Traffic Gorillas Hit the Road

Motorists obeyed them and they were cheaper than people, but two mechanical traffic gorillas were retired because they didn’t meet federal safety standards.

The life-size but legless gorillas, which sat atop barrels with rotating paddles that said “Stop” and “Slow,” were yanked off a dirt road north of Juneau days after they were put to work last spring.

The Federal Highway Administration notified the state that the gorillas, in their fluorescent orange-striped vests and yellow hard hats and gloves, didn’t meet safety standards. Federal guidelines require humans to direct traffic with signs.

“If there was an accident, we would have been wide open for a lawsuit, so we pulled them off line,” said Jim Merrill of the state Transportation Department.

Merrill noted that drivers sometimes run through lights but always stopped for the gorillas.

And the gorillas, which the state bought for $3,100 to save money, were cheaper than human flagmen, who earn up to $25 an hour.