offers the lowest stub height after impact (less than one inch or 25mm) of any current sign breakaways.This is essential for maximum safety and allows for variations in foundation height.

No special tools or equipment are required to install and maintain Break-Safe®. All components are easily secured using the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) turn-of-nut tightening method, eliminating the torque requirement typical with other breakaway systems.