City traffic departments are tasked to ensure pedestrian safety, minimize vehicular accidents, and facilitate smooth traffic flow on a daily basis. With its high volume of vehicle traffic and pedestrians, a single accident in busy city centers can have a multiplier effect in terms of productivity loss, damage to property, and human casualties. To avoid unfortunate incidents, traffic officers are mandated to proactively monitor the roads to clear pedestrian zones. They separate busy roads and enforce traffic control using bollards and other traffic management tools.

What are Traffic Bollards?

Traffic bollards are used by traffic departments as physical and visual barriers for vehicles. They are commonly painted yellow, orange or black with white stripes, although other color options are available to increase visibility or complement the architectural landscape of a private area. Traffic bollards are made of quality materials for long-term durability are usually made from steel.

Applications

City traffic departments and public infrastructure departments are the main users of traffic bollards. However, an increasing number of private property owners such as hotels, commercial complexes, industrial sites, and special economic zones are using traffic bollards to implement traffic calming measures and control vehicle flow within their premises.

Mandating Traffic Control and Road Safety

Traffic bollards prevent access to restricted streets or areas, separate lanes, or divert traffic to another direction. In areas identified as accident-prone, they are used to line the road to narrow the space for vehicles, control traffic speed, and reduce accidents. Traffic bollards complement road signage and other traffic control devices.

Separating Reserved Lanes

Reserved lanes are dedicated to ease public transport such as bus, taxi, school buses, and in some cases carpoolers. Reserved lanes marked with a diamond are aimed at reducing traffic congestion and shortening travel times. However, some motorists still try to take this lane. Traffic bollards can be used as a physical barrier to separate reserved lanes. Similarly, traffic bollards can also be used to separate bike lanes.

Establishing Traffic Calming Zone

Traffic bollards also help establish traffic calming zones by complementing traffic management tools and strategies. Traffic calming measures are implemented to increase pedestrian safety in city areas that are prone to vehicle-pedestrian collisions. They can also be implemented to increase neighborhood safety. Using bollards, traffic calming zones encourage slower, mindful driving among drivers.

Installation

Although most traffic bollards are for temporary use, it is not recommended to use removable bollards. Traffic bollards require excavation or boring. If excavation presents a delay, an alternative is to use base plate fixed bollards which are easy to install and fix onsite and do not require a complicated removal process.