Abstract: A pedestrian traffic control stanchion including a post having an upper end and a lower end; a belt cassette assembly mounted on an upper end of the post; a spring case assembly positioned adjacent to and operatively connected to the belt cassette assembly to provide tension on a belt as the belt is extracted from the belt cassette assembly; a brake case assembly positioned adjacent to the belt cassette assembly and operatively connected to the belt cassette assembly to dampen the rate of rotation of the belt cassette assembly as the belt is retracted into the belt cassette assembly under the tension force exerted by the spring case assembly; the brake case assembly including a housing, a drive gear positioned within the housing, said drive gear being configured to be connected to the belt cassette assembly, a floating gear positioned within the housing in a position to engage the drive gear, the floating gear having an axial shaft extending therefrom, wherein the axial shaft of the floating gear is positione