A spike strip (spike belt, traffic spikes, tire shredders, stingers, stop sticks, Stinger or formally known as a tire deflation device) is a device or

incident weapon An incident weapon is typically an anti-vehicle device intended to inflict disabling damage or prevent escape without killing the vehicle operators. Incident weapons were used by military personnel during the Cold War to discourage clandestine use ...

used to impede or stop the movement of wheeled vehicles by puncturing their

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

s. Generally, the strip is composed of a collection of metal barbs, teeth or spikes pointing upward. The spikes are designed to puncture and flatten tires when a vehicle is driven over them; they may be portable, as a police weapon, or strongly secured to the ground, as those found at security checkpoint entrances in certain facilities. (These particular models, however, retract and do not cause damage when a vehicle drives over them from the proper direction.) They also may be detachable, with new spikes fitted to the strip after use. The spikes may be hollow or solid; hollow ones are designed to detach and become embedded in the tires, allowing air to escape at a steady rate to reduce the risk of the driver losing control and crashing. They are historically a development of the

caltrop A caltrop (also known as caltrap, galtrop, cheval trap, galthrap, galtrap, calthrop, jackrock or crow's foot'' Battle of Alesia'' ( Caesar's conquest of Gaul in 52 BC), Battlefield Detectives program, (2006), rebroadcast: 2008-09-08 on History C ...

, with anti-cavalry and anti-personnel versions being used as early as 331 BC by Darius III against

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

at the Battle of Gaugamela in Persia. In the United States, five officers were killed deploying spike strips in 2011 alone, having been struck by fleeing vehicles. Dallas, Texas police are among those banned from using them, in response to the hazards. Remotely deployable spike strips have been invented to reduce the danger to police officers deploying them. Private possession of spike strips was banned in New South Wales, Australia in 2003 after a strip cheaply constructed from a

steel pipe A pipe is a tubular section or hollow cylinder, usually but not necessarily of circular cross-section, used mainly to convey substances which can flow — liquids and gases (fluids), slurries, powders and masses of small solids. I ...

studded with nails was used against a police vehicle. John Watkins, a member of New South Wales Legislative Assembly, stated they would be added to the New South Wales prohibited weapons list. Following the rise in terrorist vehicle attacks whereby a vehicle is driven at speed into pedestrians, a net with steel spikes that can be deployed by two people in less than a minute, reported able to stop a vehicle of up to 17 tonnes, was developed for preventive use at public events in the UK, with the name "Talon". It has steel spikes to puncture tires, and becomes entangled around the front wheels, halting the vehicle. It is designed to reduce risk to crowds by making the vehicle skid in a straight line without veering unpredictably. It was first deployed to protect a parade on 11 September 2017.

References

{{reflist Law enforcement equipment Espionage devices Military equipment Area denial weapons Tires Road hazards

See also

References