If you spend a lot of time on the road, you would probably have spotted traffic marshall robots or mannequins on road shoulders.
Here’s a genuine question: have these ‘traffic marshalls’ ever given you a shock?
A Xiaohongshu user recently came across two traffic marshall mannequins at night.
Along with a video of what she saw, she said she “will no longer go on nightly runs” because she was “scared to death by them”.
Both mannequins had on yellow helmets and large yellow raincoats draped over them, with a set of LED lights sticking out from their sides.
The lights weren’t turned on, and the mannequins were propped up by what appeared to be two thin pieces of metal rods.
At a glance, they resembled two floating yellow figures in the dark.
A netizen responded to her post, saying that they also saw a traffic marshall mannequin while on the way to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning.
“I didn’t die from my illness, but almost died from the scare I got,” they joked.
Others kindly explained the use of those mannequins.
“These robots are put in place to remind people to slow down when driving as there may be roadworks ahead. The LED strips will turn on at night and serve as warning lights. With this, there’s no need for an actual worker to stand by the road for long periods of time,” wrote a netizen.
They also said that such a sight is “very common” and encouraged the woman to “not scare herself unnecessarily”.
Another netizen chimed in, saying that the traffic marshall robots are often seen on highways. “Sometimes, after thunderstorms, their ‘heads’ fall off. Isn’t that scarier?” they jokingly added.
Basically, don’t panic when you see these traffic marshalls. They are there to keep us safe, and not do the opposite.