NCHRP Report 350 Compliance Tests of the V-Loc Sign Support System (Prepared for Foresight Products, Inc.) (405631-1F)

Foresight Products, Inc. contracted with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to evaluate the safety performance of their V-Loc sign support socket when tested in accordance with the recommended guidelines contained in National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350. Previous approval of this socket and wedge system was based on crash tests conducted a 1020-kg vehicle. In order to satisfy NCHRP Report 350 and, thereby, retain its approved status, it was required that the V-Loc sign support system be successfully tested with an 820-kg vehicle.|This report details the construction, performance, and evaluation of the full-scale crash tests performed on the V-Loc sign support system. The sign support types used in the testing program included a 5.95 kg/m U-channel post and a 60.3 mm O.D. x 2.4 mm wall steel tube sign support. In all tests, the V-Loc sign support system performed satisfactorily by yielding to the vehicle and then fracturing or pulling out of the socket. The occupant risk indices were well below the recommended values contained in NCHRP Report 350.|The V-Loc sign support socket was found to meet all relevant evaluation criteria for NCHRP Report 350 test designations 3-60 and 3-61 for both the U-channel and thin-wall round tube sign supports. Moreover, the successful results with these supports indicates that the V-Loc socket should also perform satisfactorily with other sign support types provided the yield moment of the support does not exceed that of those tested under this study.