4 ms·

I feel like bollards have an amazing effectiveness to intrusiveness ratio. They stop people from using vehicles to attack lots of people, but they don't really

by goda90 7y ago

I feel like bollards have an amazing effectiveness to intrusiveness ratio. They stop people from using vehicles to attack lots of people, but they don't really interfere with day to day living, or violate any privacy.

chachachoney 7y ago
They are another incredibly expensive (security) theater prop.
- harimau777 7y ago
  Can you elaborate on this? It seems like they would be relatively inexpensive and effective at preventing a type of attack that would otherwise be fairly simple. That being the case I don't see much reason not to use them.
  - namibj 7y ago
    Getting a 40ton truck isn't hard, and those are very difficult to shield against. Most deployments don't resist them. There are better ways, just look at military anti-tank bollards. Those will stop a truck, and archive what you want. They are also not as temporary, usually.
  - chachachoney 7y ago
    Using NYC as an example, how many casualties (which would have been prevented by bollards) happened before bollards became a fixture?
jethro_tell 7y ago
Much like the only useful change in airport security. A better cockpit door and a protocol for it's use.
aphextim 7y ago
>They stop people from using vehicles to attack lots of people. This seems like a relatively new phenomenon in the past 10 years or so. That or maybe I just never would hear about the vehicle attacks prior and it is just more spoken about now. Regardless whether this is a new phenomenon at least they are taking steps to mitigate the impact of these types of attacks.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  They've been around for a long time. I fractured my knee on one in Brussels in the 99's that looked like they'd been there for decades, if not centuries. I think they're more popular now because building owners are trying to keep their insurance rates down and there is an industry to take advantage of that.
  - aphextim 7y ago
    I can see that, much like in the USA there were a ton of companies trying to profit off of the school shootings offering things like clear backpacks for every student, metal detectors at every entrance, video surveillance etc. I'm not saying that some of these companies don't want to help prevent another tragedy or mitigate them, however there are a ton of companies trying to make a quick buck off of people emotional and suffering from a tragedy. Some form of detection/protection is nice, but I feel that we shouldn't have to button down every school and treat it like Ft. Knox either. Schools can hardly afford after school programs, much less hi-tech security systems/operators.
jwalton 7y ago
> They stop people from using vehicles to attack lots of people They don't just stop using vehicles as weapons. It's important they also stop vehicles which are out of control from colliding with pedestrians, or drivers who are having a stroke, or just messy accidents from spilling over into pedestrian areas. There was a nasty accident here in Ottawa in January where a double-decker city bus collided with an overhang at a bus station. Three people died and many more were injured. There was a great deal of focus in the media about improving the crash worthiness of buses for occupants on the upper deck, but a simple line of bollards at the front of the station would have saved lives by preventing the upper level of the bus from colliding with the station in the first place.

by goda90 7y ago

chachachoney 7y ago

They are another incredibly expensive (security) theater prop.

harimau777 7y ago
Can you elaborate on this? It seems like they would be relatively inexpensive and effective at preventing a type of attack that would otherwise be fairly simple. That being the case I don't see much reason not to use them.
- namibj 7y ago
  Getting a 40ton truck isn't hard, and those are very difficult to shield against. Most deployments don't resist them. There are better ways, just look at military anti-tank bollards. Those will stop a truck, and archive what you want. They are also not as temporary, usually.
- chachachoney 7y ago
  Using NYC as an example, how many casualties (which would have been prevented by bollards) happened before bollards became a fixture?

jethro_tell 7y ago

Much like the only useful change in airport security. A better cockpit door and a protocol for it's use.

aphextim 7y ago

>They stop people from using vehicles to attack lots of people. This seems like a relatively new phenomenon in the past 10 years or so. That or maybe I just never would hear about the vehicle attacks prior and it is just more spoken about now. Regardless whether this is a new phenomenon at least they are taking steps to mitigate the impact of these types of attacks.

reaperducer 7y ago
They've been around for a long time. I fractured my knee on one in Brussels in the 99's that looked like they'd been there for decades, if not centuries. I think they're more popular now because building owners are trying to keep their insurance rates down and there is an industry to take advantage of that.
- aphextim 7y ago
  I can see that, much like in the USA there were a ton of companies trying to profit off of the school shootings offering things like clear backpacks for every student, metal detectors at every entrance, video surveillance etc. I'm not saying that some of these companies don't want to help prevent another tragedy or mitigate them, however there are a ton of companies trying to make a quick buck off of people emotional and suffering from a tragedy. Some form of detection/protection is nice, but I feel that we shouldn't have to button down every school and treat it like Ft. Knox either. Schools can hardly afford after school programs, much less hi-tech security systems/operators.

jwalton 7y ago

> They stop people from using vehicles to attack lots of people They don't just stop using vehicles as weapons. It's important they also stop vehicles which are out of control from colliding with pedestrians, or drivers who are having a stroke, or just messy accidents from spilling over into pedestrian areas. There was a nasty accident here in Ottawa in January where a double-decker city bus collided with an overhang at a bus station. Three people died and many more were injured. There was a great deal of focus in the media about improving the crash worthiness of buses for occupants on the upper deck, but a simple line of bollards at the front of the station would have saved lives by preventing the upper level of the bus from colliding with the station in the first place.