The Ranty Highwayman)
Fire Engine vs Bollard: Who’s Going to Win
Something a little different this week and despite the slightly tongue-in-cheek title of this post, there is an interesting story to tell.
First, my thanks goes to the London Fire Brigade for trusting me with a spanking new fire engine, but sometimes in life, we just need to have a go at something to prove it works – more on that in a bit, but first a little background.
In the last few years, I’ve been able to work on some schemes which contain an element of filtered permeability designed to prevent access for through motor traffic. We know this is a vital piece of a wider approach to creating liveable neighbourhoods, but there is the issue of how we prevent or discourage motor vehicle access. I blogged about this a while back and in many respects this is an update.
As a sort of recap, we have moved from staggered barriers and gates to embrace the humble bollard (by we, I mean my team in the day job – lots of other people haven’t got this far yet). We’ve kept it simple and have used the mantra of using odd numbers of bollards with 1500mm clear spacings. Our centre bollards will be of a removable type to allow maintenance and fire access. The spacing and the bollard width will always give at least 3100mm when the centre bollard is removed which is perfect for fire access.
On one particular scheme, I met with a representative of the local traffic police who had some concerns to discuss. One of these concerns was the use of a central steel bollard as shown on the above photo. The concern was that should it be clipped by a person cycling or riding a powered 2-wheeler, the outcome could be serious. The concern extended to the potential for a collision in the event the police were pursuing a suspect (powered 2-wheeler or car), although if it is getting risky, the police will stop the pursuit.
