Korina

This is oddly satisfying.

sdmc530

If the car occupants were not seriously injured that is an epic video!

Korina

That car had probably 37 air bags and a crumple zone. I'm sure they were fine.

surveyor6

That bollard must have been extended very deep into the ground to stop a car like that.
Your typical bollard goes only about 4 feet into the ground.

OldTryGuy

Can't fix stupid and saying it once is not enough, sooo >>>

Tusk

They test those security bollards with multi ton trucks. It didn't feel a thing when that Audi hit.

Digger Goreman

Now, if they could just use these to protect bicycle lanes, I'd feel safer Crash Test Month: Truck Hitting A Bollard - Bing video

flangehead

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a2003...arked-bollard/

Iride01 

Yeah, impressive.

However I didn't see the bollard until after the crash. From the driver's perspective, it's little white lights probably blended well with the little white lights of the Christmas decorations.

livedarklions

Sorry, but this is a disgusting thread celebrating a disgusting tweet by a industry PR flack. Iride01 has it exactly right, the lights around the bollard are camouflaging the lights on the bollard. Putting those in the middle of a street is inexcusably bad road design.

DangerousDanR

We saw these a lot in France, mostly around ancient city centers. They were all in places where the speed limit was maybe 25 Km/Hr. They retract into the ground to allow limited access. This one is in the old city center in Dijon.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.3231...7i13312!8i6656

Drivers in those areas should recognize the light pattern and not go through. It seems that they do their job very well.

livedarklions

Please look at that video once again. Between the wet pavement and the X-mas lights, the lighting conditions were horrendous. And no, I don't agree that their "job" is supposed to be imposing maximum damage on the vehicle and occupants instead of giving way. Their job is to be seen so people don't drive where they're not supposed to. Bollards are a really poor tool in this regard as they're one of the hardest things to see on a road, especially at night. They're primarily used because they aren't "unsightly" in the way an actually hi-vis barrier would be.

burnthesheep

Unfortunately, that part of the world has had some bouts with intentional bollard and city-center ramming in order to inflict murder on people gathered in those city centers.

With many things, it's the result of a prior incident, somewhere. And something serious. It's unfortunate a person would hit it due to poor design. But the job is definitively to keep the car from proceeding further. One cannot assume good intent, or assume the driver isn't incapacitated and charging forth. Given that, the bollard simply cannot allow the vehicle further. 2016 Berlin? Other events also?

More cost, but perhaps some tire spikes or one of those newer wheel/tyre entrapment devices about 100 yards soon to slow the vehicle before striking a bollard would be optimal. 100% prevention, but also prevent unnecessary injury.

livedarklions

I have to point out the obvious--if there had been anyone on the other side of the bollard, that car would have landed on them. If the job is to stop cars, there's lots of objects that could perform that function better, they just happen to be "ugly".. And if you are going to put a car-stopping barrier in the middle of a road, it should be conspicuously large AND highly visible.

Iride01 

On a ride a few days ago I encountered a cyclist that had plowed into a bollard on our local MUP. Luckily for him it just knocked the wind out of him. I wonder if a video of his impact would have been just as spectacular. It's at the bottom of a twisty trail so unchecked speeds can be pretty high.

It also was a inconspicuous bollard that blended with the bridge it was guarding the approaches to. Why I don't know, a motor vehicle will have had to avoid other bollards at more predictable locations at the trail heads and intersections.

I emailed the city and ask them to re-consider if this bollard is really needed since no other bridges on the MUP have a bollard in the center of their approaches.

DangerousDanR

I think you need to know that the World Bollard Association is a bit of tongue in cheek humor.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...rd-association

Also, it seems to me that if a person driving a car doesn't know what red lights on posts by the side of a road mean they probably should not be driving. Hint: those red lights have mates that turn green when it is safe to proceed.

I am perfectly OK with the concrete barriers outside the US Federal Building here in Fargo. There is no need to drive into the Federal Building here. But in the heart of the old city in Dijon? You have got to be kidding me! And in addition to their function of stopping entry they need to retract to allow entry. Those big concrete barriers don't have that feature.

jon c. 

I think the job of the bollards is the stop cars traveling at much lower speeds. Just speculation based on a short clip, but it looks to me like the car may be going several times the speed limit. The tox screen on the driver might be interesting.

That the unit withstood that crash is impressive engineering. I think it wasn't intended to stop cars at that speed and I don't think we can fault those who designed the area. In my experience most urban pedestrian areas aren't protected by anything that would stop a car from flipping over it at high speed. Would Jersey barriers be any better in that scenario?

livedarklions

burnthesheep said they have to be built that solid because they need to be able to stop a high speed intentional attack, and when I point out that bollard actually did a bad job of stopping the high speed progress of the vehicle in a distance short enough to prevent victimization of others, you think it's an answer to point out the vehicle was going fast?

Jersey barriers aren't the ideal either. If you look at the structures around bridge supports and the like, they're generally filled with water or sand, which stops the vehicle and absorbs the impact.

TBH, I think the idea of crowd protection with bollards is mostly security theater as the most likely outcome if the terrorist is committed is to just shift the attack to the nearest unprotected spot. It's pretty much a practical impossibility to completely segregate traffic and pedestrian crowds.

work4bike

I noticed the same thing as jon c. above, that car seemed to be going much faster than is allowed on that road. I would love to know more details about this incident....

genec

Details such as were the "red lights" also visible to the driver... does the driver understand what red lights mean? And yes, what is the speed limit on that road.

Daniel4

Bollards at sidewalks would have saved a lot of lives several years ago in Toronto when a driver drove along it running over many people.

Iride01 

Well there is the answer! <sarcasm> We should put bollards everywhere and fully separate motor vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

gpburdell

Yes, I don't know where this video is from but the tall posts to either side - with the bright red lights - seem to be a fairly obvious warning.

Presumably they're also shining in the other direction as well, can't really tell. If they aren't then sure there's something not right - but I'd be surprised if they were unidirectional.

I don't know about other folks, but I'm not gonna fly between two red lights.

Edit - looks like automatic bollards are a thing in UK and some other places where the council wants to restrict vehicle access to certain people or certain times such as a city centre. Looks like they tend to get installed with taller posts to each side - lighted red when the bollard(s) up and green when down.

I-Like-To-Bike

Forget bollards as the solution. Don't you know the "answer" for some of our A&S colleagues is to eliminate motor vehicles and/or return to the life styles of the 19th Century?

sdmc530

Sign me up!!!