1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of improving the safety of roadside mounted devices such as mailboxes and particularly relates to an energy absorbing stand or support system for mailboxes.
2. Description of Prior Art
Heretofore mailbox supports mounted alongside roadways have been overlooked as potential traffic hazards and have caused many fatalities by permitting the support structure and the mailboxes to enter the occupied zone of a vehicle impacting the support or mailboxes carried thereby. Multiple mailbox supports have conventionally been in the form of an upright post mounted in the ground and carrying a horizontal leg or arm carrying the mailboxes at a level conveniently reached from the driver's seat of the mail car or delivery vehicle. When such structures are impacted by an oncoming vehicle the arm carrying the mailboxes is high enough to penetrate the occupied area of the vehicle causing injury to the occupants. It would be an improvement in the art to provide a mailbox support system which would yield upon impact by a vehicle bumper to underlie the vehicle and prevent any portion thereof from entering the occupied area of the vehicle.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds