Patent ID: 8282309

Claim:
An inertial barrier for use in protecting a vehicle from roadway hazards comprising a plastic container having a bottom wall and open top and a side wall, a ledge extending laterally inwardly from the side wall in spaced relation from the bottom wall and open top, and an insert having sides sized and shaped to be supported by the ledge inside the container, the insert having an axially upwardly, radially inwardly extending top wall for supporting a dispersible granular energy absorbing material above the insert inside the container, wherein the container side wall includes a cylindrical upper side wall portion that is stepped laterally inwardly at discrete intervals along its height from the open top, and a generally rectangular lower side wall portion that tapers inwardly from a lowermost edge of the upper side wall portion to the bottom wall to facilitate stacking of a plurality of such containers during transit or storage, wherein the ledge is continuous and extends laterally inwardly from the generally rectangular lower side wall portion substantially to the same lateral extent around the entire periphery of the lower side wall portion and the insert has straight opposite side edges that are sized and shaped to substantially match the cross sectional shape of the lower side wall portion immediately above the ledge.