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Central Point man has bright idea Traffic alert system replaces road flares Business Card Name : TAS Mfg (Traffic Alert Systems) Product : Indestructible, all-weather electronic flasher to replace highway flares Location : 6536 Domino Road, Central Point Phone : 541-826-7665; fax 826-0112 Email : [email protected] Owners : Mike Branson (inventor) and Dave McDonald, partners Production : by Central Plastics, Central Point Notable : Classical case of finding a much-needed niche and filling it. They applied computer-based chips and tough, modern plastics to create a product with widespread and inexhaustible demand. By JOHN DARLING CENTRAL POINT -- It's no secret among fire, police and rescue crews that highway flares create so much smoke and fire they can actually add to the danger of an accident scene by obscuring vision and providing an ignition source for fuel and fumes. Thanks to Central Point inventor Mike Branson, that's all about to change. His electronic Traffic Alert System, set to go into production locally within 60 days, offers an electronic, battery-powered system which flashes in your choice of red, yellow and blue for up to four hours. At $1,100 for a three-pack, Branson and his partner, Dave McDonald, are targeting a potential $20 million market in just public safety agencies of Oregon and California alone, they said during videotaping of a staged vehicle accident and car fire here Friday. Marketing is planned later for all North America and 76 other countries, Branson added. Their firm, TAS Mfg., next year plans to produce a much cheaper model -- $99 -- for the public, said Branson. It will be a solar-charged, 14-inch rectangle which could be used on roads as a flare or in the wilderness for air spotting and rescue, he added. Their products will be made at Central Plastics in Central Point. "After seeing a car roll over a flare and catch fire, I realized there was an incredible need to get rid of this 80-year-old technology and start using recent advances to create a safe product," Branson said. The present flares cause pollution, carbon monoxide, fires and damage to so many police uniforms, Branson said, that the California Highway Patrol grants monthly allowances for clothing replacement. Flares can be extinguished by rain, snow and being run over. The new Traffic Alert System, by contrast, offers a low, rounded profile and can withstand 100,000 pounds of vehicle weight, 300 feet of water pressure and can remain stationary in any wind, McDonald said. It uses a metal hydride battery, which is rechargeable in an hour. It runs for two-and-a-half hours on "day" setting and four hours on a less-bright "night" setting. "The TAS gives high visibility in fog and rain," said Eagle Point Police Lt. Gary Shipley, who helped direct the staged accident, "and the red and blue flashing light gets a lot of respect from the public." Research and development of the signal has taken five years, Branson said. The owners don't plan a public stock offering, he added, but will keep both ownership and production here, "where it will benefit the Rogue Valley," he said. At the staged accident in Eagle Point, police and fire crews used the blinkers to divert traffic during the burning of a junk car, then to mark a landing pad for a Mercy Flights helicopter to land and evacuate a "victim." CHP plans to test the product this week in the Siskiyou Pass, McDonald said, and the Huntington Beach, Calif., police department will feature the device in a training video. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA