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Rising bollard ban is rejected

By Tom Edwards

A CALL to ban "booby trap" rising bollards has been rejected by the county council, which insists they are safe and do not pose a threat to drivers.

Highways bosses insist there is no better way to deal with traffic than to use rising bollards - despite a nationwide campaign to ban them from roads.

The Safe Speed Road Safety Campaign has called for the ban after a series of incidents around the country where bollards accidentally rose under cars and lifted them off the ground.

Safety campaign boss Paul Smith said: "Rising bollards are more or less booby traps designed to catch the unwary. Do local authorities hate motorists so much they simply don't care about the damage?

"Has anyone actually carried out a formal risk assessment risk on booby trap bollards?

"Ban these right now before somebody is seriously injured. Who thinks it is sensible to have hydraulic jacks rising out of the road?" As the Worcester News reported two weeks ago, the council is about to go live' with the Angel Place bollards after a concerted effort to get them working.

Once the bollards are live, cars and taxis will not be able to drive through that part of the city between 10.30am and 4.30pm. Emergency vehicles, such as police cars and fire engines, are being fitted with a hi-tech chip which will mean the bollards lower when they approach.

Tom Comerford, from the highways and transport unit, said: "From what the manufacturers tell us, the electronics of our bollards do not permit them to rise under cars. There have been a number of cases around the country, where bollards have come up under cars when they tried to tailgate other vehicles, but it does come down to the manufacturer."

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

What day is the 32st of Oct then Paul?

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"Are you sh**ing me?"
"John Spartan, you are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal morality statute."

I must have hit the wrong key... I'll fix it.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Confused? You will be.

I should say. I especially like the bit at the end where the council bod suggests that it's down to the manufacturers. I'm quite sure he wouldn't be able to convice a court of law that 'it's all the manufacturer's fault' after an injury.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I think what they're trying to say is that some brands of bollards do rise under cars and other brands dont. We have bought a brand that does not.