Police officers wreck police car driving over rise-and-fall traffic bollards
tinyurl.com/88mdmmn - The Telegraph
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Looks like the airbags triggered as well, and I assume the bollards have went up into the engine.
That will be one pricey repair!
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Why doesn't a response car have a device to drop the bollards? Won't the bus company (council?) let them have one?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 17 May 12 at 14:17
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Precisely Navy, you'd think an armed response car would have access to practically anywhere built into its electronics, no good such a unit not being able to access bus routes or other pedestrianised zones.
I travel over a timed set of these things in the early mornings, always makes me a little nervous in case a fault develops.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Thu 17 May 12 at 14:26
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Quite right, ON - nothing worse than undropped bollards.
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Too true, Submarines have had retractable bollards since WW2 at least, they make a hell of a noise when submerged if they are left up.
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what would happen if you drove over one in a plastic pig or a rotting mini,then having to have the bollard surgically removed , makes you think
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Ah, God bless the famous Manchester free jacking service.....it's caught a few victims since being put in.
Mostly cars but it has claimed buses, an ambulance and a fire engine. I don't not go nowhere near them !
Not sure if it's had Ratto yet !
Ted
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>> Not sure if it's had Ratto yet !
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D'you really think he'd dare go anywhere near them? ;-)
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According to the report,they did have the operating device,but perhaps,no instructions!
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>> According to the report,they did have the operating device,but perhaps,no instructions!
Or perhaps the WPC had 'borrowed' the batteries for another device!!
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They must have failed the basic intellect test.>:)
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"They must have failed the basic intellect test.>:) "
So had no choice but to join the police force !
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And retire at 55 >:)Live is tough.
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They do shoot up very quick, and you probably wouldn't see them until the crunch. Maybe should be used with an LED red/green light.
youtu.be/fyihogeiyH0
youtu.be/jDbLTXfph-c
Last edited by: Mr. Ecs on Thu 17 May 12 at 16:44
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I became a reluctant expert on these things when one controlled the congestion charge in Market Place, Durham City.
Over a period of about six years there were dozens of hits, including a hearse coming down from a funeral at the cathedral, a bus, a fire engine, and any number of private cars.
Also two marked police cars, one of which I witnessed.
Coppers being coppers, within a few minutes about a dozen of them turned up to gloat.
The driver - a PC - started crying which only improved the spectacle from his colleagues' point of view.
Permitted vehicles - such as buses - carry a transponder which lowers the bollard on approach.
In Durham, police cars didn't routinely have transponders, so they would have to stop at the pay kiosk and buzz the operator to get the bollard lowered remotely.
Most of the bollards in the UK - including the one at Durham and in the OP's link - are made and maintained by a company called atg.
www.atgaccess.com/Bollards/Automatic.aspx
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It am not one for H&S and all that, but there has to be a design flaw if they come up and damage a car.
Imagine someone in an invalid carriage going over one of these.
There should be a sensor that detects the presence of a vehicle such as a broken beam.
I am surprised someone hasn't sued in this modern, it is the fault of everyone else!
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>> It am not one for H&S and all that, but there has to be a
>> design flaw if they come up and damage a car.
>>
>> Imagine someone in an invalid carriage going over one of these.
They are there to stop unauthorised vehicles. An invalid carriage is one of them. There are plenty of warning signs.
>> There should be a sensor that detects the presence of a vehicle such as a
>> broken beam.
They would be down all the time of that were the case. As i said the cars are warned they shouldn't be there.
>> I am surprised someone hasn't sued in this modern, it is the fault of everyone
>> else!
>>
>>
Its the fault of the driver, thats why they haven't sued.
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...I am surprised someone hasn't sued in this modern, it is the fault of everyone else!...
Lots of drivers who hit the Durham one threatened to sue the county council.
The council's procedure in the first instance was to send the driver a compilation DVD of footage from the four cameras covering the bollard.
No legal action was ever brought.
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>> I travel over a timed set of these things in the early mornings, always makes
>> me a little nervous in case a fault develops.
>>
A town I visit in Austria has timed bollards around its pedestrianised area. They are up between 9am and 6pm. which ever side of them your car is, thats where it stays until they go down. If it is the "wrong" side you get a fine.
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>> A town I visit in Austria has timed bollards around its pedestrianised area.
Not Bad Ischl by any chance?
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I heard it was called Really rather good Ischl these days.
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>> I heard it was called Really rather good Ischl these days.
It's interesting when you use Google translate to translate a sentence with Bad Ischl in it.
Lovely town, I'm lucky enough to live 10 minutes away :-)
Last edited by: Mike H on Mon 21 May 12 at 13:20
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Zell is nice. Klagenfurt too. I fell in lust by the lake in Klagenfurt. I was 17, she was ten years older. Probably has no teeth now.
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Thu 17 May 12 at 21:52
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Ten years older than you, Humpy ? She'll be lucky if she has a pulse ! :-)
Ted
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Come on Ted admit it, you hate him as much as me....at 17 he's dallying round with 27 year olds for petes sake..me jealous?...too blinking right, go and boil your head Hump.
:-))
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I know, it's tragic...sat by the lake in his school uniform reading his Dandy....and not a clue what to do with her.
No wonder it didn't last !
Ted
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Didn't Bobby Goldsboro' (speeling?) have a song about our H?
'last day of of June' and the sun was a demon?...;_)
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Thu 17 May 12 at 22:54
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>>She'll be lucky if she has a pulse ! :-)
Some of us are fussy.
;>)
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Perhaps they ought to install them at traffic lights, that would stop amber gamblers!
;-)
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With nets to catch the cyclists. :-)
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And fixed-trajectory automatic water cannon to keep the pedestrians where they belong?
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whats wrong with a fixed penalty camera to catch illegal traffc? destroying a persons car for a motoring offence is a bit heavy handed.....plus waiting to get the wrecked motor moved doesnt help anyone
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>> whats wrong with a fixed penalty camera to catch illegal traffc?
It isn't even 'illegal', it's usually just people who have got trapped in a bus lane by accident. Only a few will be doing it on purpose.
I completely agree that having these damn things in bus lanes is Livingstonist crap. Surely they can only be justified where Security with a capital S is some sort of issue, MI6 underground car park, Parliament and so on?
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I expect when someone gets seriously injured they will be looked at in more detail.
People do accidently get in to the wrong lane etc and from the videos above, drive too close to the vehicle in front to see signs etc.
If you had a sign saying your car would be shot at if you entered this lane you would end up in trouble. If you hurt someone you would end up in prison.
I suspect that once someone gets seriously hurt then a legal case would probably follow.
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The hoist seem to drive too close, quite deliberately, in the vain hope they'll beat the bollards. If ever a case came to court, it wouldn't be a long hearing!
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I tried Bollards on Youtube and there are an awful lot of video clips
One famous one at the exit from British Airways Waterside Headquarters
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFzjFX2E2og
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>>What's wrong with a fixed penalty camera?
People ignore them and complain that there is no barrier when they get a bill. Foreigners ignore them completely. Repeatedly.
>>How did it damage the car?
If they're like the ones in Cambridge, they only let one vehicle through before going back up. Then the subsequent vehicle has to get them to drop them. In Cambridge you would have to go through a red light in order to end up in this trouble. Pure stupidity/arrogance.
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>> If they're like the ones in Cambridge, they only let one vehicle through before going
>> back up. Then the subsequent vehicle has to get them to drop them. In Cambridge
>> you would have to go through a red light in order to end up in
>> this trouble. Pure stupidity/arrogance.
+1
The area beyond the bollards is prohibited to motor vehicles. They are designed to admit the few vehicles permitted by exception. If people try and tailgate the bus to gain access or are too close to see/react to signs they deserve all they get.
They're not unique to UK either. We were in Avignon a couple of years ago and had to wait for one of those little train things that often run round historic French towns to emerge from a side street. Nothing else coming so The Lad steps into the road, pauses for a moment to look for me and finds himself rising up atop a bollard!!
I wish I'd had the camera ready to catch his expression.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 21 May 12 at 13:13
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As Bromp and Mapmaker say, the majority of crashes are follow-ons.
Driver/car one lowers the bollard and drives on.
Driver/car two follows closely and clouts bollard as it rises.
Those who ran the one in Durham told me there was a 'loop' under the road surface, although I don't know exactly what a loop is.
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Induction loop, Iffy. Magnetic field of passing car induces a current that can be detected by switching equipment. Look for the patterns in the Tarmac near traffic lights for evidence of other applications.
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>> whats wrong with a fixed penalty camera to catch illegal traffc?
It doesn't stop the cars going up there.
If it's the entrance to a pedestrian area or bus-only zone, a physical barrier is needed to keep out all the drivers who think the rules don't apply to them. If some numpties still drive into them with all the signs and warnings, they really do deserve it IMO.
A few streets in Leicester city centre are bus-only - the police hold regular 1-hour crackdowns, ticketing dozens of motorists every time.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Mon 21 May 12 at 20:02
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>> A few streets in Leicester city centre are bus-only - the police hold regular 1-hour
>> crackdowns, ticketing dozens of motorists every time.
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The Drapery in Northampton sees a similar 'trap'. Most just get a warning but a few make the copper's nose twitch and are out of the car with docs (or not) and notes being taken.
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Oh bollards! - BobbyG
