Bollards!

Stood next to a rubbish bin and used as an ashtray by oblivious Londoners, the bollard next to Southwark Bridge is overlooked by most who pass it.

But unknown to thousands of locals and tourists who walk by everyday, the battered post holds a remarkable past.

The bollard is actually an old French cannon dating back to the late 18th Century, likely taken from ships that fought in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

After its victory over France during the Napoleonic Wars, Britain started to strip the French boats and reuse anything of value.

When the cannons were found to be too big to be retrofitted onto British ships, they were transported back to London and showcased in the form of street bollards - a reminder of Britain's victory.

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Drivers have damaged graves when using a closed cemetery road as a shortcut to avoid traffic in neighbouring roads.

The route through Avon View Cemetery in east Bristol is only supposed to be used by hearses, maintenance vehicles or visitors with limited mobility.

But drivers have been using the route regularly to avoid heavy traffic and bypass roadblocks within the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood scheme.

The cemetery installed bollards to block the road, but people have since driven directly over graves to evade the closure.

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Like the rest of those living in New Orleans at the time, Aaron Miller – then the city’s homeland security director – was terrified after a gunman drove a truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French coastal city of Nice in 2016, killing 86 people and wounding many more in a terrorist attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS).

Similar car attacks in Berlin, London, New York and Barcelona also put him on edge as he thought about the safety of his city.

“We just said … it’s just too risky right now” to not fortify New Orleans’ most famous thoroughfare, Bourbon Street, the globally renowned festive drag. “God forbid somebody does this [here].”

By the end of 2017, Miller had overseen the city’s acquisition of road-blocking, cylindrical columns known as bollards – along with other barriers – designed to prevent terrorists from driving into revelers descending on Bourbon Street for one of the city’s many celebrations.

The barriers were part of a broader $40m public safety package unveiled by Miller’s boss in those days, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who left office in 2018 and more recently served as the co-chairperson of Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

Some of the most visible elements of that plan remained in place early on Wednesday when a former US army veteran driving a rented pickup truck – flying a pole-mounted IS flag in the back – drove around a police barricade at the foot of Bourbon Street and plowed into a crowd of New Year’s Day revelers, killing 14 and injuring more than 30 others before police shot him to death.

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Frustrated staff at a Coles-owned bottle shop have retaliated against drivers flouting parking rules outside their store, by seeking revenge on those found in their designated customer spaces.

Seemingly fed-up with people using the 'customer only' spaces outside the First Choice Liquor Market store in Newstead, Brisbane — which they own — management decided to take action. Photos show a car with P-plates blocked in by a yellow bollard with a note left on its back window.

The typed note addressed to the driver informs them of "the purpose" of the space which is to "have an available spot for customers" to park. It's understood there is ample signage stating parking beyond 15 minutes is prohibited and that fines apply.

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A bollard at the Lidl supermarket in Netherfield has been painted again after cars kept crashing into it. The post, rapidly becoming infamous amongst the population of the Nottinghamshire suburb, was collided with on a regular basis by customers of the shop.

It was previously bright yellow and four-feet tall, having replaced a smaller bollard that was removed and increased in size to make it more visible. But the size increase clearly wasn't enough - and now, black hoops with a fluorescent trim have been added to its design in a further attempt to curb the repeated incidents.

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Bollards provide the least expensive way to begin to unravel routes for motor vehicles from those for cycles. Bollards offer one of the simplest and most effective cycling measures. But it must be remembered that there is no single technique which works everywhere. Doing this is a first step applicable in some places but you need to also do all the other effective things to achieve a high cycling modal share. ...

Several metal bollards that line a city pavement have been knocked down by a car that failed to stop.

The damage along one side of Fye Bridge Street is between two Norwich pubs - the Ribs of Beef pub on Wensum Street and The Mischief on the other side of the bridge.

Norfolk Police said the bollards had been hit by a silver Mercedes-Benz estate at 00:40 BST on Friday. It was subsequently found in a car park on Rose Lane.

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The electric vehicle is coming and the demand for robust and reliable charging infrastructure is more important than ever. EV charging islands, charging pads, and full-charging stations are being built all over the country. However, while we focus on building more charging stations, an often-overlooked aspect is the safety and protection of these charging units. One critical component in ensuring this protection is the installation of stronger, more reliable bollards. The Vulnerability of EV Charging Stations

EV charging stations are typically placed in high-traffic areas including parking lots and storefronts or shopping centers. These locations, while convenient, put the charging units at risk of being struck by vehicles as we’ve seen an increase in gas pedal mistakes and parking lot crashes over the last decade. The sensitive equipment used in EV chargers makes them particularly vulnerable to damage from collisions, which can lead to costly repairs or replacements, downtime for charging stations, as well as risk of injury to pedestrians or drivers.

Given these factors, it’s clear that protecting these stations with durable, impact-resistant barriers is crucial.

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"Bollards! Bollards! Bollards! Bollards!" (This guy gets it.)

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) – A police chase ended with a suspect’s vehicle crashing into a convenience store parking lot and becoming stuck on the top of a parking bollard.

FOX 8 photos show the car with two wheels off the ground and a blue parking bollard wedged beneath it.

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A photo of what could be Britain's most useless bollards has gone viral after the security measure was mercilessly mocked online.

But it has attracted attention for all the wrong reasons after they were roundly laughed at on X.

The image, posted by Birmingham resident and musician Dr Helen Ingram on her X account, shows a residential driveway containing a single car but with two large theft-prevention bollards at the entrance to the driveway.

Dr Ingram captioned the picture with a thumbs up emoji and said jokingly: 'These bollards should keep their car secure.'

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[S]everal Portland bike riders who are lucky to be alive after a drunk driver plowed onto the popular carfree path around 8:30 pm Thursday night. Bradley Krueger, a 43-year-old with with two prior convictions for driving under the influence, steered his Mini Countryman compact SUV onto the Springwater at its northern entrance and drove south three miles before he and his car were finally stopped by a bollard at SE Spokane.

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Alt text: from World Bollard Association twitter feed

"Sometimes, even WE don't know how people manage these incredible things... #WorldBollardAssociation"

A red hatchback vehicle is seen from behind, with the hatch open, and a concrete-filled yellow bollard is sticking up through the trunk, which the vehicle has somehow parked on top of.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese praised the Frenchman who confronted Bondi Junction attacker Joel Cauchi for his “extraordinary bravery” and said he could stay in the country for as long as he wanted.

Damien Guerot, a French construction worker, has been dubbed by some as the "Bollard Man" after CCTV footage showed him confronting Cauchi with a bollard on an escalator during the deadly stabbing attack in Westfield Bondi Junction.

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Paris j'taime

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19583258

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Over a 15-year period, 6,253 cars crashed into 7-Eleven storefronts in the U.S. – an average of 1.14 per day.

7-Eleven apparently fought in court to withhold that data from the public.

"They have not been producing that information for many, many years," Rogers said, "and that's what's important about this case - getting this information out about how frequently this happens."

Rob Reiter is co-founder of the Storefront Safety Council. He was retained as an expert by Carl's attorneys in this case.

"If you install bollards, you pretty much solve that problem," he said of the danger.

Reiter advocates for safety bollards or protective barriers being placed in front of storefronts – especially those with parking lots that face the front door.

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