The service and durability of spike systems is a very important budget and safety consideration. Today we see a new importance to this as a spike system unrecoverable on the roadway has been a factor in multiple incidents where five U.S. Officers have lost their lives. This is second most common scenario for spike type incidents in the U.S. and the first in Canada.

Higher Standard: Most spike systems use a durable frame which can be reloaded with spikes for multiple uses. Individual Sections are held together with screws and they use a heavy duty cord to retrieve the system. These type systems have a history of safe recovery and their use have not been a factor in an incident with an unsecured system on the roadway.

Spike deployment without a cord tethered is the primary reason for an unsecured system on the roadway. At one time, this type deployment was a common practice, but today it has been defined as a safety risk. During this era, pursuit officers were trained to circumvent the spikes to avoid deflation, deployment officers were trained to enter the roadway and clear the spikes. Deployment incidents without a cord brought attention to the need of such designs to upgrade their product with a tethered cord. Deployment incidents before the upgrades defined a problem, but deployments after the upgrades with the cord tethered resulted in further incidents and shows us a new problem. Systems not properly serviced and deployed can result in cord failure and with the same serious results.

These designs experience a higher level of wear and tear. Some components experience wear just by deployment on concrete. Components not properly inspected and replaced, can mean an unsecured system on the roadway due to failure.

These systems can experience failure under what durable brands label as normal use. A system unsecured on the roadway still happens to this date due to failure because of poor service or deployment without being tethered to a cord.

Despite a manufactures sales pitch, and theories, you should evaluate safety based on durability and ease of service. This is based on the real world risks and our recommended solution.